GLOBAL CHALLENGES

Was Tennessee Coal Ash Spill 'Hazardous'?

Dave Greenfield | Date: 02-22-10 | Comments

Coal ash spills are dangerous and toxic, so why hasn�t the EPA declared them as hazardous?

It must have seemed like Armageddon: Trees snapped like twigs, houses were torn off their foundations, power was knocked out, and everything was covered with a viscous black mud. This scene, straight out of a horror movie, played out when the Tennessee Valley Authority�s Kingston Fossil Plant spewed millions of cubic yards of coal ash into the surrounding town. A year later, the Obama administration has yet to decide if coal ash waste is �hazardous.�

It would seem to be an easy question to answer: Billions of gallons of water were contaminated and coal dust permeated the air. Chemicals and harmful metals were introduced to the air, land and water surrounding the TVA plant. But �hazardous� here is a political label with political ramifications.

If the EPA declares that coal ash is hazardous, it would throw into place strict regulations of the coal industry, including requiring landfill liners, groundwater monitoring and leak controls at coal ash dumps. It would likely ban wet storage ponds, like the one that broke free at the TVA Kingston plant. The cost of ash disposal would add an extra $10 billion to $15 billion burden to the coal industry.

Beyond this, however, �beneficial use� proponents say that such a move would jeopardize an ash recycling program that brings in billions of dollars in revenue for the coal industry each year.

Almost half of the ash generated by the industry is reused to fill mines and make concrete to secure eroding embankments on highways. The coalition that sets material and building standards in the United States, the American Society for Testing and Materials International, told the EPA in no uncertain terms that it would not support the use of coal ash if it is deemed hazardous.

But Jeff Stant, director of the Environmental Integrity Project�s effort to regulate coal combustion waste, says, �I have never seen the first study or piece of data to substantiate the claim that there would be this stigma that would stop recycling of coal ash. It�s important to note that the people who have been making that claim are the ones who have a financial interest in not having the designation.�

Many, including Earthjustice attorney Lisa Evans, hope that the EPA gives coal ash a designation as hazardous and imposes strong disposal regulations but encourages recycling efforts. �People are acting as if this is the first time that hazardous waste would ever re-enter the stream of commerce. That�s really far from true,� Evans notes, arguing that other hazardous wastes, like spent solvents, are routinely recycled.

The EPA�s self-set deadline for its decision of December 2009 has come and gone, and it is still wrestling with the question of how to say that coal ash is hazardous but allow and encourage recycling.