Georgia Power says it’s making progress on closing its coal ash ponds. Of its 29 ponds around the state, three that are located near rivers or streams have been emptied of ash completely, according to the utility.
Coal ash is a byproduct from burning coal for electricity. Power companies often store it in open ponds, mixed with water. There have been disastrous spills in other states in recent years. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rolled out regulations meant to prevent any more big accidents, and also to catch leaks into groundwater that may not have been detected before.
Georgia Power has now installed 236 groundwater monitoring wells at its coal ash ponds, and conducted tests at all of them.
Of those, 17 wells at several different power plants do not meet Georgia Environmental Protection Division standards.
“We have found arsenic, beryllium, selenium and cadmium in those wells. And it may be an isolated instance of one per well, if you will,” said Aaron Mitchell, general manager of environmental affairs at Georgia Power.
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