For years U.S. Environmental Protection Agency publications and reports about uses and dangers of coal combustion waste have been edited by coal ash industry representatives, according to EPA documents released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). Not surprisingly, the coal ash industry watered down official reports, brochures and fact-sheets to remove references to potential dangers and play up "environmental benefits" of a wide range of applications for coal combustion wastes - the same materials that EPA is currently deciding whether to classify as hazardous wastes following the disastrous December 2008 coal ash spill in Tennessee. During the Bush administration, EPA entered into a formal partnership with the coal industry, most prominently, the American Coal Ash Association, to promote coal combustion wastes for industrial, agricultural and consumer product uses. This effort has helped grow a multi-billion dollar market which the industry worries would be crimped by a hazardous waste designation.
During the Bush administration, EPA entered into a formal partnership with the coal industry, most prominently, the American Coal Ash Association, to promote coal combustion wastes for industrial, agricultural and consumer product uses. This effort has helped grow a multi-billion dollar market which the industry worries would be crimped by a hazardous waste designation.
In a new focus on environmental justice issues, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency plans to evaluate a Bush-era rule that could remove federal oversight of companies that generate and recycle 1.5 million tons of hazardous waste each year. Much of that waste, generated by steel, chemical and pharmaceutical plants, ends up in dumps located near low-income, minority communities. On Tuesday, the EPA launched a probe of birth defects and other health problems in the San Joaquin Valley farming community of Kettleman City, Calif., located about three miles west of the only chemical waste facility in the state permitted to accept carcinogenic PCBs. The EPA on Thursday will discuss its planned analysis of the Bush-era exemptions with the National Environmental Justice Advisory Council in New Orleans. "This is the first time the agency will conduct a comprehensive environmental analysis, although these reviews were first ordered by President Bill Clinton," Abigail Dillen, an attorney with the environmental group Earthjustice, said in a statement.
Much of that waste, generated by steel, chemical and pharmaceutical plants, ends up in dumps located near low-income, minority communities.
On Tuesday, the EPA launched a probe of birth defects and other health problems in the San Joaquin Valley farming community of Kettleman City, Calif., located about three miles west of the only chemical waste facility in the state permitted to accept carcinogenic PCBs.
The EPA on Thursday will discuss its planned analysis of the Bush-era exemptions with the National Environmental Justice Advisory Council in New Orleans.
"This is the first time the agency will conduct a comprehensive environmental analysis, although these reviews were first ordered by President Bill Clinton," Abigail Dillen, an attorney with the environmental group Earthjustice, said in a statement.
