An Alabama fossil fuel plant plans to close its coal ash pond and use a controversial “cap-in-place” method to prevent its carcinogenic contents from contaminating the surrounding environment. Alabama Power’s James M. Barry Electric Generating Plant received the necessary closure permit in July and will go through with its multi-billion-dollar plan, which requires decades of groundwater monitoring. Environmental activists and concerned residents believe the coal ash pond will only continue posing a threat to the precious Mobile-Tensaw Delta where it rests. Yesterday, CNN published a detailed, long-form piece on Alabama Power’s decision for its Plant Barry campus as well as the appalling history of coal ash disposal. It took until 2015 for the Environmental Protection Agency to implement official guidelines on coal ash, which is the material expelled from coal-burning power plants. The agency’s regulations were unveiled in response to the 2008 Kingston Fossil Plant coal ash slurry spill that resulted in 1.1 billion gallons of coal ash being released after a dike surrounding an ash pond near Kingston, Tennessee, ruptured. Major waterways were contaminated, properties were destroyed, and the area was deemed a Superfund site. Many tasked with cleaning up the environmental disaster suffered grave illness from the coal ash, which can contain carcinogens like arsenic, cadmium, chromium, lead, mercury, and selenium. More than 30 people died as a result and the contractor who staffed clean-up crews was found to have failed to provide adequate personal protective equipment and inform workers of the health risks associated with coal ash. An even worse environmental disaster could play out were the 597-acre pond at Plant Barry to be breached. Read more