Earth Equity News

Coal Ash Spill Revives Issue of Its Hazards. By Shaila Dewan, NYTimes, December 24, 2008. "What may be the nation's largest spill of coal ash lay thick and largely untouched over hundreds of acres of land and waterways Wednesday after a dam broke this week, as officials and environmentalists argued over its potential toxicity... The spill took place at the Kingston Fossil Plant, a Tennessee Valley Authority generating plant about 40 miles west of Knoxville on the banks of the Emory River... A draft report last year by the federal EPA found that fly ash, a byproduct of the burning of coal to produce electricity, does contain significant amounts of carcinogens and retains the heavy metal present in coal in far higher concentrations. The report found that the concentrations of arsenic to which people might be exposed through drinking water contaminated by fly ash could increase cancer risks several hundredfold. Similarly, a 2006 study by the federally chartered National Research Council found that these coal-burning byproducts 'often contain a mixture of metals and other constituents in sufficient quantities that they may pose public health and environmental concerns if improperly managed.' The study said 'risks to human health and ecosystems' might occur when these contaminants entered drinking water supplies or surface water bodies. In 2000, the Environmental Protection Agency proposed stricter federal controls of coal ash, but backed away in the face of fierce opposition from utilities, the coal industry, and Clinton administration officials. At the time, the Edison Electric Institute, an association of power utilities, estimated that the industry would have to spend up to $5 billion in additional cleanup costs if the substance were declared hazardous. Since then, environmentalists have urged tighter federal standards, and the E.P.A. is reconsidering its decision not to classify the waste as hazardous."