PSR national board member and Washington PSR President Steven Gilbert, PhD, DABT, explains the dangerous health effects of hazardous coal ash waste and urges the EPA to enact strong regulations on coal ash disposal.

Seizing an opportunity to shape a policy with nationwide implications for health, PSR mobilized its network to urge the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to adopt strong, health-protective regulations for the disposal of coal ash.

A recent report by the group Physicians for Social Responsibility titled "Coal Ash -- The toxic threat to our health and environment" provides an overview of the specific dangers linked with coal ash and the scale of the problem in the United States.

PSR chapters, board members and staff have been raising concerns nationwide about the health impacts of coal ash disposal. Barbara Gottlieb was interviewed on the Knoxville, TN NPR station the morning of the final EPA public hearing on coal ash regulation.

PSR met recently with the Environmental Protection Agency to present our new report on coal ash and health and to voice support for strong, health-protective regulation of coal ash disposal. Our presentation focused on concerns that highlight the need for robust regulation at the federal level – including, in some cases, steps that go beyond the EPA’s current proposal.

Pilsen’s air is dirty. While hundreds of runners gasped for it, passing the Chicago Marathon’s 20-mile marker Sunday, just blocks away dozens were rallying to keep it clean.

Dr. Steven Gilbert, president of Washington PSR, discusses the health care costs of coal plants.

Dr. Steven Gilbert, president of Washington PSR, explains the health impacts of coal plants.

PSR's Barbara Gottlieb discusses the need for coal ash regulation in this article on an EPA coal ash hearing in Kentucky.

Barbara Gottlieb, deputy director of the Environmental Health Program for Physicians for Social Responsibility, says coal ash contains 19 harmful heavy metals, including arsenic, lead and mercury. "And these substances, if they're eaten or drunk or inhaled, can cause cancer. They can cause nervous system impacts such as cognitive deficits and developmental delays. They affect virtually every major organ system in the human body."

According to “Coal’s Assault on Human Health,” a report by Physicians for Social Responsibility, coal pollutants have been linked to four of the five leading causes of death in our nation, including cancer, stroke, heart disease and chronic lower respiratory diseases.

An organization of doctors joined an environmental group Thursday to encourage the EPA to adopt tougher regulations for coal ash waste, which they say is toxic. The 1.2 billion-gallon spill of wet coal ash from a breached dam near Kingston, Tenn., just before Christmas 2008 received national attention, but it didn't reveal the full dimensions of the health threats from coal ash waste, according to Dr. Peter Wilk, executive director of Physicians for Social Responsibility.

Hundreds of concerned citizens gathered in Chicago today urging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to pass strong, federally-enforceable safeguards for coal ash, the toxic remains left over from coal-fired power plants. Citizens traveled to Chicago from across Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan and Indiana to testify about the harmful effects of coal ash on their health, neighborhoods and communities. The hearing is one of seven the EPA is holding this month on its proposal to finally regulate toxic coal ash.

Yesterday Earthjustice and Physicians for Social Responsibility released a detailed report entitled Coal Ash: The Toxic Threat to Our Health and Environment. The Kansas City region has some seven or eight coal ash disposal sites. Coal ash is toxic.

An organization of doctors and other health professionals joined with environmentalists to release a report today detailing concerns that the leakage of toxic substances including arsenic from coal ash ponds and landfills is contaminating underground aquifers and drinking water supplies and endangering human health across the country.

An organization of doctors and other health professionals joined with environmentalists to release a report today detailing concerns that the leakage of toxic substances including arsenic from coal ash ponds and landfills is contaminating underground aquifers and drinking water supplies and endangering human health across the country.

PSR member Dr. Karen Lewis spoke in support of labeling coal ash as hazardous waste at an EPA hearing in Dallas this week.

PSR testified recently before the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on the health risks associated with coal ash, at the first of seven EPA hearings on disposal of this dangerous coal combustion waste product.

PSR's Barbara Gottlieb testified at an EPA hearing, urging the government to regulate dangerous coal ash.

Dr. Roberta Richardson, president of Colorado PSR, discusses the health impacts of toxic coal ash.