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Rain falling on coal storage piles and ash piles can leach out these heavy metal compounds into ground water or lakes and streams. Many coal mining states have contaminated drinking water sources due to breaks in liquid [[coal waste]] impoundments.<ref name="Toppin"/>
==Coal Ash==
SW: add section
{{#badges: CoalSwarm}} Heavy metal refers to any metallic chemical element that has a high density and is toxic or poisonous at low concentrations. Coal contains many heavy metals, as it is created through compressed organic matter containing virtually every element in the periodic table - mainly carbon, but also heavy metals. The heavy metal content of coal varies by coal seam and geographic region. A variety of chemicals (mostly metals) are associated with coal that are either found in the coal directly or in the layers of rock that lie above and between the seams of coal.<ref>Jeff Goodell, Big Coal: The Dirty Secret Behind America's Energy Future. New York, N.Y.: Houghton-Mifflin, 2006</ref><ref name="sludge">[http://www.sludgesafety.org/what_me_worry/heavy_metal.html "Heavy Metals Naturally Present in Coal & Coal Sludge"] Sludge Safety Project, accessed November 2009</ref> The electric power sector is the largest source of toxic pollutants in the United States.<ref>Clean Air Task Force, [http://www.catf.us/publications/view/6 "Laid to Waste: The Dirty Secret of Combustion Waste from America’s Power Plants"], 2000.
Small amounts of heavy metals can be necessary for health, but too much may cause acute or chronic toxicity (poisoning). Many of the heavy metals released in the mining and burning of coal are environmentally and biologically toxic elements, such as lead, mercury, nickel, tin, cadmium, antimony, and arsenic, as well as radio isotopes of thorium and strontium.<ref name="Toppin">Eilene Toppin Ording,[http://environmentalism.suite101.com/article.cfm/heavy_metals_and_coal "Heavy Metals and Coal: Carbon Footprint Aside, Coal is not Environmentally Friendly"] Suite 101, accessed November 2009</ref>
==Coal Ash==
Burning coal produces airborne compounds of these elements which settle or wash out of the atmosphere into oceans, streams, and land. [[Fly ash]] and bottom ash (collectively referred to as coal ash) are heavily contaminated with the oxides of these heavy metals.<ref name="Toppin"/>
The 1.05 billion tons of coal burned each year in the United States contain 109 tons of mercury, 7884 tons of arsenic, 1167 tons of beryllium, 750 tons of cadmium, 8810 tons of chromium, 9339 tons of nickel, and 2587 tons of selenium. On top of emitting 1.9 billion tons of carbon dioxide each year, coal-fired power plants in the United States also create 120 million tons of toxic waste. That means each of the nation's 500 coal-fired power plants produces an average 240,000 tons of toxic waste each year. A power plant that operates for 40 years will leave behind 9.6 million tons of toxic waste.<ref name="rachel">[http://www.precaution.org/lib/08/prn_is_coal_green.081106.htm "Green Coal?,"] Rachel's Environment & Health News, November 6, 2008.</ref> This coal combustion waste (CCW) constitutes the nation's second largest waste stream after municipal solid waste.<ref name="iss">Sue Sturgis, [http://www.southernstudies.org/2009/01/coals-ticking-timebomb-could-disaster-strike-a-coal-ash-dump-near-you.html "Coal's ticking timebomb: Could disaster strike a coal ash dump near you?,"] Institute for Southern Studies, January 2009</ref>
Coal ash contains large quantities of toxic metals, including 44 tons of mercury, 4601 tons of arsenic, 970 tons of beryllium, 496 tons of cadmium, 6275 tons of chromium, 6533 tons of nickel, and 1305 tons of selenium.<ref name="rachel"/> In 2006, coal plants in the United States produced almost 72 million tons of fly ash, up 50 percent since 1993.<ref name="union"/>
Rain falling on coal storage piles and ash piles can leach out these heavy metal compounds into ground water or lakes and streams. Many coal mining states have contaminated drinking water sources due to breaks in liquid [[coal sludge]] impoundments.<ref name="Toppin"/>
==List of Heavy Metals in Coal==
