The Red, White, and Green

Photo via Flickr: Rennett Stowe

Last week’s coal mine disaster in West Virginia may prove the impetus for stricter government enforcement of mine safety regulations — and let’s hope it does, for no American worker should have to face the increased likelihood of death or serious injury so that a company can save a quick buck.

But with increased scrutiny of the coal mining industry and the safety of its workers, we also need to start talking about another, more insidious, coal disaster that’s affecting the American public at large: toxic coal ash.

A byproduct of burning coal (which produces nearly half of our nation’s electricity), coal ash contains harmful contaminants like mercury, arsenic, lead, and boron. Of course, you wouldn’t want a known carcinogen like arsenic in your drinking water, but that’s exactly what’s happening: Unbelievably, the Environmental Protection Agency has yet to issue a ruling as to whether or not coal ash is a hazardous material.

As such, the power plants that produce this gunk can dump it anywhere they see fit — usually in large waste ponds located near residential communities — inevitably polluting drinking water and sickening the people nearby.

Most of us remember the horrific Tennessee power plant spill in 2008 that half-buried a community and contaminated its water supply with nearly 5.4 million cubic yards of coal ash, but smaller-scale “spills” are happening nearly every day, all across the country, and largely under the radar: In one Alabama town, describes a resident, “Trucks unload the ash within 200 feet away from people’s homes. They are also intentionally washing it off train cars and trucks into a stream…The landfill was pumping this toxic leachate over roads and down into public ditches at night.”

In Oklahoma, another small town with 20 homes located near a coal ash waste pit has seen 14 of its residents stricken with cancer.

How did I hear these stories? Because the letters containing them, which have been made public on the Ohio Citizen Action website, have been sent to Cass Sunstein, Obama’s regulatory czar, in the hopes that he will move forward with EPA’s proposed rules to regulate coal ash disposal. The regulation has been pending since Oct. 16, amidst holdup by Sunstein’s Office of Information of Regulatory Affairs.

Yesterday, a delegation of coal ash victims traveled to Washington and met with OIRA staff members to share their stories — two staff members from EPA also sat in on the meeting — but no Sunstein. And no indication as to what or when the OIRA’s decision will be.

–Jennifer Grayson

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