Posts tagged EPA
Stories about America's second-largest waste stream.
EPA, firm reach settlement over coal ash dumping
ST. LOUIS (AP) — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is proposing a settlement with a suburban St. Louis company over the unauthorized dumping of 140,000 tons of coal ash.
EPA announces progress in Kingston coal ash cleanup | wbir.com
So much for all of those public hearings and the 450,000 public comments generated by the EPA’s last coal ash regulation proposal. Now the agency is proposing to roll coal ash regs into water pollution guidelines and leaning away from a “hazardous” (or “special”) classification for coal ash.
Read the EPA’s latest proposed regulations here:
http://water.epa.gov/scitech/wastetech/guide/steam-electric/proposed.cfm
EPA: More than half of U.S. rivers unsuitable for aquatic life
Fifty-five percent of U.S. river and stream lengths were in poor condition for aquatic life, largely under threat from runoff contaminated by fertilizers, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said on Tuesday.
High levels of phosphorus and nitrogen, runoff from urban areas, shrinking ground cover and pollution from mercury and bacteria were putting the 1.2 million miles of streams and rivers surveyed under stress, the EPA said.
hydrology is a fun subject to study, as is environmental law. It is tough to regulate something you are forbidden to regulate.
#WaterChat with EPA happening NOW on Twitter
We’re excited for our Twitter chat with @epawater chief Nancy Stoner today at 2pm ET. Hope you can make it! Use #waterchat to participate.
— U.S. EPA Water (@EPAwater) March 28, 2013
Still no EPA report on coal ash in Alaska
In Sept. 2011, Teresa DeLima petitioned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regarding black dust in her family’s home and its neighborhood. Both are located across the street from the Aurora Energy coal plant in Fairbanks, Alaska.
The EPA conducted sampling tests in the area a year later, in Sept. 2012.
Several months ago, I and other reporters were told that the results of those tests would be released this spring. When asked for a more specific date, I was told they couldn’t be more specific.
Since it is officially springtime, I called the EPA’s region 10 office in Seattle, Washington — the office that oversees EPA functions in Alaska.
I was told that the report still isn’t ready for release and that there is no estimated date for the release.
So, we continue to wait.
Illinois U.S. Senator Dick Durbin is crying foul over a proposal by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that would allow a coal-fired ferry to keep running.
WBEZ’s Lewis Wallace reports.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons/Zizmonz
Beneficial use of coal ash
Alrighty, listen up:
Folks don’t seem to understand the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s stance on the “beneficial use” of coal ash — or either they are intentionally trying to mislead the public.
So let’s go over it word-for-word, shall we? Though, if you don’t get anything else out of this post, remember this quote from the EPA: “EPA continues to strongly support the safe and protective beneficial use of CCRs,”
(CCRs = coal combustion residuals, or coal.ash.)
This is text taken directly from the EPA’s Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) section of their website dealing with the two coal ash regulations the agency proposed in 2010, but still hasn’t implemented. Heck, it’s even added an extra section to the FAQs just for beneficial use …
Okay, here we go:
COAL - BURNING UTILITIES SEEK A ROLE IN EPA RULE - MAKING ON GREENHOUSE GAS EMMISSIONS
By
Lobbyists for coal-burning utilities such as Southern Co. and Duke Energy are consulting environmental advocates and holding strategy sessions as they seek a role in shaping President Obama’s plan to combat climate change.
Obama’s emphasis on global warming in his inaugural address last month has led power and coal producers, which have fought regulation of greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, to begin crafting their own proposed rules.
“It was the hope of a lot of companies in this sector that the president would be defeated,” Manik Roy, vice president for strategic outreach at the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, an Arlington-based energy and environment policy group, said in an interview. “Now that the president has raised this as such a high issue, you’d be absolutely nuts not to be in there trying to engage constructively.”
Groups such as the National Mining Association (NMA), which has sued to block or overturn Environmental Protection Agency rules in the past, appear to be taking a less confrontational approach now. The association for producers such as Arch Coal Inc. and Peabody Energy called last year’s EPA proposal that would have effectively outlawed new coal-fired power plants that lack carbon-capture technology “unprecedented and unlawful.”
For the next round of rule-making, the group is considering proposing its own regulations.
“We are looking at it internally here with our members to see if there are particular pathways that work better and can keep coal as a vibrant part of the electricity portfolio,” Hal Quinn, the NMA president, told reporters on Jan. 28. “That’s a very important question.
Makeup, Bowling Balls, and Other Toxic Products You Use The EPA wants to classify coal ash as hazardous waste—and you can find it in your home, backyard, and medicine cabinet. -- Mother Jones
Snippet from the article by Kate Sheppard for Mother Jones:
Every year, coal-fired power plants generate about 130 million tons of coal ash—leftover sludge containing arsenic, mercury, and lead. The industry recycles around 55 million tons of the stuff annually, sticking it into a variety of products, from cement to cosmetics. No wonder it wasn’t too happy about an EPA proposal to classify coal ash as hazardous waste. Here’s where you can find recycled coal ash, in order of increasing creepiness.
