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Comparables:
Coal Ash Sites

Examples of Coal Ash Clean-Up Projects

Coal Combustion Residual (CCR), Cap-in-Place, Clean closure=Excavation

 

Little Blue Run, Western Pennsylvania, N West Virginia [Ash Sludge, Slurry] - Closure and capping project

  • Size: 1,900a

  • Timeline: Target between 2028–2029

  • Cost: preliminary total closure estimate: $234 million

  • Programming: Renewable energy infrastructure, specifically a large-scale battery energy storage system known as the Little Blue Project, though developers have faced evolving timelines and project adjustments.

  • Funding: entirely funded and executed by the utility company FirstEnergy

An environmental and groundwater contamination caused by the largest unlined coal ash impoundment in the United States, the 1,900-acre site received roughly 20 billion gallons of toxic sludge and slurry from the Bruce Mansfield coal-fired power plant.

 

Town of Pines Groundwater Plume, Porter County, Indiana [Ash in Soil Pockets & Contaminated Soils]

  • Size: “Yard 520” 35a landfill,  (Site Total: 1,435a)

  • Timeline: ~27yrs (2001-estimated 2028)

  • Cost: estimated $11.8 million, $720,000 addition for expanding property remediation

  • Programming: continued residential & community use of existing properties

  • Funding: Northern Indiana Public Service Company (NIPSCO)

Declared an EPA Superfund Site in 2001, this community had utility coal ash widely used as structural fill. Remediation involved excavating buried coal ash pockets and contaminated soil from residential and public areas and supplying municipal water.

 

Glen Ridge Radium Site, New Jersey: [Ash mixed w/Radium]

  • Size: 130 acres

  • Timeline: 14yrs (1990 to December 2004)

  • Cost: $150 million (with combined regional cleanup costs with Montclair/West Orange reaching over $220 million total)

  • Programming: continuation of its original residential and municipal functions

  • Funding: Publicly funded through the federal Superfund program managed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the State of New Jersey

Though primarily a radioactive waste cleanup, local coal ash mixed with radium was excavated across a 130-acre footprint comprising multiple residential and municipal parcels.

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Chisman Creek, Virginia: a full NPL Superfund site. Over 500,000 tons of coal combustion residuals from the Yorktown Power Generating Station were dumped into abandoned sand and gravel pits in York County from 1957 to 1974. After a homeowner complained about discolored well water in 1980, state agencies found heavy metal contamination in the creek, groundwater, sediments and soils. EPA added it to the National Priorities List in 1983, making it one of the earliest Superfund sites in the country. Parts of the site have since been redeveloped as Wolf Trap Park and Chisman Creek Park. 

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Kingston, Tennessee. the 2008 TVA coal ash spill was also cleaned up under a CERCLA order from EPA rather than an NPL listing.

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Some other NPL sites include fly ash among mixed wastes. One example is American Chemical Service in Indiana, whose unlined landfill held solvents, fly ash, paper and plastics. Coal ash isn't the main reason those sites were listed, though. Wikipedia

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—--------------------  LESS RELEVANT, INCOMPLETE EXAMPLES ---------------------

Duke Energy Basin Closures, North Carolina: [Ash Ponds]

  • Size: 30a Pond

  • Timeline: 13yrs, 2007-2020

  • Programming: renewable energy generation, grid support infrastructure, or restored natural contours

  • Funding: _____

Under a landmark agreement stemming from the Southern Environmental Law Center litigation, Duke Energy excavated millions of tons of ash across 14 sites. Individual ash basins within these complexes frequently ranged from 30 to over 100 acres, requiring complete dig-and-haul operations to lined on-site or off-site landfills.

Project Cost Breakdown:

Coal Ash Cleanup: ~$422 million to excavate and safely store the ash.

Replacement Natural Gas Plant: ~$893 million for the new combined-cycle station.

Broader Asheville Investments: Part of a broader regional investment exceeding $2 billion.

 

Key Cleanup and Transition Milestones

2007: Excavation work officially began on the plant's 37-acre coal ash basin (built in 1982).

October 25, 2016: Duke Energy announced the complete excavation and cleanup of the 1982 coal ash pond was finished.

2014–2019: Mandated under the Coal Ash Management Act, operations shifted toward clearing the older 1964 basin and constructing a replacement natural gas plant on-site.

January 29–31, 2020: Duke Energy officially retired the coal-burning units, fully transitioning generation to the new natural gas facility.

Post-2020: Ongoing site remediation and future plans for solar power generation on the capped and cleared portions of the property.

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Kingston Fossil Plant, Tennessee: [Ash Slurry] Following the massive 2008 dike failure that released a 1.1-billion-gallon slurry covering roughly 300 acres, the Tennessee Valley Authority undertook a $1.2 billion cleanup. This included dredging and excavating millions of cubic yards of ash and moving the material to engineered off-site storage.

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