Cassel has been working on protecting communities from coal ash pollution for 15 years and said rain and hurricanes amplified by climate change have exacerbated these threats. And those who live near coal ash dumps, she said, continue to discover cancer at a rate that makes them think, “This cannot be normal.”
“EPA, you know the record,” Cassel said. “You made the record.”
Kristina Zierold, a professor at the University of Mississippi, said she has found that children exposed to coal ash are more likely to suffer from depression and have poorer school performance than children who aren’t exposed.
Zierold said she has been researching the health impacts of coal ash on children since 2011 and was awarded a National Institutes of Health grant in 2015 to investigate coal ash and neurobiological health in children 6 to 14 years old.
She and her research team utilized air pollution and dust sampling in the homes of children to collect coal ash and tested children for neurobehavioral and mental health conditions in multiple ways.
