"Clean Coal" = Toxic Dumps Everywhere

The coal industry simply has no upside. From the first blast into coal-bearing rock to the last belch of planet-broiling gases from smokestacks, it's an unmitigated march of destruction: dead and disabled miners, poisoned water, leveled forests, crushed homes, feudal economies, impoverished communities, corrupted politics and climate catastrophe.

Not to mention that all-time industrial favorite: toxic waste dumps.

From Renee Schoof at McClatchy:

A study released on Thursday finds that 39 sites in 21 states where coal-fired power plants dump their coal ash are contaminating water with toxic metals such as arsenic and other pollutants, and that the problem is more extensive than previously estimated.

The analysis of state pollution data by the Environmental Integrity Project, the Sierra Club and Earthjustice comes as the Environmental Protection Agency is considering whether to impose federally enforceable regulations for the first time. An alternative option would leave regulation of coal ash disposal up to the states, as it is now.

The EPA will hold the first of seven nationwide hearings about the proposed regulation Monday in Arlington, Va. A public comment period ends Nov. 19.

The electric power industry is lobbying to keep regulation up to individual states. Environmental groups say the states have failed to protect the public and that the EPA should set a national standard and enforce it.

"This is a huge and very real public health issue for Americans," said the director of the study, Jeff Stant of the Environmental Integrity Project. "Coal ash is putting drinking water around these sites at risk."

Read the whole thing.

Click here for the report on coal ash contamination at 39 sites.

Click here for EPA information on coal ash and details of its proposals for future regulation.