Gadsden Steam Plant Ash Pond

Gadsden Steam Plant Ash Pond is a coal ash disposal site associated with Gadsden Steam Plant, owned and operated by Southern Company subsidiary Alabama Power near East Gadsden, Alabama.

Site data
Information below derived from EPA's Coal Ash Survey database; GPS coordinates courtesy of Earthjustice researchers.


 * Owner: Alabama Power
 * Parent company: Southern Company
 * Associated coal plant: Gadsden Steam Plant
 * Location: East Gadsden, AL
 * GPS coordinates: 34.0100, -85.9700
 * Hazard potential: Low
 * Year commissioned: 1948
 * Year(s) expanded: 1976, 1979, 1983
 * Material(s) stored: Fly ash, Bottom ash, Boiler slag, FGD
 * Professional Engineer (PE) designed?: No
 * PE constructed?: No
 * PE monitored?: Yes
 * Significant deficiencies identified: Confidential
 * Corrective measures: Confidential
 * Surface area (acres): Confidential
 * Storage capacity (acre feet): Confidential
 * Unit Height (feet): Confidential
 * Historical releases: None
 * Additional notes:

Coal waste in the United States
A January 2009 study by The New York Times following the enormous TVA coal ash spill found that there are more than 1,300 surface impoundments across the U.S. containing coal waste, with some sites as large as 1,500 acres. Also in January 2009, an Associated Press study found that 156 coal-fired power plants store ash in surface ponds similar to the one that ruptured at Kingston Fossil Plant. The states with the most storage in coal ash in ponds are Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Georgia and Alabama. The AP's analysis found that in 2005, 721 power plants generating at least 100 MW of electricity produced 95.8 million tons of coal ash, about 20 percent of which - or almost 20 million tons - ended up in surface ponds. The rest of the ash winds up in landfills or is sold for other uses. In June 2009, EPA released its list of 44 "high hazard potential" coal waste sites, which included 12 sites in North Carolina, 9 in Arizona, 6 in Kentucky, 6 in Ohio, and 4 in West Virginia. The full list is available here.

Citizen groups

 * Center for Public Integrity
 * Earthjustice
 * Energy Justice Network
 * Environmental Integrity Project
 * Institute for Southern Studies
 * NRDC
 * Organic Consumers Association
 * Sludge Safety Project
 * Sierra Club
 * Southern Environmental Law Center

Related SourceWatch articles

 * Coal waste
 * Alabama and coal
 * Alabama Power
 * Southern Company