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NEWS BRIEFS
Activists worried about Ohio River ash pond
BEDFORD, Ky. (AP) — Environmentalists say plans to expand a coal ash pond along the Ohio River in northern Kentucky should be reconsidered.
The pond in Trimble County being proposed by LG&E would have 100 foot-tall walls. The Courier-Journal reports the pond would have a larger capacity than an ash pond in Tennessee that failed last year and released 5.4 million cubic yards of waste over hundreds of acres.
The new pond would accompany the expansion of LG&E’s power plant near Bedford, but it sits on the floodplain of the Ohio River, about 30 miles upstream from Louisville’s drinking water intake.
LG&E and Kentucky Division of Water officials say the pond would be safe. But environmentalists say the state should wait until the EPA issues new rules for handling coal ash. Those rules are due in December.
