After the recent failure of two large dams containing coal ash in Tennessee and Alabama, the state Department of Environmental Protection announced yesterday it will reinspect all coal ash slurry dams and ponds in Pennsylvania.

DEP Acting Secretary John Hanger said the field inspections of 10 coal ash dams large enough to require permits will be done by the end of the month and 31 other "high-hazard" coal waste impoundments will be inspected over the next six months.

In addition, the department will inspect a Westmoreland County dam containing chemical sludge this month.

"We are committed to doing everything in our power to avoid a similar catastrophe and to protect the health and safety of Pennsylvanians living near these structures," Mr. Hanger said.

Coal ash comes from coal-fired power plants and the impoundments where it is stored can contain high levels of toxic chemicals that can contaminate ground water or, if a dam fails, bury nearby communities and pollute streams and rivers.

On the list of dams slated for inspection this month are Little Blue Run Dam, Beaver County; Cooling Pond A, Armstrong County; Mill Service No. 6, Westmoreland County; Holtwood Ash Basin No. 2, Lancaster County; Montour Ash Basin, Montour County; Martin's Creek Ash Basin No. 1 and Martin Creek Ash Basin No. 4, Northampton County; Sunbury Ash Pond Nos. 1, 2 and 3, Snyder County; and Brunner Island Ash Basin No. 6, York County.

All but the Westmoreland County facility contain coal ash slurry, a powdery coal ash in a mixture with water.

Little Blue Run, which stores coal ash from FirstEnergy's Bruce Mansfield power plant in Shippingport, Beaver County, is about 30 miles northwest of Pittsburgh and is the biggest coal ash dam in the East, covering 1,300 acres. It's 30 times bigger than the Tennessee Valley Authority ash dam in Eastern Tennessee that ruptured Dec. 22 and sent 1.1 billion gallons of coal ash sludge through communities and into the Emory River.

Five of the state's 10 permitted coal ash dams are classified as "high hazard" dams, meaning they pose a risk to lives or property if they were to rupture.

"While all five of the high hazard dams in the state have been inspected in the last year by the owner's engineer as required by law and by the department, I want to make sure that our department is taking the precautions necessary to keep our communities, businesses and families safe," Mr. Hanger said.

Environmentalists have been critical of the lax regulation of wet coal ash storage in many states and called for federal regulation of the ash as a hazardous waste and the estimated 1,300 coal combustion waste reservoirs and ponds.