White House "caving to coal?"

July 24, 2013 | By Barbara Vergetis Lundin

Federal court rulings against utility coal operations have been hailed as a victory by various environmental groups. However, after a review of the Environmental Protection Agency's proposed coal plant water pollution standards sent to the White House' Office of Management and Budget (OMB), these same environmental groups claim that the OMB "caved to industry pressure and took the highly unusual and improper step of writing new, weaker options into the draft rule prepared by the EPA's expert staff."

Credit: Stuart Brabbs/Wikimedia Commons

"EPA sent over a strong rule to OMB that proposed affordable treatment solutions for a serious water pollution problem. But after closed-door meetings with industry, OMB decided to overrule the experts at EPA and propose so-called 'preferred' options that will give coal plants a free pass to continue dumping toxics into our waterways," said Abigail Dillen, Earthjustice's climate and energy vice president. "It's outrageous that OMB is caving to coal interests instead of getting arsenic and other poisons out of our drinking water."

According to the EPA, more than half of all toxic water pollution in the country comes from power plants, making coal-fired power plants the number one source of toxic water pollution in the U.S. Research from a coalition of environmental groups, including Earthjustice, highlights power plant water pollution and cites that coal plants have become by far the largest source of toxic water pollution in the country, based on toxicity. Of 274 coal plants that discharge coal ash and scrubber wastewater into waterways, nearly 70 percent (188) have no limits on the toxics most commonly found in these discharges and more than one-third (102) have no requirements to monitor or report discharges to government agencies or the public, according to the research.

The groups contend that EPA has repeatedly acknowledged that existing guidelines have not kept pace with developments in the industry, but for more than three decades has failed to set standards to curb water pollution from power plants.

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Related Article:
EPA finalizing water pollution standard

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