Environmental Group Identifies 10 States with Coal Ash Pollutants

A Washington, D.C-based environmental group says its research has identified new sites in 10 states where coal ash appears to have contaminated groundwater or soil at unsafe levels.

The Environmental Integrity Project in a Tuesday report said the 20 sites are in addition to 67 “potential damage” pollution cases that the Environmental Protection Agency has documented and another 70 coal ash sites that the project previously identified.

The report adds seven sites in Illinois, three in South Carolina, two each in Iowa and Texas and one each in Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, Florida, Indiana and Nevada.

EPA is struggling with a proposal to regulate coal ash as hazardous material.

In Congress, some Republicans are trying to block the stricter regulation in legislation and in a rider to a pending appropriation measure.