In all, there are 596 coal slurry impoundments in 21 states. West Virginia has 114, more than any other state, according to the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration.

In 2014, 39,000 tons of coal ash and 27 million gallons of coal ash pond water spilled into the Dan River in Eden, North Carolina, due to a burst pipe at a Duke Energy coal plant (Figure 1).

In September, Black Warrior Riverkeeper, an environmental group founded to protect and restore the Black Warrior River and its tributaries, settled a suit with the company over a leaking coal ...

Public financial support for the Tuscaloosa County mine and its export of coal to overseas markets may top $400 million and would increase Warrior Met’s production by up to 60 percent.

Warrior Met Coal in Tuscaloosa County, one of the leading producers of metallurgical coal in the United States, will pay $250,000 as part of a settlement agreement to fix a coal slurry impoundment ...

The decree requires the company to fix leaks from the mine’s roughly 160-acre coal slurry impoundment, an area with a barrier to prevent pollution from underground mining and coal preparation ...

Miles away, a coal company’s hillside impoundment dams collapsed, sending slurry thundering downhill and into the hollow, inundating small communities and killing 125 people.

On Feb. 26, 1972, a makeshift impoundment dam collapsed, sending millions of gallons of black water, coal and debris into the hollow below, killing 125 people, injuring 1,100 and leaving more than ...