Expect No Change In EPA Rules For Handling Of Toxic Coal Ash In 2011

[hatrack]

The US EPA doesn’t have plans this year to change the way coal ash is regulated - and that has some folks upset. But others are concerned that tighter restrictions on this byproduct of burning coal also might have an adverse affect.

Fly ash is created when coal is burned in a boiler to make electricity. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, more than 100 million tons of coal combustion residues, including fly ash, are produced every year. West Virginia is the fifth largest generator of these materials in the country. The EPA spent much of last year gathering public comments on two possible regulatory options.

Jim Kotcon is the Energy Committee Chair with the West Virginia chapter of the Sierra Club. "A large proportion of what’s being disposed of here in Northern West Virginia is being used to neutralize acid mine drainage," he said.

One option would regulate coal ash as a hazardous waste and subject it to more federal oversight. The other would leave enforcement up to states and citizens, would come into effect sooner and regulate coal ash as a non-hazardous waste.

EDIT

http://www.wvpubcast.org/newsarticle.aspx?id=19285