Utilities to square off with environmentalists over coal ash

Sep 21 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Joe Napsha The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Environmental groups that want government to regulate disposal and storage of coal ash will square off today at a Downtown hearing against utilities that generate the byproduct of burning coal to generate electricity and companies that rely on it to make products.

The Environmental Protection Agency will hear testimony on proposals to regulate how millions of tons of the ash created each year by coal-powered power plants should be disposed of and stored. A list of 160 people representing industry groups, the state, environmental organizations and residents living near coal ash dumps are scheduled to testify between 10 a.m. and 9 p.m. at the Omni William Penn hotel.

Under current regulations, the state Department of Environmental Protection is responsible for permitting and monitoring landfills where coal ash is dumped. The state wants to maintain authority to permit and monitor the sites, while following federal guidelines, said Katy Gresh, spokeswoman the agency in Pittsburgh.

An environmental group believes national guidelines would be better for the health and safety of the communities near where coal ash is stored.

"We believe it is long overdue that we have federal rules to protect the community, instead of allowing a patchwork of state efforts," said Lisa Graves-Marcucci, Pennsylvania coordinator for the Environmental Integrity Project, a nonprofit in Washington, D.C.

The environmental group believes state regulators are too cozy with industry, Graves-Marcucci said.

"Since 1995, the DEP has been an advocate for the waste. They have given up their objectivity in this matter," and the state has several coal ash dump sites where environmental problems have surfaced, Graves-Marcucci said.

The state said it has been regulating coal ash for a long time and the substance has been used to prevent mine subsidence in communities across Southwestern Pennsylvania. "Before the coal ash can be used in a beneficial way, it has to be analyzed to ensure that it does not exceed certain limits for contaminants," spokeswoman Helen Humphreys said.

The EPA has said the ash contains arsenic, cadmium, chromium, lead, mercury and other hazardous substances.

The EPA has proposed that controls such as liners and groundwater monitoring be installed in new coal ash landfills. At existing impoundment dams, liners would be installed, and there will be strong incentives to close those dams and place dried coal ash in landfills. Efforts to improve the safety of the impoundment dams were prompted by an accident in December 2008, when an estimated 1.1 billion gallons of coal ash spilled in Kingston, Tenn.

The EPA is considering two approaches to managing the waste. One would classify it as a "special waste" under regulations governing treatment, disposal and storage. The other would classify it as a non-hazardous waste that can be permitted and monitored by the state. If coal ash is deemed a special waste, then the EPA would have primary responsibility for permitting the treatment and storage facilities, unless the EPA turns that work over to the state.

FirstEnergy Corp. of Akron, Ohio, and Allegheny Energy Corp. of Greensburg favor the EPA regulating coal ash. The utilities want the coal ash regulated "under a consistent federal oversight ... with the primary working relationship with state regulators," said Allegheny Energy spokesman David Neurohr.

FirstEnergy's only coal-fired power plant in Pennsylvania is the Bruce Mansfield plant in Shippingport, Beaver County, which dumps its coal ash into the Little Blue Run reservoir in Beaver County. Allegheny Energy has three coal-fired plants in the state: Hatfield's Ferry in Greene County, the Armstrong plant in Kittanning and Mitchell power plant in Courtney.

The EPA also has a hearing scheduled in Louisville, Ky. Testimony will be reviewed and the agency may not issue new regulations for about a year, said Randy Francisco, state representative for the Sierra Club's Move Beyond Coal campaign.