Coal Ash Contamination Lawsuit Lawsuit Tracker

Coal combustion residuals — commonly called coal ash — are the second-largest industrial waste stream in the United States, behind only mining waste. Every coal-fired power plant in the country produces coal ash, and the utility industry has disposed of it for decades by dumping it into unlined surface impoundments (wet ash ponds) and dry landfills, many of them sited directly above drinking water aquifers. The toxic constituents of coal ash — arsenic, hexavalent chromium, lead, mercury, selenium, cadmium, boron, and naturally occurring radioactive materials — migrate through soil into groundwater over time, especially from unlined ponds where water constantly percolates through the ash and carries dissolved metals into the subsurface. Duke Energy is the primary corporate defendant in coal ash contamination litigation. The company operates the largest fleet of coal-fired power plants in the United States and maintains more than 17 coal ash disposal sites in North Carolina alone. The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) and independent testing have confirmed that groundwater at virtually all Duke Energy coal ash sites in the state exceeds safe drinking water standards for one or more heavy metals. Thousands of households near these sites rely on private wells — which are not subject to the public water supply testing requirements of the Safe Drinking Water Act — and many consumed contaminated water for years before the extent of the problem became known. The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), American Electric Power (AEP), Dominion Energy, and other major utilities face similar claims in their respective service territories. The legal landscape shifted dramatically after the 2014 Dan River spill, when a stormwater pipe beneath a Duke Energy coal ash pond at the retired Dan River Steam Station collapsed and released 39,000 tons of toxic ash and 27 million gallons of contaminated water into the Dan River. The disaster prompted federal criminal charges, a $102 million settlement, and the passage of North Carolina's Coal Ash Management Act requiring excavation of high-risk sites. The EPA finalized the Coal Combustion Residuals Rule in 2015 — the first-ever federal regulation of coal ash disposal — and strengthened it in 2024 to cover legacy surface impoundments that had previously been exempted. Individual plaintiffs in communities near coal ash sites are now pursuing cancer claims, medical monitoring, property damage, and diminished property value lawsuits against Duke Energy and other utilities.