The EPA rolled back Obama-era rules on how to handle and store toxic waste residues from burning coal on Tuesday. And now, drinking water across the country could be at risk of being contaminated by the byproduct of burning coal for power: toxic coal ash.
The rollback gives authority back to state and industry officials to oversee how coal ash is stored and allows states in some cases to stop monitoring groundwater. But the groundwater contamination in Memphis shows why doing that may be a bad idea.
Home to what some consider the best drinking water in the country, Memphis is also home to a retired coal power plant and a new gas plant. Next to the coal plant sits a coal ash pit, where waste is stored. All three are overseen by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). People long suspected that all this industrial activity could be contaminating the city’s water, but there was no way to know for certain.
In 2017 the TVA was forced to comply with the Obama administration’s coal ash rule, which required companies to monitor the groundwater around their coal ash pits — and the results helped avoid a potential drinking water disaster for the city.
Using a cityscape scene of Memphis etched onto plexiglas, VICE News illuminates the story as it unfolded and shows what could be at stake for roughly 600 more coal plants in the USA.This segment originally aired July 16, 2018 on VICE News Tonight on HBO.
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