Speakers urge ADEM to deny Alabama Power permit to cap Gorgas coal ash at Rattlesnake Lake

At a public hearing convened by the Alabama Department of Environmental Management in Montgomery in December 2021, residents and environmental groups urged the agency not to approve draft coal combustion residual (CCR) permits that would leave coal ash in place at Alabama Power’s Plant Gorgas, at Rattlesnake Lake, arguing that a cap-in-place closure will not stop ongoing groundwater and surface-water contamination.

Speakers told ADEM staff the draft permit lacks adequate groundwater characterization, does not model long-term leachate or inflow from buried Rattlesnake Creek, and relies on monitored natural attenuation without site-specific data. Keith Johnson, director of the Alabama office of the Southern Environmental Law Center, said, “Cap in place is not going to work.” John Kenny, staff scientist with Black Warrior Riverkeeper, said Alabama Power’s choice of “monitored natural attenuation is basically just a fancy way of saying do…