"Honey, Don't Forget to Take Out the Coal Ash"

I've been meaning to give more updates related to the December 2008 spill of coal ash sludge in Tennessee--but oh well. However, the latest good news is that the EPA is going to study--again--how coal ash is stored and draft regulations by the end of this year.

As I understand it, coal ash is a by-product of burning coal, and we have tons of this toxic goo due to our reliance on coal-based electrical power. What I didn't know is no one pays any attention to how this stuff is stored (at least not at the federal level).

I did a little research on my own and discovered that there are ZERO federal regulations or standards for it's disposal. The sludge is sometimes stored in "ponds" that are left unlined--allowing the goo to seep into the ground and potentially poison the water supply. States are left to do their own thing, which I'm never too comfortable with because it's such a patchwork often based on money rather than concerns about public health.

Eight years ago, the EPA wanted to set a national standard for coal ash as it does household trash--but the Bush Administration nixed that. So, not only is this goo not considered "hazardous waste," but your kitchen scraps and other trash are considered more dangerous. WTF? The government doesn't even track which utility companies have this stuff and what they do with it! But the EPA is waking up to the problem and is implementing better tracking procedures in order to prevent future spills like the one in Tennessee and better monitor clean-up. Speaking of clean-up, it's going to cost us up to $850 million to tidy up Tennessee after its recent spill!

And on the heels of this comes a quasi-related lawsuit by neighboring North Carolina against the Tennessee Valley Authority, the utility responsible for the coal ash spill. In January 2009, a federal judge ordered the TVA to install pollution controls on four of its power plants and "substantially" reduce pollutants causing respiratory problems and a whitish haze that hangs over the NC mountains. I say "quasi-related lawsuit" because it's all connected.

And there is a class-action lawsuit against the TVA on behalf of those residents affected by the December 08 spill.

Yay, clean coal rocks!