EPA identifies dangerous coal ash sites

Environmental group Earthjustice reports that Michigan is one of 18 states to have new coal ash containment sites classified as “significant hazards” by the EPA in recently released data. In a press release, the organization says:

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s latest release of data concerning coal ash ponds reveals a threefold increase in the number of significant-hazard rated coal ash ponds. This nightmare scenario comes as legislation passed by the House of Representatives and introduced in the Senate proposes to completely castrate the EPA’s ability to set federally enforceable safeguards for proper coal ash disposal.

“Coal ash ponds are threatening hundreds of communities and their drinking water supplies, but the current approach in Congress is to ignore the problem and hope it goes away,” said Earthjustice attorney Lisa Evans.

The EPA is rating coal ash ponds according to a National Inventory of Dams (NID) criteria that categorizes the ponds by the damage that would occur if the pond collapses. Coal ash ponds are usually earthen structures holding back millions of tons of toxic coal ash and water. This month, the EPA recently released a new set of data that reveals 181 “significant” hazard dams in 18 states. This is more than three times the 60 significant-hazard ponds listed in the original database released in 2009. In addition to the increase in the number of significant hazard-rated ponds, eight of the previously unrated coal ash ponds were found to be high hazard ponds in information released by the EPA earlier this year. Because of the switch in ratings after the EPA inspections, the total number of high hazard ponds has stayed roughly the same at a total of 47 ponds nationwide…

Eighteen states gained significant hazard ponds: AL, GA, IL, IN, LA, KS, KY, MI, MO, MS, MT, NC, ND, OH, SC, VA, WI, and WY. Forty-two of the 112 newly identified significant hazard ponds (about one third) received a poor rating after inspection by the EPA.

All of this comes as the U.S. House of Representatives considers legislation that would forbid the federal government from regulating the safety of coal ash ponds, which often contain millions of tons of toxic material. In December, 2008 a coal ash pond in Kingston, Tennessee had a catastrophic leak of more than a billion gallons of toxic slurry that contaminated 300 acres and polluted local rivers.

Rep. Fred Upton (R-St. Joseph), chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, supports the bill to strip the EPA of the power to regulate coal ash ponds. The committee passed the bill in July but it has not yet been voted on by the full House.