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==Coal waste==
===Overview of coal ash in Florida===
Florida generates over 6.1 million tons of coal ash per year, ranking 8th in the United States for ash generation. <ref> [http://earthjustice.org/sites/default/files/library/references/fl-coal-ash-factsheet-1111.pdf "Florida Coal Ash Factsheet"] Earthjustice, accessed December 9, 2011. </ref> According to a 2007 EPA risk assessment, three surface impoundments and landfills in Florida are unlined, and one is clay-lined. Of these sites, two do not have a leachate collection system.
There are nine ponds at two plants.
Three coal ash ponds were commissioned in 2009, but the six other ponds are over 25 years old. One pond, at the [[Lansing Smith Power Station]] in Pensacola, was constructed in 1965.
According to the EPA database, four ponds at the [[Big Bend Power Station]] cover an area of 164 acres, but storage capacity data are missing for five other ponds at this facility. The [[Lansing Smith Power Station]] claimed “confidential business information” and included no information about size, storage capacity, or the last regulatory inspection.
===Coal ash regulations in Florida===
Florida law does not regulate coal ash ponds.
There are no requirements for liners, siting, design, maintenance, groundwater monitoring, financial assurance, or closure.
Furthermore, if coal ash is disposed in an onsite landfill at a power plant authorized under the Power Plant Siting Act (PPSA), no separate permits, including construction and operating permits, are required. Instead, the entire facility is covered under the PPSA certification. Florida is one of only two states (along with AL) that <i> relaxed </i> portions of its coal ash standards between 1988 and 2005.
===Coal ash pile in Orange County, FL may be leaking radioactive waste===
The Florida EPA is expected to ask the Orlando Utilities Commission to investigate the ash pile from its coal plant in eastern Orange County in early 2009. Officials believe the landfill is leaking radioactivity into a shallow underground aquifer. If the uranium and radium found in the [[Coal waste|coal combustion waste]] is causing elevated radioactivity in groundwater, it would be a sign that the liner is failing. Authorities say there is no immediate threat to local residents. The ash pile is 70-feet tall and holds several million tons of coal waste. As of September 2010 the EPA had taken no steps to close down the plant.<ref>Kevin Spear, [http://www.orlandosentinel.com/orl-coal2509jan25,0,1171050.story "Fears mount on how OUC handles ash from coal plant,"] ''Orlando Sentinel,'' January 25, 2009.</ref>
