Ash Dumps On Lake Michigan Bleed Into Groundwater (MLive.com)

Jan.07, 2009 in Pollution, Water Industry

(Jan. 7, 2009, MLive.com)

Several coal or oil ash waste sites in Michigan and in Wisconsin and Indiana near the shores of Lake Michigan have contaminated nearby ground water and wells that threaten human health, according to a 2007 Environmental Protection Agency study cited by the New York Times.

A New York Times map shows some of the worst offending sites located in the center of the state and near the shores of Lake Michigan.

New York Times, January 7, 2009: Numerous studies have shown that the ash can leach toxic substances that can cause cancer, birth defects and other health problems in humans, and can decimate fish, bird and frog populations in and around ash dumps, causing developmental problems like tadpoles born without teeth, or fish with severe spinal deformities.The federal Environmental Protection Agency doesn’t regulate the utility ponds because it doesn’t consider the coal ash hazardous material, although it can contain trace amounts of heavy metals.

On December 22, 2008, a coal ash pond ruptured and sent a billion gallons of toxic sludge across 300 acres of East Tennessee, reports the New York Times.

The nation’s largest government-run utility ignored two small leaks that could have provided a warning years before a coal ash pond collapsed, flooding a neighborhood with a billion gallons of sludge, a former federal regulator contends.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has said water samples from near the spill were above federal maximums for contaminants. Data showed total arsenic levels in a river were more than 100 times the acceptable amount.

States have done a poor job monitoring huge ponds of coal ash, which aren’t regulated by the federal government, says Jack Spadaro, a retired mining engineer.

The 2007 EPA study found more than 63 sites in 26 states “where the water was contaminated by heavy metals from such dumps,” the New York Times reports.

Lansing’s coal ash storage area shouldn’t face similar problems, according to area officials interviewed by the Lansing State Journal.

The North Lansing Landfill – the city’s only landfill storing the ash – is equipped to contain it from seeping into the city’s underground water supply, said Mark Nixon, spokesman for the Lansing Board of Water & Light, which places its ash at the site.”We created a 110-foot slurry wall out of liquid clay that is an impenetrable barrier,” Nixon said.