
Little Blue Run coal ash pond, on the Pennsylvania-West Virginia border.
Google Earth
Little Blue Run coal ash pond, on the Pennsylvania-West Virginia border.
Google Earth
FirstEnergy’s Little Blue Run coal ash pond, along the Pennsylvania-West Virginia border, has been closed since 2016. But it continues to leach toxic metals into ground and surface water.
The 1,700-acre site, the largest coal ash pond in the eastern U.S., is now asking the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection for a new pollution discharge permit to accommodate 16 newly discovered seeps that have opened up around it. The permit would allow the facility, which will close permanently in 2028, to divert any polluted discharge into the Ohio River, instead of into nearby streams.
StateImpact Pennsylvania’s Reid Frazier discussed what’s been happening at Little Blue Run with Kevin Gavin of 90.5 WESA’s The Confluence. Hear their conversation here:
AUDIO: Reporter Reid Frazier Discusses Little Blue Run on 90.5 FM’s ‘The Confluence’
StateImpact Pennsylvania is a collaboration among WITF, WHYY, WESA, and The Allegheny Front. Reporters Marie Cusick, Reid Frazier, Susan Phillips, and Amy Sisk cover the commonwealth’s energy economy. Read their reports on this site, and hear them on public radio stations across Pennsylvania.
This collaborative project is funded, in part, through grants from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Wyncote Foundation, and William Penn Foundation.
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StateImpact Pennsylvania is a collaboration among WITF, WHYY, WESA, and The Allegheny Front. Reporters Marie Cusick, Reid Frazier, Susan Phillips, and Amy Sisk cover the commonwealth’s energy economy. Read their reports on this site, and hear them on public radio stations across Pennsylvania.
This collaborative project is funded, in part, through grants from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Wyncote Foundation, and William Penn Foundation.