Environmental groups respond to new EPA coal ash rules

The EPA released two proposals for new rules on the handling of coal ash this week, but environmental groups are not too happy with the result. A coalition that includes Earthjustice, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Environmental Integrity Project, Sierra Club and the Southern Environmental Law Center said in a press release that even the better of the proposed rules “stops short of giving clear protections for communities.”

EPA proposed two options to regulate coal ash: a plan to classify coal ash as hazardous waste and another to regulate it as non-hazardous. The difference between the two is stark, and environmental groups are hopeful that the agency will make the right decision and finalize strong, federally enforceable coal ash safeguards that use the strongest limits of the law to protect the communities living near coal ash sites…

For years, power and coal companies have been dumping poisonous coal ash into unlined landfills and unsafe ponds. Last August, EPA rated 49 coal ash sites across the country as ‘high hazard’ sites, meaning a failure will probably cause loss of human life. The problems surrounding coal ash ponds and landfills are staggering and continue to compound as the agency begins to scrutinize many of these forgotten sites. In February, environmental groups identified 31 additional coal ash contamination sites in 14 states.

“This is certainly a win of sorts, in that the EPA is finally making strides to regulate coal ash as hazardous waste,” said Trip Van Noppen, executive director for Earthjustice. “Their inclusion of an option to regulate coal ash as hazardous waste is an important first step. The next important step will be to maintain this position in the face of inevitably misguided claims by polluters that the sky will fall under this new regulatory environment. The science is clear that coal ash is hazardous waste, and we are confident this administration will stand by its commitment to follow the science in its policy decisions.”

“The unregulated dumping of coal ash has already contaminated groundwater, creeks and wetlands at more than 100 sites across the U.S. with arsenic and other heavy metals,” said Eric Schaeffer, executive director for Environmental Integrity Project. “These pollutants are dangerous to human health, toxic to fish and other aquatic life, and notoriously difficult to clean up. EPA’s proposal finally acknowledges these risks, and we look forward to a final rule with federally enforceable standards to protect the public from the hazards of coal ash.”

One of those problematic sites is the Karn Weadock coal-fired power plant, where Consumers Energy has a massive coal ash landfill that has already contaminated the local groundwater with 44 times the federal limit for arsenic and other chemicals.