Alabama's coal-fired power plants dispose of almost 15 million pounds of toxic metals in on-site ash ponds, more than plants in any other state. Alabama Power Co.'s Miller Steam Plant in western Jefferson County sends more toxic metals to its ash pond than any other plant in the country, more than 5 million pounds annually.

That's according to an analysis of data in the U.S. EPA's Toxic Release Inventory published Thursday by the Environmental Integrity Project, an advocacy organization.

The nation's attention turned to coal ash ponds three years ago, when a pond associated with the Tennessee Valley Authority's Kingston Fossil Plant ruptured, flooding 300 acres of the countryside with contaminated sludge that inundated homes and fields and flowed into the Emory and Clinch rivers, filling in large areas of the rivers and resulting in fish kills.

In the aftermath of the spill, industry and governmental agencies increased scrutiny of the ponds. Pond usage is one method of disposing of the ash left over from burning coal. That ash contains traces of such metals as arsenic, chromium and lead that occur naturally in the coal. Wet ash is pumped to the ponds, where the water is held so the contaminants settle out of suspension.

Alabama Power spokesman Michael Sznajderman said Miller's No.1 ranking and top 20 rankings for its Gorgas plant in Walker County, its Gaston plant in Shelby County and the Barry plant near Mobile are mostly a function of the size of the plants. Miller is one of the nation's largest coal-fired plants.

Alabama Power chose to build larger plants that burn more coal, he said, while another utility might have multiple plants that would add up to a similar volume. Sznajderman said the ponds are part of the plants' environmental controls and the company has a long track record of operating them safely.

"We did have our ash impoundments inspected and received a satisfactory rating and that is the highest rating you can get," he said. "The fact of the matter is we have operated these ash impoundments for decades to contain these materials onsite at the plant safely. We have a vigorous inspection program to ensure these facilities are inspected regularly."

In addition to the assessment EPA made of the condition of ash pond dams across the country, the agency also classified ash ponds by the level of hazard posed if dams were to fail.

All but one of the Alabama Power ponds were classified as a significant risk, meaning that, if a rupture occurred, environmental and property damage would result. One ash pond at the Gaston plant in Shelby County's Wilsonville is classified as a high hazard, meaning that loss of life could occur if a dam broke. All the ponds lie near waterways that receive treated discharge from the ponds.

Eric Schaeffer, the director of the Environmental Integrity Project, said that after the Kingston disaster many utilities started moving away from using the unlined ash ponds for disposal.

TVA is phasing out wet storage of ash and gypsum at its coal-fired power plants and installing state-of-the-art dry storage systems.

Schaeffer said coal ash can be recycled or disposed of in landfills that have liners, rather than using the ponds, which carry with them not only the risk of catastrophic failure but also the potential to contaminate groundwater.

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