EPA Reveals Dangerous Coal Ash Sites

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The Environmental Protection Agency released on Monday afternoon a list of 44 "high hazard potential" coal ash sites that the federal government had previously insisted be kept secret.

At a June 12 press conference, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) said the Department of Homeland Security and the Army Corps of Engineers had placed a "huge muzzle" on her staff regarding the coal ash sites.

A coalition of environmental groups, including Earthjustice and the Sierra Club, had pressed for the release of the information in a Freedom of Information Act request. Earthjustice praised the EPA in a press release for disclosing the sites. But Lisa Evans, an attorney with Earthjustice, isn't totally satisfied.

"It is laudable for the EPA to respond to our FOIA," Evans told the Huffington Post. "But now that we can see the list, it raises questions. Like why some are not on the list."

In addition to the 44 coal sites that have been designated "high hazard," there are hundreds more that could pose environmental and health risks.

Evans noted that there are no Tennessee facilities on the list. Boxer called a recent massive coal ash spill from the Kingston Fossil Plant in Tennessee 100 times worse than the Exxon-Valdez oil spill.

"There are no [Tennessee Valley Authority] facilities on the list," said Evans. "While I personally knew the TVA Kingston facility would not be there, I expected some of the other TVA sites to be included."

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The EPA said in a release that the agency will "require appropriate action" at any facility that is found to pose a risk.

"The presence of liquid coal ash impoundments near our homes, schools and business could pose a serious risk to life and property in the event of an impoundment rupture" said EPA administrator Lisa Jackson in a statement. "By compiling a list of these facilities, EPA will be better able to identify and reduce potential risks by working with states and local emergency responders."

According to the EPA's fact sheet, "A high hazard potential rating indicates that a failure will probably cause loss of human life. The rating is not an indication of the structural integrity of the unit or the possibility that a failure will occur in the future; it merely allows dam safety and other officials to determine where significant damage or loss of life may occur if there is a structural failure of the unit."

 

 

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Comments

[BannedNBoston]

OBAMA CLEAN COAL BIAS is good for you1

[RexOzone]

A smoking gun in the form of an ash pond aimed at all our head (waters). Evil doers, what?

[Jamie Kowalski]

We must all weigh the cost of these things letting loose their death smoothies vs. the supposed spike in energy costs Repub Senators are up in arms against in the energy bill.

There are costs, and then there are *costs*.

[Sumocat]

Again, I say who cares where they are; let's focus on putting the ash back underground where we got it.

[helonias]

So who are the real evil doers putting Americans at risk?

[RTIII]

"Clean coal" advocates, that's who.
.

[surlyguvna]

Hey, coal is clean...oh, except for the massive ash ponds. Its 100% safe...except for when one of these dams goes all acky breaky and kills everyone below them. Isn't the future of coal awesome? Just don't look at all the impending lawsuits on the Horizon...see you all in court!

[tomasedison]

CLEAN COAL is the biggest lie going on today. It was invented by a PR guy from the cigarette industry.

[frantaylor]

Click on those "clean coal" links.

Every time you click on their link, they have to PAY.

Make them PAY.

[hoobit]

Woo-hoo! A very local-to-me city made the list! {I feel like Steve Martin in "The Jerk"...finding his name in the phone book and getting all excited- "I'm famous!"}

The local power plant, one of the dirtiest in the entire nation emissions-wise, has all of its PR folks out doing overtime on the story. They are insisting the holding pond is perfectly safe because they inspect it monthly and the EPA inspects it yearly. They also say, that, yes, it is in the middle of a whole community, but...

They are spinning it all sunshine and daisies and happy children and rainbows and ice cream and balloons and... Gaack! Give me a friggin' break! It's a coal ash site chock-full of slurried poisons and noxious materials! It has a "high hazard potential" rating, for heaven's sake - the "ash pond" sits mere yards away from a lake used for recreation ...and that feeds into a river that runs the right into the ocean. The lake is also a source of water for the city (once its been cleaned of the 'usual' stuff that can be filtered/cleaned out to make it potable.)

Methinks great praises should go to Senator Boxer for making the EPA 'fess up to these sites. Now if we can just get the profit-hungry power plant to clean up ITS act...

[mudshark12]

Here's that link again:

http://projects.publicintegrity.org/coalash/

[mudshark12]

Or was it my comment on the lame energy bill?

[mudshark12]

Maybe it was the link to coal ash country I posted?

[mudshark12]

I guess I got a little to radical for huffpost, sorry, my bad.

[rshrink]

And yet in Kansas, once the fake Democratic replacement for Sebellius took over, within hours he was cooking up a deal with the Mining, Transportation, Energy company (Sunflower) to build yet another coal fired plant in Western Kansas, one in which the great majority of energy produced will go outside of Kansas. Once again, the begs the question, "What's the Matter with Kansas?" The answer is, it is ran by Republicans who deny global warming and support big corporations, at the expense of everyone and everthing else.

[babyboomerorig]

Who is responsible? Is it the companies? (Some) How about EPA? (Yep) Is it the government for deregulating so much in the past 20 years? (Definitely)

We know that almost any corporation is going to get by with whatever they can and without "big brother" watching over them, they just keep taking short cuts that nobody calls them on or that fines are reduced to the point that it's cheaper to pay them than to clean up our enviornment.

For years Washington and Corporate America didn't give a d***.

[nance72]

For years Washington and Corporate America didn't give a d*** SND STILL DON'T.

[Kybernaught]

OKYou give the smallest blame (some) to the companies. But then you give the biggest blame (definitly) to the govt for deregulating the companies. This is a big deal, yes, but IF Govt Dergulated them and they did things that are bad like this, then the companies deserve more blame than the govt. I think you should rethink and revise that list to be EPA (some blame), Govt Deregulating the industry(Yep,they are to blame too) and The COmpanies (are DEFINITELY to blame).