Proposal would restrict disposal of coal fly ash
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Tim and Janet Schivley of Washington, Pa., rally on Tuesday at Mellon Square in support of coal jobs. The rally was organized by the Common Sense Movement, a group of individuals and businesses committed to protecting the jobs and ensuring the vitality of the local coal and natural gas industries.
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A federal proposal that would impose tough new controls on coal fly ash disposal was endorsed by environmentalists and people living near ash impoundments at a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency public hearing in Pittsburgh on Tuesday.
But industry and power plant officials said the regulation is unnecessary and burdensome.
Marty Leedy, of Columbus, Ohio-based American Electric Power, said the proposal to label fly ash a "special waste" but treat it as a hazardous waste under federal law amounts to "regulatory overkill." Such a rule change will "cripple" the industry, stigmatize reuse of coal ash in construction materials, kill jobs, raise construction costs and raise customer rates, he said.
However, Jeremy Ulery testified that state regulators aren't properly overseeing a coal refuse site in his hometown of La Belle, Fayette County, that he said is polluting the community with fly ash and causing health problems for residents.
"We live in an old coal town, but we're human and entitled to protections we're not getting," said Mr. Ulery, one of 160 scheduled speakers at the day-long hearing. "The state isn't paying enough attention. We need federal controls."
The EPA is proposing to federally regulate coal ash for the first time in response to risks to groundwater and drinking water supplies from toxics leaching from impoundments and dry landfills and recent structural failures. In 2008, the collapse of a Tennessee Valley Authority ash impoundment near Kingston, Tenn., flooded more than 300 acres of land with coal ash slurry and flowed into the Emory and Clinch rivers.
The EPA will select one of two rule proposals. One, Subtitle C, would designate coal fly ash as a "special waste" but regulate it under federal hazardous waste rules, phase out use of existing wet slurry impoundments and ensure the structural integrity of the impoundments through increased inspection and monitoring. The second proposal, under Subtitle D of the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, would regulate fly ash as a non-hazardous waste and provides for no federal enforcement. It would be enforced through citizen lawsuits.
First Published September 22, 2010 12:00 am
