Congressman Cohen Seeks Hearing on Coal Ash Dumps Impact on Groundwater

WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09) today asked House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure on which he serves to conduct a hearing on the impact of coal plants and coal ash dumps on groundwater quality. See his letter here.

The request follows a recent report from the Environmental Integrity Project that indicates groundwater beneath virtually all coal plants is contaminated. "If true, this is obviously alarming," his letter says. Congressman Cohen noted that, in the case of the Allen Fossil Plant in Memphis, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) has "acknowledged that there is a breach in the protective clay barrier that separates the high levels of contaminants in the groundwater in the shallow aquifer from the deeper sand aquifer from which the City of Memphis draws its drinking water."