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SW: →EPA releases list of 44 "high hazard" coal ash dumps: - add section
Out of its total 14,819 MW of electric generating capacity in 2005 (1.39% of the U.S. total), FirstEnergy produces 54.0% from coal, 27.6% from nuclear, 8.6% from natural gas, 6.4% from hydroelectricity, and 3.4% from oil. FirstEnergy owns power plants in Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, and Pennsylvania; 65.9% of the company's generating capacity comes from Ohio.<ref name="EIA">[http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/epa/epat2p2.html Existing Electric Generating Units in the United States, 2005], Energy Information Administration, accessed April 2008.</ref>
==Coal Waste=====EPA releases list of 44 "high hazard" coal ash dumps===
In response to demands from environmentalists as well as Senator Barbara Boxer (D-California), chair of the Senate Committee on the Environment and Public Works, the EPA made public a list of 44 "high hazard potential" coal waste dumps. The rating applies to sites at which a dam failure would most likely cause loss of human life, but does not include an assessment of the likelihood of such an event. FirstEnergy owns one of the sites, which stores coal combustion waste for the [[Bruce Mansfield Power Station]] in Pennsylvania.<ref>Shaila Dewan, [http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/01/science/earth/01ash.html?ref=us "E.P.A. Lists ‘High Hazard’ Coal Ash Dumps,"] ''New York Times,'' June 30, 2009.</ref><ref>[http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/nonhaz/industrial/special/fossil/ccrs-fs/index.htm Fact Sheet: Coal Combustion Residues (CCR) - Surface Impoundments with High Hazard Potential Ratings,] Environmental Protection Agency, June 2009.</ref> To see the full list of sites, see [[Coal waste]].
===2010 study linking coal ash and groundwater contamination===
{#evp:youtube|6E7h-DNvwx4|Coal Ash: One Valley's Tale|right|200}}
In August 2010 a study released by the [[Environmental Integrity Project]], the [[Sierra Club]] and [[Earthjustice]] reported that Pennsylvania, along with 34 states, had significant groundwater contamination from [[coal ash]] that is not currently regulated by the [[Environmental Protection Agency]] (EPA). The report noted that most states do not monitor drinking water contamination levels near waste disposal sites.<ref>[http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/08/26/1793995/study-of-coal-ash-sites-finds.html "Study of coal ash sites finds extensive water contamination"] Renee Schoff, ''Miami Herald'', August 26, 2010.</ref> The report mentioned FirstEnergy's [[Bruce Mansfield Power Station]] and [[Hatfield's Ferry Power Station]] as both having groundwater contamination due to coal ash waste.<ref>[http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9HRDN581.htm "Enviro groups: ND, SD coal ash polluting water"] Associated Press, August 24, 2010.</ref>
==FirstEnergy switching Ohio plant from coal to biomass==
