Every year power plants generate 140 million tons of coal ash, enough to fill a train stretching from the North Pole to the South Pole.

It contains chemicals like arsenic, mercury and lead. It can cause cancer and developmental problems. It poisons fish and wildlife in rivers and lakes.

In some places the ash is dumped into uncovered pits. In others it sits behind leaky dams. It poisons the air. It destroys the water. And the corporate polluters responsible, they claim that cleaning up this toxic mess would hurt their profits

But in 2008, when that dam broke, something changed.

Nearly half a million people asked the EPA for stronger protections. Thousands of citizens attended public meetings. Local and national environmental and public health groups got involved. We brought the coal industry face to face with the people they were hurting. Those people are America, and America spoke with one voice.

"Clean Up Coal Ash!"

But that was then and this is now. Four years later there are still no federal protections. Right now some senators want to pass a bill that will prevent the EPA from ever regulating coal ash. They want to ignore the disaster in Tennessee and avoid deadlines to clean up this toxic waste all across America. But we can't let polluter profits triumph over public health. We have to do something to clean up this mess.

So call your senators. Send this email. And share this video with your friends right now. Together we can clean up this toxic mess. But we have to take action now.

Take Action Now - http://earthjustice.org/coalashaction

To The Last Drop, Part One:

Communities prepare to rise up, but they can't do it alone.

For every barrel of bitumen that comes out of the ground in Northern Alberta, Canada, another 1.5 barrels of toxic waste is created and dumped into tailings ponds that are carved out of the once pristine wilderness. That waste may now be leaking into the Athabasca river Delta, poisoning indigenous communities for hundreds of kilometers downstream and causing rare cancers once unheard of. The Alberta government and its industry-funded studies say every thing is okay with the water. Independent observers say otherwise. Watch as Al Jazeera uncovers how industry and government are working to silence dissent and how communities are beginning to fight back.

To The Last Drop, Part Two:

Police in Arizona are investigating whether self-poisoning may have caused the death of former Wall Street trader Michael Marin in a Phoenix courtroom on Thursday. “They are leaning towards that,” said Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Jeff Sprong. “We cannot verify that at this point, and we’re not going to be able to until the toxicology report comes back in two weeks.” The 53-year-old former Wall Streeter was found guilty of arson Thursday. Marin was heavily in his debt, and he quickly came under suspicion when his $3.5 million Phoenix-area mansion went up in flames in July 2009. In video of Marin taken minutes after the verdict, Marin claps his hands to his face and appears to “put something in his mouth,” Sprong said.

[Via KTVK]