Read the executive summary and
full report here: action.sierraclub.org/harmsway In Harm's Way-Report Exposes
Toxic Coal Ash Waste Water Pollution in Texas
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, August 31, 2010 Toxic Texas Coal Ash Video
Contacts:
Dr. Neil Carman, Lone Star Chapter of Sierra Club, 512.663.9594
or 512.288.5772
Travis Brown, Neighbors for Neighbors, 512-273-2983
Dr. J.P. Bell, Arkansas, 479.650.2328
Lev Guter, Arkansas Representative of Sierra Club, 941.779.3337
Jordan Macha, Louisiana Representative of Sierra Club,
504.861.4837
Concerned Residents from Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma
and Texas Call on EPA to Protect Water Resources and to
Adopt Strongest Rules on Toxic Coal Ash Disposal
Houston, Texas: Residents from Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma,
and Texas joined others across the nation calling on the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to protect the nation’s
water resources and to adopt strong rules for disposal
of coal ash, the toxic by-product of burning coal for electricity.
Victims whose cars have been covered with coal ash or whose
drinking wells have been poisoned by the toxic substance
are working together to ensure the EPA hears their
concerns. For the next few months, the EPA will listen
to public comments and weigh whether to regulate coal ash
like household garbage or like the hazardous substance it is.
Coal ash is toxic slurry often composed of six heavy metals:
arsenic, aluminum, cobalt, molybdenum, manganese, and selenium;
and three other pollutants – chloride, sulfate and
total dissolved solids. All of these pollutants have demonstrated
harmful effects on human health. For example, arsenic is
recognized as a class A carcinogen, meaning that there
is sufficient evidence that it causes cancer in humans.
It does so by acting as a neurotoxin, causing birth defects,
mutagen, and detrimental reproductive effects. "The
only acceptable level of arsenic in our drinking water
is zero," according to chemist Dr. Neil Carman with
Sierra Club.
“Doctors and scientists are
just beginning to learn how the hazardous substances found
in coal ash detrimentally affect human health,” said Dr. J.P. Bell of Arkansas. “In
my personal experiences with citizens in Arkansas and Oklahoma
battling against these huge waste pits, I have seen the
negative consequences firsthand. Common sense dictates
that the EPA should protect citizens when industry and
the states refuse to.”
With no federal oversight, states have failed to place
adequate safeguards to protect against health or environmental
degradation from these coal ash sites. Recent investigations
have uncovered widespread coal ash contamination, but very
little effort by states to discover the extent of the problem
and no efforts at all to clean it up.
The December 2008
Tennessee Valley Authority coal ash disaster was a wake
up call. In response, the EPA proposed two drastically
different options for regulating coal ash waste:
(1) recognizing
that coal ash is substantially more dangerous than household
garbage, referred to as the strong option, or (2) maintaining
the status quo, ignoring the patchwork of regulation across
the country and offering nothing that is substantively
different from current policies.
“EPA must protect the public
health by regulating this waste.” said Travis Brown of the Neighbors for
Neighbors group in Texas. “Because
coal ash is being dumped into unlined mining pits in our
community, we are concerned that the groundwater we depend
on may become contaminated. Without federal oversight,
the state of Texas will continue to put profits before
people and allow companies to escape cleaning up their
own messes.”
Economically, the lack of oversight by both states and
the federal government has allowed entities that burn coal
for electricity to avoid paying to dispose of their toxic
waste responsibly or for clean up of sites that have degraded
the environment or public health. The safeguards proposed
by the EPA would ensure that these companies protect the
public from the harmful affects that have been demonstrated,
and protect against catastrophic failures, like those in
Tennessee.
“Like the oil disaster in the
Gulf, federal oversight is necessary to protect the health
and welfare of communities in Louisiana and the rest of
the nation,” states
Jordan Macha, Louisiana representative for the Sierra Club. “We
need to have better safeguards in place so that Louisiana
does not continue to be a dumping ground for our addiction
to fossil fuels.”
“Coal companies should pay
for the cost of operating a coal-fired plant instead of
shifting that cost to hard-working Americans,” said Jen Powis, representative for the
Sierra Club in Texas. “Companies
that burn coal for electricity continue in their attempt
to avoid the true costs of their business model, and if
the states won’t
hold them accountable for these messes, residents should
demand that the federal government do so.”
The EPA will host a public hearing in Dallas, Texas on
September 8, 2010 to accept comments on their proposed
rules. Concerned residents from Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas
and Louisiana will attend and provide comments demanding
that the EPA adopt the strong option and regulate coal
ash like hazardous waste so that water resources and the
public health are protected.
