Coal Ash

Coal ash contains a concoction of toxins such as arsenic, boron, and lead, among many more. While coal ash can be recycled to create construction material like concrete, much of it ends up in landfills known as coal ash ponds. In the cases that the coal plants close, the coal ash ponds nearby them are not necessarily cleaned up and so toxins can continue to seep into the groundwater.  Exposure or consumption of these toxins can lead to deformities in fish and wildlife in nearby sources of water, and living close to coal ash disposal sites has been found to increase your risk of cancer and other illnesses. While coal companies may provide health insurance to their workers they also need to be held accountable for the risks they pose to nearby communities and environments. Groundwater monitoring data by the EPA shows that the state of Illinois, as well as power generating companies such as NRG Energy who owns these plants, have not done enough to protect nearby environments and communities from pollution by coal plants. A report from 2018 by the Environmental Integrity Project(EIP), Earthjustice, Prairie Rivers Network, and the Sierra Club, looking into groundwater contamination by coal plants in Illinois found that most of the groundwater studied contained unsafe concentrations of toxins from nearby coal ash ponds.

This project examines groundwater contamination in Illinois from coal ash ponds through black and white landscapes of the coal plants. The photographs are accompanied by statistics and information about the effect of coal ash groundwater contamination taking place around the coal plants photographed. By combining data of the pollution with the serene images of the coal plants, I aim to communicate the health risks and environmental contamination caused by our reliability on coal as an energy source that is often invisible to the naked eye.