The Environmental Integrity Project, a national nonprofit environmental research group, released a report about the effects of coal production on the long-term health of a landscape.

Focusing on coal ash, a toxic waste product of coal procuction, EIP obtained and analyzed all groundwater monitoring data from coal pants and coal ash disposal sites. From this data, the group compared toxic chemical levels to standards set by the Environmental Protection Agency.

“91 percent of coal plants have unsafe levels of one or more coal ash constituents in growndwater, even after we set aside contamination that may be naturally occurring or coming from other sources,” the report reads.

The 80-page report identifies states and coal plants with major ecological damage from coal dust, and Pennsylvania is a primary offender. This is especially true for the southwestern part of the state, near the Ohio River and West Virginia.

One plant that is singled out for exceeding the “health-based threshold” of pollutants is the New Castle Generating Station, just north of Pittsburgh. This plant emmitted 372 times the safe amount of arsenic, three times the safe amount of boron, five times the amount of cobalt, 54 times the amount of lithium and four times the safe amount of sulfate.

Closer to home, the report identifies Hatfield’s Ferry Power Station for exceeding the threshold for boron, cobalt and sulfate. The Hatfield Plant is located in Carmichaels, and was changed to a natural gas power plant in July 2018.

The report predicts that eventually, “EPA and/or the states will have to reckon with the legacy of coal ash dumping.” According to EIP, due to lax monitoring at dump sites, groundwater is being contaminated and “poisoned.” The group calls for more strict monitoring and transparent reporting of all data collected at these sites.

“Leaving coal ash in groundwater, where there is nothing to prevent continuous leaching of toxic pollutants from the ash, is a recipe for disaster,” the report reads.

While the economy of Southwestern Pennsylvania has relied on the coal industry for decades, despite ecological concerns, the industry is currently experiencing a slump by most assessments. In recent years, Greene and surrounding counties have noticed an uptick in natural gas plants. Even more recently, plastic production plants have moved into the area, bringing with them an entirely new set of environmental concerns.

Whether or not these new industries replace the faltering coal plants remains to be seen, especially given the urgency of reports like EIP’s. The Yellow Jacket will continue to cover the changing coal and natural gas industries, and their effects on the region’s economy and environment.