To see where coal ash is disposed of, type a five-digit zip code into the search box. The map will not show specific disposal sites, but it will indicate how many tons of coal ash were generated in a zip code in 2005, the latest year available. For a few sites data are not available.
To see sites listed as a proven or potential danger to human health or the environment, check the red or yellow icons.
To see specific types of disposal, such as landfills or ponds, check those icons only.
Coal Ash Map Data. Coal Ash Map Key.
The Center used two databases to make the interactive coal ash map. The first set comes from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, which requires utilities with coal-fired power plants to file a form 767, listing the tons of coal ash produced and disposed of in various forms for each plant. The data can be found on the EIA’s website. If a plant listed coal ash in any form or disposal method other than selling it, the plant appears on the map keyed to the method of disposal listed in the 767 database. Data are from 2005, the most recent year available. Of the 1,368 plants listed that year, 420 met the coal ash criteria.
Because form 767 required only the zip code and not the address of the power plant, the map shows only the center of the zip code, not precisely where the plant is located.
The second set of data come from “Coal Combustion Waste and Damage Case Assessments,” an Environmental Protection Agency report released in July 2007. Relying on data through Feb. 3, 2005, the EPA researchers found 63 power plants or other disposal sites in which coal ash was a proven or potential danger to human health or the environment. Some of those sites were also reported on the 767 form. Because the EPA report did not list zip codes for the sites, the Center added them for the sites or the companies that own the sites.