Laurie Wheelock

February 20, 2009

On Thursday February 12, 2009, the House Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources held a hearing on a bill establishing federal regulations for coal ash. Representative Nick Rahall, D-W.V., sponsored the bill and prefaced its importance by comparing the current state of coal ash storage across the United States as being similar to "a ticking time bomb." Representative Rahall was particularly concerned with the prospect of leaving regulations up to each state, "The electric utility industry generates 131 million tons of coal ash each year. Yet the disposal of this massive amount of material is the subject of a patchwork of state regulation, some very good, some not so good, some bordering on the nonexistent."

Coal ash is currently unregulated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). States are left with the burden to regulate the material but environmental groups have described many of the standards as insufficient to protect human health and the environment. Coal ash consists of the pollutants, including heavy metals such as arsenic, lead, mercury and selenium, collected by coal burning power plant technology at the stack. The coal ash is captured before being released into the air but there are no federal regulations regarding the disposal or treatment of the ash following its capture. A majority of power plants store the coal ash in retaining units. Once the units are full, coal ash is usually buried and capped. This disposal process is often criticized due to the high probability that the toxic substances will leach into surrounding soil and ground water.

Legislators went to work on the bill following the breach of a coal ash retention pond at the Tennessee Valley Authority's Kingston Fossil Plant back in December. The breach resulted in approximately 1.1 billion gallons of coal ash being released into the Emory River. The sludge also covered over 300 acres of land and in some areas was as high as nine feet. Recent water samples of the Emory River indicate that arsenic levels are higher than safe drinking water standards permit in the area closest to the spill. The Tennessee Valley Authority released a statement last week indicating that cleanup efforts could reach as much as 825 million dollars.

The coal ash bill was received with a mix of opinion. Representative Doug Lamborn, R-Colo., approached the bill with caution stating, "the bill amounts to an unfunded mandate and would unnecessarily muddle existing regulations." John Craynon, an Interior's Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM) official, testified that the bill would be too expansive for OSM to manage, "This new program would apply not just to those areas with coal mining activity but also to a new universe of materials and sites beyond active and abandoned coal mine sites." Following the hearing, Representative Rahall told reporters that he planned to bring the bill to a committee vote soon.

Sources:

Coal-Ash Disposal Rule Needed, Chattanooga Times Free Press, Feb. 16, 2009, available at

http://timesfreepress.com/news/2009/feb/16/coal-ash-disposal-rule-needed/?opiniontimes

Duncan Mansfiled, Cleaning Tenn. spill could cost $825m, The Boston Globe, Feb. 15, 2009, available at

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2009/02/15/cleaning_tenn_spill_could_cost_825m/

Duncan Mansfield, TVA chief says coal ash spill was 'catastrophe', The Associated Press, Feb. 14, 2009, available at

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hGhem1jWBFw32ZRkKpRX58dyENAD96BGL108

Herman Wang, Tennessee: Coal ash regulation bill pushed in wake of TVA spill, Chattanooga Times Free Press, Feb. 13, 2009, available at

http://timesfreepress.com/news/2009/feb/13/tennessee-coal-ash-regulation-bill-pushed-wake-tva/.

Shaila Dewan, Hundreds of Coal Ash Dumps Lack Regulation, The New York Times, Jan. 2, 2009, available at http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/07/us/07sludge.html