Coal-fired Power Plants

There are two coal-fired power plants on the Coosa in Alabama, both owned by Alabama Power. Alabama was ranked worst in the nation for coal ash disposal methods. Alabama was also ranked 12th on Natural Resources Defense Council's 2011 "Toxic Twenty" list for worst air pollution, mostly due to coal-fired power plants. Coosa Riverkeeper produced a video "Coal Ash in the Coosa Valley" in December 2011. The video can be seen at the bottom of this page.

The Earnest C. Gaston Plant (pictured at right) is on the Coosa in Wilsonville along the banks of Lay Lake. Alabama Power's third largest fossil fuel plant, EC Gaston is a major emmitter of pollutants. In fact, according to the Environmental Integrity Project, it ranked second in the nation in the amount of arsenic dumped on-site. The plant was also Alabama's largest polluter in 2009 when it sent 3.8 million pounds of toxins into the air.

The Gadsden Steam Plant is located on the Coosa River in Gadsden. The plant pumps its coal ash through pipes across the river and dumps the toxic waste into a coal ash pond. Water from this pond is then discharged back into the river. Gadsden's drinking water intake is located only half a mile downstream of here.

The combined capacity of these two plants represents 15% of Alabama Power’s total coal-fired power plant capacity, even though only 8% of their coal-fired power plants are located in the valley. That's because the EC Gaston plant is larger than the average plant in Alabama Power's fleet.

Coal mining

Very little coal mining is done in the Coosa Valley these days; in fact only Shelby County (75% of which is in the watershed) produced significant tonnage of coal in the last decade, and it was still one of the smallest producers in the state. Coosa coal was largely exhausted during the Civil War.