Greenpeace activists investigate pollution from a coal ash disposal site belonging to the Shentou Number 2 Power Plant, Shuozhou, Shanxi province. Many of the villages around the landfill are very polluted. The villagers have reported the...

Greenpeace activists investigate pollution from a coal ash disposal site belonging to the Shentou Number 2 Power Plant, Shuozhou, Shanxi province. This disposal site does not have any safeguards – not even retaining walls – to protect against...

Greenpeace activists investigate a coal ash disposal site that belongs to the Yuanbaoshan Power Plant, in Chifeng, Inner Mongolia. The disposal site is located in a small valley, which the power plant has divided into more than 10 sections. One...

Zhao Picheng’s home in Shuimotou village has been ruined by the Shentou Number 2 Power Plant, Shuozhou, Shanxi province. Continued leakage from the plant’s coal ash pond has raised groundwater levels, flooding cellars in the village. Extended...

A brooding evening rainstorm partially obscures the Shentou Number 2 Power Plant, Shuozhou, Shanxi province. Its ash pond is in the foreground.

Ash chokes the sky above a coal ash dam owned by the Shentou Number 2 Power Plant, in Shuimotou village, Shuozhou, Shanxi province. With even the lightest wind, the tiny particles take flight, blotting out the sky like a thick sandstorm of ash.

The arrival of the Shentou Number 2 Power Plant's coal ash disposal site has irrevocably changed Mayi Village, which dates back to the Tang dynasty. Leakages from ash ponds have raised the groundwater and flooded the villagers’ cellars; cattle...