According to the New York Times, the EPA is going to impose costly disposal requirements for coal ash - whether it’s regulated as a hazardous or solid waste, coal fired power plants are going to be passing those costs onto consumers. Coal ash has an interesting history. Since the beginning of the environmental regulatory era, coal ash has been excluded from strict regulations because it is considered mine waste. Congressman Bevill from Alabama, who happened to have been a staunch supporter of the Tennessee Valley Authority, tacked the Bevill Amendment onto the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), excluding all mine waste from hazardous regulations. The reasoning being that mine waste is high volume, but presents a low risk of harm. Most of the risky pollutants are removed during beneficiation (processing), which for coal is combustion in a power plant generating electricity, resulting in ash. The EPA is proposing regulations that will either phase out sludge impoundments (coal ash is often mixed with water for easy transfer from the plant to the on-site impoundment) or require liners for all impoundments (wet or dry). A better solution would be to ease regulations on the transport of coal ash waste and let coal fired power plants focus financial resources on air emission controls. The really nasty pollutants are released into the air and coal ash can be used to make concrete, cement and asphalt. Coal fired plant operators, cement manufactures, consumers and the environment would all benefit from simple, inexpensive, transfer and re-use of the waste. Instead of imposing more stringent disposal requirements, the EPA should ease transportation restrictions which would actually reduce volumes of waste and recover the coal resource.
