Sitting just across East Lake Shore Drive from Lake Springfield and the city’s electrical utility are a few ponds you wouldn’t want to swim in. They contain coal ash, the byproduct of burning coal for energy, and they’ve long been seeping toxic substances like arsenic, lead, boron and cadmium into the groundwater. Concerned environmental groups addressed the Springfield City Council on Nov. 3, urging City Water, Light and Power to clean up the ponds. Lan Richart, cofounder of the Eco-Justice Collaborative based in Champaign, cited a 2008 disaster in which a coal ash dam in Tennessee burst, dumping 1.1 billion gallons of coal ash slurry into a river. “We now know much more about the health hazards of coal than we did when the lakeside power plants were built,” said Richart. “We better understand the serious health dangers of unlined coal ash pits, and we’ve seen the devastation that results when these coal ash pits leak into our streams and rivers.” Last year, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency tightened restrictions on power plant discharges into streams and finalized new standards for the disposal of coal ash, which means the clock is ticking for CWLP to take action on its coal ash ponds. “The Dallman coal ash ponds represent a serious financial liability for the City of Springfield,” Richart said, “as well as a threat to human health and safety.”
This article appears in Nov 5-11, 2015.
