The EPA has been closely looking into how coal fly ash impoundments are built since December 2008.
That’s when a toxic tidal wave containing more than a billion gallons of coal ash and water swept through a small Eastern Tennessee community. The EPA has been overseeing cleanup efforts at the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Kingston plant.
Coal fly ash is a post-combustion waste that is captured by pollution control devices from the flue gases of coal burning power plants. The U.S. produces 130 million tons of it every year.
A recent study from two national environmental groups Earthjustice and the Environmental Integrity Project says more than 30 coal-ash impoundments across the country, including two in West Virginia are polluting water supplies with toxic chemicals like arsenic and selenium.
Ben Stout, a Biology professor at Wheeling Jesuit University, is studying the impacts of coal impoundments on water systems. He said the real impact of coal fly ash on people and the environment hasn’t been determined.
“What we see from that report is a couple of incidents where selenium for instance has contaminated nearby streams and one of the problems with selenium this that it bio-accumulates as you move up the food change
where organisms higher up in the food change have higher concentrations in their bodies than organisms lower in the food chain,” said Stout.
Now the EPA is considering stricter regulations, which include classifying coal fly as hazardous waste. Currently, there are no federal regulations for its disposal or for the construction of the dams and impoundments.
Stout said more testing and monitoring of ground water near coal fly ash facilities is needed.
“Fly ash is similar to coal slurry it is a waste problem of the industry that is difficult to dispose of and when that material comes into contact with groundwater it is going to get into the groundwater and if people
nearby are using that groundwater as their primary water supply than that causes problems.”
The EPA has encouraged the re-use of fly ash in industries like construction. Last year, nearly 45 percent of it was recycled.
It is often sold at a low cost to companies and is used to make drywall for houses, concrete, fill for golf courses, and it’s even added in soil to help fertilize vegetables, and other crops.
Former Assistant Secretary of MSHA and president of sponsored programs at Wheeling Jesuit University, Davitt McAteer said recycling the waste has some big economic benefits for the state.
“There are uses that can be distinguished for example, in roadbeds where there is underneath the cover below it and above it can be used in certain situations, but there are places it shouldn’t be used when you have direct
exposure and human contact. We need to think through those and think how is it possible to use this.”
McAteer added “This is a big industry not just in the United States but in Europe. The Europeans have adopted some regulatory schemes with the regulation of coal fly ash and I thing we need to look at the
same model.”
Last January, Congressman Nick Rahall proposed a bill to regulate coal ash impoundments. McAteer testified before Rahall’s committee shortly after. He says the amount of coal waste is expected to grow in the coming years as the demand for energy grows.
Governor Joe Manchin is also concerned about the economic impacts on the state if the EPA regulates coal fly ash as a hazardous waste.
“It will affect everything not just coal mining but how about the gypsum board plant? Before you move in that direction of classifying that as a hazardous material, which will increase everyone’s utility bills and increase cost of living, you make sure that there is scientific proof and we shouldn’t jump and jerk when there is no evidence to support it,” said Manchin.
State law does not require fly ash impoundments to be lined. The waste is usually mixed with water and disposed of in ponds, landfills and abandoned
mine sites.
In the past, Some mining companies and academic institutions in Monongalia and Preston counties have experimented with injecting the ash underground to help with acid mine drainage, but the WV Division of Environmental Protection said right now, there are no active permits for disposing of it this way.
“If the EPA regulates coal fly ash as hazardous waste, the state will be faced with the challenge of finding new ways to dispose of it,” said DEP spokeswoman Kathy Cosco.
Cosco said state code for the dam safety rule also doesn’t specify frequency for state inspections of coal fly-ash sites, but companies submit their inspection reports to the DEP on a regular basis.
Last year, the DEP did a major inspection and released a report on the conditions of coal fly ash impoundments and landfills throughout the state.
According to the report, of the 20 fly ash dams in West Virginia, eight are in satisfactory condition, seven are in fair condition three are in poor and two are in unsatisfactory condition.
Cosco says another round of inspections will take place in the spring. She said the DEP plans to do the inspections annually to make sure that a situation like the coal fly ash impoundment failure in Tennessee, doesn’t happen in West Virginia.