Posts tagged Keystone
Stories about America's second-largest waste stream.
Coal ash as a solidifier for the Keystone XL's waste? -
Regardless of the air and water pollution getting out and about into northern Alberta and beyond, there remains the large problem of what to do with all those tailings lakes, which will take decades if not longer to settle enough to allow cleanup. New technologies may help speed up that process, such as using plastics or coal ash to help solidify the muck or even spinning it in centrifuges to wring out the water. But, even after such reclamation, pollution will remain a concern.
The bill passed today doesn’t just kick the can down the road – it ties the livelihoods of millions of Americans to the pet projects of the dirty energy industry, including the costly and dangerous Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, and stiff arms public input on transportation projects that will significantly impact communities. Just as reckless, the bill also would also put a weak and dangerous scheme in place that requires more protections on household trash than toxic coal ash, even though coal ash pollution leads to health risks like cancer, neurological disorders, birth defects, reproductive failure, asthma and other serious illnesses. The three million Americans whose jobs are on the line deserve an explanation from Boehner: how does allowing cancer-causing coal ash pollution have anything to do with transportation?
LaHood was critical of the transportation measure that is scheduled to appear before the House on Wednesday.
LaHood called the bill, H.R. 4348, a “big Christmas tree,” but he also the measure would “probably pass.
“They’ve loaded it up with everything they think will assuage their members,” LaHood said of Republican leaders in the House, who have resisted holding a vote on a two-year, $109 billion transportation measure that has been passed by the Senate.
“Look what they’ve loaded it up with,” LaHood continued. “Keystone, coal ash — none of it has anything to do with transportation.”
