Despite ongoing efforts to permanently close the facility, the Little Blue Run coal ash impoundment has caused “significant contamination” to groundwater near the 960-acre site, according to a report released this week.

GREENE TWP. — Despite ongoing efforts to permanently close the facility, the Little Blue Run coal ash impoundment has caused “significant contamination” to groundwater near the 960-acre site, according to a report released this week.

That report, compiled jointly by advocacy groups Environmental Integrity Project and Earthjustice, studied data made available for the first time in 2018 thanks to new federal regulations that require companies to disclose the results of groundwater testing near coal ash sites.

The agencies studied data from 733 coal ash sites in 43 states and found that 95 percent of them were unlined and that “almost all of them are contaminating groundwater with toxins above levels that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency deems safe for drinking water.”

The environmental groups also studied data from 265 coal-fired power plants across the country and found that 91 percent of them are contaminating groundwater with toxins that exceed federal regulations.

For Little Blue Run, which opened in the 1970s and handled about 2.5 million tons of coal ash annually before closing at the end of 2016, the report still found “significant contamination” in the groundwater near the Greene Township site, as well as confirmed contamination of nearby private drinking water wells.

According to the report, elevated levels of arsenic, cadmium, lead, fluoride, barium, boron and thallium were found near Little Blue. Despite the confirmed contamination of nearby groundwater, the report stated that the contamination did not reach the Ohio River, which is close to the site.

Despite that, the report noted that the dam holding Little Blue in place has a “dam hazard rating” listed as “high/significant.”

Little Blue stopped receiving coal ash from the Bruce Mansfield Power Plant in Shippingport in 2016 after the state Department of Environmental Protection ordered the facility closed.

Since then, FirstEnergy Corp. has embarked on a 12-year plan to permanently close the facility, which involves sealing it off with synthetic liner, placing 12 inches of topsoil over the liner and vegetating the area in an effort to return it to nature.

Because of those procedures, Little Blue won’t be permanently shuttered until 2029. FirstEnergy currently ships coal ash from Bruce Mansfield to a site in Moundsville, W.Va.

On Monday, the authors of the report used its findings to blast recent moves by President Donald Trump, who they say has weakened the federal Environmental Protection Agency and attempted to ease restrictions on coal ash.

“At a time when the Trump EPA – now being run by a former coal lobbyist – is trying to roll back federal regulations on coal ash, these new data provide convincing evidence that we should be moving in the opposite direction: toward stronger protections for human health and the environment,” said Abel Russ, the lead author of the report with the Environmental Integrity Project.

An attorney with Earthjustice said the report should serve as a “wake-up call for the nation.”

“Using industry’s own data, our report proves that coal plants are poisoning groundwater nearly everywhere they operate,” Lisa Evans said. “The Trump administration insists on hurting communities across the U.S. by gutting federal protections. They are making a dire situation much worse.”

FirstEnergy Corp. spokeswoman Jennifer Young on Wednesday said more than 400 groundwater monitoring points surround Little Blue that provide “extensive water-quality monitoring” data to the company.

The data included in the Environmental Integrity Project report “are only from the initial stages of groundwater monitoring detection … and should not be interpreted to mean that the groundwater poses a health risk.”

“It’s also important to note that the areas around the impoundment include coal seams, previous mining operations, and historic oil and gas exploration and development, which are each a significant potential source for dissolved minerals in local wells,” Young said.

Young mentioned that recent ground and surface water test results show an improved water quality in the area of Little Blue since the company stopped disposing of coal ash there in 2016.