Another Coal Ash Spill -- This Time in Lake Michigan

How many more coal ash spills need to happen before Americans are protected by coal ash safeguards? The latest happened Monday in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, at the We Energies Oak Creek Power Plant.

Thankfully there were no injuries when "(a) large section of bluff collapsed Monday next to the We Energies Oak Creek Power Plant, sending dirt, coal ash and mud cascading into the shoreline next to Lake Michigan and dumping a pickup truck, dredging equipment, soil and other debris into the lake."

The ridge was made of coal ash, and a We Energies spokesperson said some coal ash did spill into Lake Michigan. The photos of the site are sad, and they also make me angry.

In 2008's Tennessee Valley Authority coal ash disaster, we witnessed first-hand how a lack of strong national protections leaves the job of handling coal ash with state regulators who lack the will and ability to protect communities from coal ash.  

And since the TVA disaster, the industry has been lobbying hard to block the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from establishing new protections, arguing, they say, that states are doing a fine job regulating coal ash. As a result, communities across the nation remain at risk and unprotected.  

Just two weeks ago the industry successfully lobbied the U.S. House of Representatives to pass a bill stripping the EPA of the authority to protect Americans from coal ash. 

Monday's collapse on Lake Michigan is particularly troublesome because We Energies has known for years that its management of coal ash at this facility was a threat to human health. Indeed, they have been providing bottled water to neighbors whose wells have been contaminated.

This Great Lakes collapse is a tragic reminder of why the status quo is not good enough. As long as Congress interferes, spills -- some deadly -- are going to happen, and dozens of communities are at risk. Congress needs to back off, and the EPA needs to finalize strong protections.

Monday's Lake Michigan coal ash collapse shows that states are not protecting our health and our environment from cancer-causing coal ash, and as long as EPA fails to act, there will be more coal ash destruction.

 

Follow Mary Anne Hitt on Twitter: www.twitter.com/maryannehitt

Comments

[MrBIgp]

02:51 PM on 11/04/2011

Where ever we have a coal plant, we could replace it with a Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor plant (LFTR) of several time the capacity. On ton of thorium would replace 3.5 million tons of coal.
http://youtu.be/P9M__yYbsZ4
An interesting side note: the thorium in one years worth of fly ash could produce the same electricity for 13 years in a LFTR.

[Michael Mann]

06:18 PM on 11/02/2011

Another reason to use clean, safe, nuclear energy instead of dirty coal and explosive natural gas.

[Polypmaster]

11:49 AM on 11/03/2011

Agreed. The one thing I can agree with the Sierra Club and Greeenpeace about is reducing our reliance on fossil fuels, especially coal. As America has a huge supply of coal, I wish it were a cleaner source of energy, but alas it is not. Coal is far more destructive than most people realize, not only in emissions, but in mining and waste disposal.

[Rmtns]

10:47 AM on 11/04/2011

Why do large lobbying firms like Sierra Club and Green Peace have any credibility?

[FunkyP]

08:46 PM on 11/03/2011

Fukushima?

[hanspij]

06:19 AM on 11/04/2011

Bad example. You hardly can blame somebody for not having the generators on a dry high place , like the roof or so:)
But why not just stop using so damn great amount of energy?Only 350 milj ppl use over 25% of world energy.So let the waste also be a happy part of that. And when you cant handle that, stop making it.

[Michael Mann]

01:50 PM on 11/04/2011

Fukushima, 7 months after the earthquake and tsunami killed over 15,000 people and how many casualties from radiation? ZERO that's correct, no workers, no member of the public has been killed by radiation. 5 Workers have died at the plant, 1 was in his crane when the earthquake tipped it over, 2 drowned in the tsunami and 2 had heart attacks while working in high stress conditions, while tragic it doesn't seem to be the scary "nuclear boogieman" that is causing the danger.
http://thenewamerican.com/tech-mainmenu-30/environment/9537-no-fukushima-radiation-deaths-no-surprises

[David Durham]

12:56 PM on 11/02/2011

There's a scene in Animal House where the character Otto tries to comfort another character, Flounder, regarding the trashing of Flounder's brother's beautiful car. The car was pretty much destroyed after a night of partying with Flounder's frat-brothers. Otto says. "Hey, you f@#ked-up, you trusted us." This pretty much sums up metaphorically this country's relationship with corporations and people who care about the environment. Every time we are told to trust them they f@#k us.