Southern Co/The

Southern Company operates a coal-fired power generation fleet that has caused extensive documented environmental damage. The company’s Plant Scherer in Georgia, one of the largest coal plants in the United States, is a significant source of coal ash and wastewater contamination. Southern’s subsidiary Georgia Power has faced regulatory action for groundwater contamination from coal ash ponds at multiple sites, including Plant Bowen and Plant Wansley, where monitoring has shown exceedances of groundwater protection standards for heavy metals like arsenic and lead.

The environmental impact extends beyond air emissions to soil and water contamination. Southern has been implicated in coal ash spills, including a 2008 incident at its Widows Creek plant in Alabama, where a dike failure released ash into the Tennessee River. The company’s coal ash management practices have resulted in it being listed as a potentially responsible party at multiple EPA Superfund sites. This pattern of documented ecological harm from its operations—spanning groundwater pollution, surface water contamination, and legacy coal ash disposal—places Southern Company under this exclusion.