Coal Ash Chronicles

Stories about America's second-largest waste stream.

Posts tagged coal ash

0 notes

Letter | Santee Cooper should move its toxic coal ash out of Waccamaw River wetlands | Letters to the Editor | MyrtleBeachOnline.com

A decision will be made in the next few months that will affect the reputation, the economy and the natural resources of Conway and the Waccamaw River for decades to come: Will Santee Cooper leave arsenic pollution and 1.3 million tons of toxic coal ash in the wetlands of the Waccamaw River in downtown Conway forever? That is the question before SCDHEC, the courts and Santee Cooper itself.

Filed under coal ash Myrtle Beach SC South Carolina op-ed

1 note

Generally, Congress passes laws with concepts and general standards, and then leaves it to scientists and the regulatory process to establish science based on engineers and other professionals input, not politicians. For coal ash, the utilities want Congress to set the standards and essentially leave it up to the states to implement a program at a level that is essentially the status quo; the inadequate state level of regulation that led to the dam failure in Tennessee in December, 2008. On that day, a retention pond wall collapsed at the Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA) Kingston Plant in Harriman, Tennessee, releasing a combination of water and coal ash that flooded 300 acres or river and shoreline with over a billion gallons of toxic sludge. The dam failure destroyed 12 homes, contaminated the Emory River, and upended untold lives. Instead of spending $25 million to properly handle the toxic waste, the Tennessee Valley Authority thought it would be wise to depend on a dangerous earthen dam. Cleaning up the mess is costing TVA ratepayers over a billion dollars, not millions.

Excerpt from “Sometimes It Isn’t the Perfect Versus the Good — a TSCA Lesson for Coal Ash,” by Scott Slesinger for the Natural Resource Defense Council staff blog, “Switchboard.”

Read the entire post here.

Filed under coal ash legislation NRDC TVA disaster Congress

6 notes

something-left-to-love:

Pervious concrete infiltration demo at the EPA in Edison NJ.

This video is seriously interesting. This is the only kind of cement we should be pouring from now on. Can you imagine how this could lessen the flooding in urban places? Yeah and turn the sound off unless you like listening to safety beeps.

One of the things I’ve learned about concrete made with coal (fly) ash is that it’s more dense than traditional concrete, and less pervious. It’s argued that density is a good thing, and here’s why:

It’s no secret that coal ash is a waste product — it’s what remains after coal is burned to generate electricity. Neither is it a secret that coal ash contains  a long list of elements, including some radioactive elements and many heavy metals.

The theory is that if coal ash is less pervious, and those elements remain encapsulated in the concrete, then they can’t leach out and contaminate air (dust) or water (via run-off).

So, while it’s interesting and good that the concrete featured in the above video can absorb water — because it will slow stormwater run-off that negatively impacts waterways, that feature would be a bad thing where concrete made with coal ash is concerned.

Questions? Ask!

Filed under coal ash concrete beneficial reuse what is in coal ash elements radioactive heavy metals