After much public outcry for the release of information that comprised a “secret list” of “high hazard” dams, the EPA finally made public its list of 44 coal-ash impoundments.

Four of those coal-ash impoundments are here in West Virginia.

In West Virginia, the EPA list included the following facilities listed as "high-hazard" coal-ash dams:

McElroy's Run Embankment at Allegheny Energy's Pleasants Power Station, Willow Island in Pleasants County; a fly ash pond, at John Amos Power plant, near Poca; a fly ash pond at AEP's Mitchell Power plant, near Moundsville; and a fly ash pond at AEP's Philip Sporn plant, near New Haven, Mason County.

EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson initially cited “homeland-security concerns” as the reason for the decision to withhold the information.

Then, three weeks ago, Senate Environment and Public Works Chairwoman Barbara Boxer, criticized the Obama administration for refusing to adhere to the Freedom of Information Act and make public the list of 44 sites EPA and other agencies had identified as "high-hazard" coal-ash dams.

The designation means that were they to fail the result would likely cost human lives in downstream communities, according to officials.

Coal ash, a product of burning coal, along with other coal waste, is added to water, making a sludge, or a slurry.

Last December, two days before Christmas, a coal ash pond broke near Kingston, Tenn., sending 5 million cubic yards of ash and sludge across more than 300 acres, destroying or damaging 40 homes.

The EPA lists more than 400 such impoundments across the country, but the 44 singled out Monday represent those that are near populated areas, posing a higher risk of danger.

In West Virginia, there are more than 110 “coal impoundment facilities” that store some component of coal waste, according to the Coal Impoundment Project.

Eleven coal impoundments are in Boone County, though these are considered “wet” impoundments and hold the water, cleansers and coal particles left after cleaning the extracted coal.

Storage ponds can hold fly ash, bottom ash, coal slag and flue gas residues that contain toxic metals such as arsenic, selenium, cadmium, lead and mercury, although generally at low concentrations.

The incident in Tennessee this past year prompted a review of the safety of such storage ponds that hold the coal-burning waste byproduct near large coal-burning power plants after the TVA facility that held the millions of gallons of slurry broke.

The EPA has promised to institute the first real federal regulation of coal-ash disposal, and Rep. Nick J. Rahall, proposed a separate bill to police the impounding structures or dams based on policies already in place in West Virginia.

The EPA said it will inspect each of the 44 coal ash sites located near communities to make certain they are structurally sound.

The sites are being classified as potentially highly hazardous because they are near where people live and not because of any discovered defect.

The 10 states, the number of sites, and communities are North Carolina, 12 (Belmont, Walnut Cove, Spencer, Eden, Mount Holy, Terrell and Arden); Arizona, 9 (Cochise, Joseph City); Kentucky, 7 (Louisa, Harrodsburg, Ghent and Louisville); Ohio, 6 (Waterford, Brilliant and Cheshire);West Virginia, 4 (Willow Island, St. Albans, Moundsville, New Haven); Illiniois, 2 (Havana, Alton); Indiana, 1 (Lawrenceburg); Pennsylvania, 1 (Shippingport); and Georgia, 1 (Milledgeville); and Montana, 1 (Colstrip).