Georgia Power now plans to close dozens of toxic coal ash ponds across the state within three years — much sooner than it previously announced — as lawsuits and a push for tougher federal and state regulations have upped the pressure on utility companies.
Georgia Power said earlier this week that its 29 ash ponds statewide will no longer receive ash within three years. Ash from 16 of those ponds, located near lakes or rivers, will be completely removed and added to other ponds and landfills or recycled. The company's other 13 ponds will be "closed in place" with concrete barriers and other preventive measures to, hopefully, keep arsenic, lead and other heavy metals in the ash from the groundwater.
A growing number of lawsuit settlements, state legislation, federal rules — and the potential costs of contamination or lagoon failures — has amped up the urgency among utilities to deal with the issue.
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