CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A leading Democratic senator on Friday called on the Obama administration to publicly identify 44 coal-ash impoundments around the country that regulators have pinpointed as the most dangerous.
Read more in Coal Tattoo.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A leading Democratic senator on Friday called on the Obama administration to publicly identify 44 coal-ash impoundments around the country that regulators have pinpointed as the most dangerous.
"The public's right to know about threats in their communities is critically important," said Senate Environment and Public Works Chairwoman Barbara Boxer, D-Calif.
"If these sites are so hazardous and if the neighborhoods nearby could be harmed irreparably, then I believe it is essential to let people know," Boxer said in a letter to three different executive-branch agencies. "In that way, they can press their local authorities who have responsibility for their safety to act now to make the sites safer."
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officials classified the sites as high hazards because of the potential for death and major property damage should the impoundments fail, as one such facility did in December in Eastern Tennessee.
Despite years of previous study, EPA is conducting another examination of coal-ash disposal sites prior to taking action on agency Administrator Lisa Jackson's promise to begin regulating the facilities.
After a House committee hearing in late April, EPA officials refused to release a list of the 44 sites and Boxer held a news conference Friday to confirm that EPA had again declined to publicly identify the sites.
Disposal of more than 100 million tons a year of various wastes -- fly ash, bottom ash and scrubber sludge -- from the nation's coal-fired power plants has drawn much scrutiny since an ash impoundment at a Tennessee Valley Authority plant failed, sending wet, toxic ash pouring into homes, fields and streams.
For years, coal-ash disposal has been mostly unregulated on the federal level, despite a wealth of evidence that impoundments across the coalfields are leaching toxic materials into groundwater supplies.
Jackson has promised to issue new regulations to govern the handling of these wastes, and House Natural Resources Chairman Nick J. Rahall, D-W.Va., proposed a bill to make the impoundments subject to the same dam safety requirements that currently apply to coal slurry sites.
Boxer said she was concerned about EPA's refusal to identify the 44 coal-ash sites because the restrictions "may not be consistent with the treatment of similar information related to dams, Superfund toxic waste sites, and other similar facilities."
"I am writing to request all applicable information, documents and policies regarding restrictions on the public disclosure of high-hazard coal-ash waste sites and the government's handling of information related to similar facilities, including, but not limited to, dams, levees, chemical facilities, hazardous waste disposal sites and Superfund toxic waste sites," Boxer said in her letter to EPA, the Army Corps of Engineers and the Department of Homeland Security.
Reach Ken Ward Jr. at kw...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1702.
Read more in Coal Tattoo.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A leading Democratic senator on Friday called on the Obama administration to publicly identify 44 coal-ash impoundments around the country that regulators have pinpointed as the most dangerous.
"The public's right to know about threats in their communities is critically important," said Senate Environment and Public Works Chairwoman Barbara Boxer, D-Calif.
"If these sites are so hazardous and if the neighborhoods nearby could be harmed irreparably, then I believe it is essential to let people know," Boxer said in a letter to three different executive-branch agencies. "In that way, they can press their local authorities who have responsibility for their safety to act now to make the sites safer."
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officials classified the sites as high hazards because of the potential for death and major property damage should the impoundments fail, as one such facility did in December in Eastern Tennessee.
Despite years of previous study, EPA is conducting another examination of coal-ash disposal sites prior to taking action on agency Administrator Lisa Jackson's promise to begin regulating the facilities.
After a House committee hearing in late April, EPA officials refused to release a list of the 44 sites and Boxer held a news conference Friday to confirm that EPA had again declined to publicly identify the sites.
Disposal of more than 100 million tons a year of various wastes -- fly ash, bottom ash and scrubber sludge -- from the nation's coal-fired power plants has drawn much scrutiny since an ash impoundment at a Tennessee Valley Authority plant failed, sending wet, toxic ash pouring into homes, fields and streams.
For years, coal-ash disposal has been mostly unregulated on the federal level, despite a wealth of evidence that impoundments across the coalfields are leaching toxic materials into groundwater supplies.
Jackson has promised to issue new regulations to govern the handling of these wastes, and House Natural Resources Chairman Nick J. Rahall, D-W.Va., proposed a bill to make the impoundments subject to the same dam safety requirements that currently apply to coal slurry sites.
Boxer said she was concerned about EPA's refusal to identify the 44 coal-ash sites because the restrictions "may not be consistent with the treatment of similar information related to dams, Superfund toxic waste sites, and other similar facilities."
"I am writing to request all applicable information, documents and policies regarding restrictions on the public disclosure of high-hazard coal-ash waste sites and the government's handling of information related to similar facilities, including, but not limited to, dams, levees, chemical facilities, hazardous waste disposal sites and Superfund toxic waste sites," Boxer said in her letter to EPA, the Army Corps of Engineers and the Department of Homeland Security.
Reach Ken Ward Jr. at kw...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1702.
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