Groups Say EPA Missed Contaminated Coal Ash Sites

By: Clean Skies News; compiled from other sources, Published: 02/25/10 2:30pm

The EPA is working on new regulations for coal ash, but two environmental groups say the agency isn't doing enough.

The Coal Combustion Waste Initiative for Environmental Integrity Project and Earthjustice say the EPA has missed dozens of cases where coal ash may have polluted the surrounding area. The groups say they have found 31 sites in 14 states -- areas they say aren't on the EPA's recent list of 71 contaminated sites.

The agency produced the list in December, about a year after a Tennessee Valley Authority coal ash dam ruptured in December 2008, spilling about 1 billion gallons of sludge across 300 acres.

"While the catastrophic spill at TVA's Kingston plant has become the poster child for the damage that coal ash can wreak, there are hundreds of leaking sites throughout the United States where the damage is deadly, but far less conspicuous," said Jeff Stant, director of the Coal Combustion Waste Initiative.

The groups identified the sites by assembling data from state records and citizen complaints. The criteria were similar to sites the EPA had already identified.

In the area surrounding nearly half of the 31 sites, the report states that dangerous chemicals -- including arsenic, selenium, and boron -- were found at levels exceeding drinking water or surface water quality standards, Stant said.

The EPA has acknowledged that coal wastes contain some amount of toxic and hazardous materials, and Administrator Lisa Jackson has said she hopes to propose regulations by April.

Source: Christian Science Monitor

Source: Chattanooga Times Free Press

Source: The Tennessean