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DES MOINES, Iowa — The Environmental Protection Agency has proposed rolling back protections that stop coal-burning power plants from dumping toxic wastewater—including arsenic, mercury, selenium, and lead—from coal ash waste landfills into U.S. waterways. The discharge of coal ash wastewater has been an issue at Iowa coal plants, including in Sioux City on the Missouri River and in Ottumwa on the Des Moines River.
In September 2025, Donald Trump’s EPA gave coal plant companies a pass by delaying enforcement of long-overdue wastewater protections from coal plant waste. The latest proposal would allow coal plants to dump even more coal ash landfill waste into surface waters under even weaker standards.
Over the past year, the Sierra Club and partners have actively opposed dangerous wastewater disposal practices at the Ottumwa coal-burning power plant co-owned by MidAmerican Energy and Alliant Energy. The coal plant’s toxic wastewater is transported by truck to a sewage treatment plant that is not equipped to remove all the hazardous chemicals and heavy metals it contains. The wastewater is then discharged into the Des Moines River.
