Analysis from the Interdisciplinary Environmental Clinic at Washington University, released today by Sierra Club and the Iowa Environmental Council, highlights how elevated levels of toxins, contained in MidAmerican Energy’s coal ash waste from power stations, pose significant health threats to residents of the state. This analysis comes at a time when energy companies across the country are trying to roll back coal ash regulation and harmful health impacts from coal ash waste are being discovered.
The new analysis from the Clinic, in collaboration with Sierra Club, provides details on groundwater contamination from coal ash waste around five coal plants MidAmerican owns and operates in Iowa. The groundwater monitoring data summarised in the analysis was conducted and self-reported by MidAmerican under federal rules.
MidAmerican has disposed of coal ash waste in at least nine coal ash ponds (wet ash storage) and six landfills (dry ash storage), totalling more than 700 acres in size and up to 135 feet deep. Coal ash waste is a hazardous substance that can leak into nearby groundwater and put human health at risk. This waste contains harmful pollutants like mercury, arsenic, lead, and other toxic metals that can lead to cancer, various diseases, and both physical and neurological harm.
“If coal was a food, the FDA would have banned it years ago. There is no conflicting research, no unclear science: coal is poisonous, yet it ends up in our groundwater which means it ends up in the water we drink and the food we eat,” said Emma Colman, senior campaign organiser at Sierra Club. “Governor Reynolds outlined the importance of energy and public health in her priorities for the year, and having the Iowa DNR [Dept of Natural Resources] mitigate and manage MidAmerican’s coal ash waste would be crucial to protecting the health of Iowans.”
The groundwater data collected by MidAmerican over the last several years around its coal ash ponds and landfills show significantly elevated levels of toxic heavy metals and pollutants, including arsenic, radium, and lithium. In some instances, storage sites were unlined, enabling these toxins to seep into nearby water sources. While MidAmerican no longer deposits waste in some ash ponds, the contamination remains indefinitely and continues to pose risks to human health and the environment.
Kerri Johanssen, senior director of Policy and Programs at the Iowa Environmental Council commented: “The company must take responsibility, clean up this toxic pollution, and announce a plan to move away from coal to energy sources that do not endanger Iowans and our precious water resources.”
Key findings from the analysis of MidAmerican’s own groundwater monitoring data at its coal ash ponds and landfills included maximum lithium levels 6-7 times the federal Coal Combustion Residuals (CCR) Rule standard consistently since 2020 at Ottumwa Coal Plant, contamination by arsenic, cobalt, and lithium at concentrations above the EPA’s Maximum Contamination Level (MCL) or Federal CCR standard in 2022 at in the most recent groundwater monitoring reports (2023) at George Neal North Coal Plant, with statistically significant increases in five contaminants (boron, chloride, sulphate, pH, and molybdenum) at the plant: and significant pollutant findings at Walter Scott Junior Energy Center and Louisa Coal Plant (Quad Cities) in ash ponds and/or drinking water.
