EPA challenged on delayed coal ash protections
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has delayed for too long steps to protect communities from toxic coal ash, so a group of state and national groups, including KFTC, threatened today to sue the federal agency.
The groups delivered to EPA officials a Notice of Intent to Sue letter on January 18. It gives the agency 60 days to respond before the groups can file a lawsuit.
"With many coal ash dumps located in populated areas, the public depends on EPA to do everything possible to protect our health and keep our communities safe,†said KFTC member Mary Love. "We need strong standards so we can not only clean up communities that have already been poisoned but make sure these toxins never again leak into our homes and communities."
Coal ash contains a toxic mix of arsenic, lead, hexavalent chromium, mercury, selenium, cadmium and other dangerous pollutants that results from burning coal.
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| The coal ash dump at the Cane Run Power plant in Louisville |
"Imagine this toxic ash embedded in your child's lungs," said Kathy Little, who participated on a national tele-press conference announcing the action. Little lives just a few hundred yards from a coal ash disposal site in Louisville.
"It's a horrible feeling. This ash is everywhere," she said, adding that she has to use a special cleanser to get the ash off her home and furniture. "We have no buffer zone. Homes are within 50 yards of the coal ash landfill and pond."
Three years ago, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson announced plans to set federal coal ash rules by year’s end. In May 2010, the EPA proposed a hybrid regulation to classify coal ash either as hazardous or non-hazardous waste. After eight public hearings across the country and more than 450,000 public comments, the agency decided to delay finalizing the rule amid intense pressure from the coal and power industries.
Numerous studies, including some by the EPA, show the inadequacy of current coal ash practices to protect public health and the environment. The documentation shows coal ash poisoned aquifers and surface waters at 150 sites in 36 states, including in Kentucky,
Despite this, the EPA continues to fail to updates federal coal ash standards, even though the law requires them to at least conduct a review every three years.
"Delayed coal ash regulations have put my family and many others around the country needlessly at risk."
Kathy Little
Louisville
The legal action would force the EPA to set deadlines for review and revision of relevant solid and hazardous waste regulations to address coal ash, as well as the much needed, and overdue, changes to the test that determines whether a waste is hazardous.
The action was filed by Earthjustice on behalf of Appalachian Voices (NC), Environmental Integrity Project, Chesapeake Climate Action Network, French Broad Riverkeeper, Moapa Tribe Band of Paiutes (NV), Montana Environmental Information Center, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Prairie Rivers Network (IL), Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (TN) and KFTC.
"Politics and pressure from corporate lobbyists is delaying much needed health protections from coal ash," said Earthjustice attorney Lisa Evans. "The law states that the EPA should protect citizens who are exposed to cancer-causing chemicals in their drinking water from coal ash. As we clean up the smokestacks of power plants, we can't just shift that pollution to the waste and think the problem is solved. The EPA must set strong, federally enforceable safeguards against this toxic menace."
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