In Bokoshe, Oklahoma, coal ash is spotted in the grass, trees, cars and even furniture. It drifts in from a pit where a nearby power plant dumps its spent coal.
Residents started complaining about the ash, which contains harmful chemicals like arsenic and lead, to state regulators in 1998 and, eventually, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency got involved. But the EPA’s attempts to regulate coal ash have done little to help Bokoshe and many other towns across the country.
