In 2014, a storm water pipe located under a coal ash impoundment along the Dan River in North Carolina failed, releasing approximately 39,000 tons of coal ash into the river. To assess the impact of this spill on soil properties, a CURE (Course-based Undergraduate Research Experience) course was taught in 2015 and 2018. In 2015, significant differences were found in the abiotic and biotic properties of impacted soils. This study, resampling the same locations, found significant differences remain in the concentrations of phosphorous, calcium, total exchange capacity, and certain nitrogen species. Impacted sites have significantly lower microbial abundance, significantly different phylogenetic make-ups; similar, but non-significant, decreases in dehydrogenase activity; and significantly different levels of bacterial resistance to low concentrations of chromium. Given the ongoing risk of coal ash spills into North Carolina waterways, including those most recently caused by hurricanes Florence and Michael, these findings could have important implications for the potential impact of such spills upon soil microbes within similar riparian ecosystems.