May 10 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Christopher Baxter The Morning Call, Allentown, Pa.



Two coal ash dumps in Northampton County may face new federal scrutiny under a proposal by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to regulate the toxic by-product created from burning coal.

Though months after it was first promised, the EPA's proposal still does not dictate how the ash will be regulated, prompting a struggle between the power and coal industries and environmental groups.

Under the proposal, the EPA will either classify coal ash as non-hazardous, the industry-preferred approach, or hazardous, the designation desired by environmental advocates.

The non-hazardous plan would not require companies to have permits to dispose of ash, and it would be up to them to self-impose requirements for proper closure of ash dumps and future monitoring.

 The non-hazardous proposal would also relieve companies of complying with storage requirements and would allow the continued use of surface ash impoundments, such as those used by PPL Corp. in Lower Mount Bethel Township.

George Lewis, spokesman for PPL, could not be reached for comment. He has previously said PPL supports federal regulation as long as it allows the company to continue recycling the coal waste, which both proposed rules would allow.

The Allentown company shut down its coal plant in Lower Mount Bethel in 2007, and none of the four coal ash basins is active. An EPA report issued in January said all of the impoundments were secure.

The non-hazardous designation is also strongly supported by RRI Energy, which dumps coal ash created at its power plant in Upper Mount Bethel Township into a quarry in Bangor.

"I don't think the hazardous designation would provide substantial changes in environmental impact or the way the waste is handled," said Stephen Davies, director of solid waste for RRI. He added that a hazardous designation would increase disposal costs.

Bangor area residents have raised concerns about RRI's dump, a partially unlined slate quarry east of Route 512 near East Bangor. A surface liner was installed in 1999 at the site, and waste since has been placed on top of that liner.

"I think enough evidence exists by the state's own monitoring in Pennsylvania to clearly show that there is no safe limit for the metals that are released through coal ash," said Anna Maria Caldara, a local environmental advocate.

Coal ash contains heavy metals such as arsenic, lead, cadmium, copper and aluminum that pose health risks, most notably cancer, if they leach into drinking water.

Caldara and other environmentalists are demanding the EPA opt for the hazardous designation, which carries state and federal enforcement, state-issued permits, a monitored closure process and the phase-out of surface facilities.

The dangers of coal ash came to national attention in 2008 when an impoundment in Tennessee broke, creating a spill that covered millions of cubic yards of land and river, according to the EPA.

In the Lehigh Valley, coal ash became widely known when a defective drain in a PPL ash basin in Lower Mount Bethel allowed 60 million gallons of contaminated water to reach the Delaware River in 2005.

The proposed federal rules do not address coal ash to fill and reclaim mines, a process the state Department of Environmental Protection has advocated as a good use of coal waste. The EPA is working with the U.S. Department of the Interior to develop federal rules to ensure coal ash used to fill mines does not pose a risk.

christopher.baxter@mcall.com

610-778-2283

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