By MAGGIE I. JARUZEL
It’s important for environmental organizations to act as the public’s eyes and ears, says Chandra Taylor, a staff attorney for the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC), a Mott grantee.
That role is especially crucial when a region’s water quality is at risk, which was the case in two recent coal ash spills -– one in Tennessee and the other in Alabama, she says.
“It was important that we quickly brought attention to the danger coal waste posed to the water quality for human health and the ecosystem, as well as the need for stronger regulation of coal waste.”
She said this large spill is different from others in the past however, because it has prompted a groundswell of support for regulatory changes -- not just from traditional environmental groups, but also from the general public.
“People are getting involved,” Taylor said.
“This spill was a significant event that is triggering a momentum for change. Now is the time for the federal government to step in and do something significant.”
Trees enveloped by coal waste after spill. ©Jerry Greer |
Officials for the
Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) –- the nation’s largest public power producer and operators of a power plant in Kingston, Tenn. –- said a coal ash retaining wall was breached on Dec. 22, allowing about 1.1 billion gallons of sludge to cover more than 300 acres in Roane County. There were no injuries, they said, but the spill affected 40 nearby homes.
The coal-burning station is located on the Emory River and near the confluence of the Clinch and Tennessee rivers. The power plant creates a by-product called fly ash. Typically comprised of toxic metals -– arsenic, lead, and cadmium -– fly ash can pose severe health risks, SELC’s Taylor said.
While the first two metals are familiar terms because of their heightened risks for cancer and developmental delays, cadmium isn’t as widely known. But the soft, bluish-white metal can cause permanent kidney damage and is also a carcinogen, according to reports released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
As clean-up crews were still digging through the Tennessee sludge to uncover hundreds of fish that were apparently smothered to death by the waste, a second coal-waste spill occurred at another TVA-operated power plant. Although the immediate scope of damage was not as widespread at the Widows Creek station in Alabama, the Jan. 9 spill also posed a threat for toxins to be released into the air, ground, and water.
For almost 30 years, Taylor says, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has failed to protect human health and the environment from the risks of coal combustion waste. At various times in the past decade, the EPA has solicited public comments about the ongoing possibility of contaminated water supplies resulting from toxic coal-waste leakage at retaining ponds and storage areas, and they received lots of negative feedback, she says, but there are still no meaningful federal regulations.
Questions need to be asked, Taylor says, such as, “Why are they being allowed to continue storing wet coal ash waste above ground, and how long before another harmful event related to this type of storage occurs?”
The Mott Foundation supports the work of SELC, whose work addresses major environmental issues from the organization’s headquarters in Charlottesville, Va. and also from offices in several southern states, and in Washington, D.C.
Since 1999, SELC has received eight
Mott grants, totaling $1.9 million, through the Environment program’s
Conservation of Freshwater Ecosystems focus area.
Among other things, SELC proposes the following minimum regulatory safeguards for coal ash combustion waste sites:
- Ban disposal units in floodplains and wetlands;
- Require dual liner waste collection and removal systems to protect groundwater;
- Mandate covers on waste storage facilities to minimize airborne pollution; and
- Require consistent groundwater monitoring for all new and existing facilities.
TVA’s most recent news release, dated Jan. 23, reports that samplings taken for drinking water quality by the EPA, Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, and TVA –- including samples from public drinking water sites, private wells, and in-stream river water –- all indicate the drinking water is safe.
Additionally, TVA reports that thousands of mobile samples were proven to be within the national standards for air quality, and preliminary soil tests show the toxin metals are well below the limits for hazardous waste.
Still, Taylor and others say water quality should continue to be monitored for up to three years for potential health risks, which is the standard timeframe used for sites that have been closed due to contamination.
The back-to-back coal ash storage failures have prompted federal and state legislative hearings. They also have generated public pressure to establish national regulations for coal ash storage so water supplies are not endangered. Currently, the federal government has limited responsibility to monitor coal ash retention ponds, and state-by-state oversight varies widely.
“We need federal regulations. Coal ash storage is often less regulated than household waste,” Taylor said.
“People’s attention has been drawn to this large-scale, very visible failure. We can’t look away from it now.”
ADDITIONAL RESOURCE