Two years ago, a massive coal-ash spill in Tennessee awakened Americans to the fact that the billion tons of coal we use each year doesn’t vanish into thin air when it’s burned. In 2008 alone,
U.S. power plants produced nearly 100 million tons of coal ash; combined with other coalburning residues, such as gypsum, the total was 133 million tons.
Much of that waste is mixed with water and kept in clay-lined ponds, often remarkably close to rivers, underground wells, and residential areas. On Dec. 22, 2008, at the Tennessee Valley
Authority’s Kingston Fossil Plant, a dike broke and released 1.1 billion gallons of ash slurry.
The ash spilled into the Emory River and inundated 300 acres of surrounding land. It was the largest fly-ash release in U.S. history, causing an estimated $3 billion in damages. And it could happen again, at another plant – reports have identified high-risk ash ponds across the country.
Plus even when it doesn’t spill, coal ash disposal can be hazardous to your health: In many communities, concerns about groundwater contamination have been raised.
Lisa P. Jackson, head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, vowed to ensure no disaster like the TVA spill ever occurs again. Coal ash disposal, she argued, should be regulated to protect the public – and since early 2009, EPA has been working toward that goal.
But it’s not an easy process. Since 1980, coal ash has been excluded from regulation as a hazardous waste under the so-called Bevill Amendment to the Resource Conservation and
Recovery Act (RCRA), though the measure also asked EPA to conduct an in-depth study to identify any risks associated with coal ash. In 1993, EPA issued a report concluding that coal ash isn’t hazardous; in 2000, after another review, it made the same determination.
This time around, EPA first proposed classifying coal ash as a “hazardous waste” and regulating it under RCRA’s Subtitle C, then backed off under pressure from the industry and suggested calling it a “special” waste, still regulated under Subtitle C but with customized provisions. As an alternative, it has proposed regulating coal ash as a “nonhazardous waste” under Subtitle D, which is only enforceable by the states or through citizen lawsuits, or through even less-stringent rules under Subtitle D, labeled as “D prime.”