Massive clean-up operations in the aftermath of the 2008 Kingston coal ash spill. (TVA)

A round-up of coal ash in headlines this week:

As we wait for the mark-up to begin on Rep. David McKinley’s (R-WV) legislation that would strip the Environmental Protection Agency from using its authority to protect people from toxic coal ash waste, one group is mad as heck at the congressman’s effort to block these health safeguards. Activists – more than a dozen in all – picketed last week in front of Rep. McKinley’s office in Morgantown, W. Va. The protestors also sent a letter demanding the congressman withdraw the bill in question.

Oil refineries are by some estimates the second-largest industrial source of greenhouse gas emissions. They also are a major source of toxic air pollution, pumping benzene, toluene and hexane into our air. Benzene is a known carcinogen. Toluene can cause neurological harm when inhaled. And hexane causes severe harm when humans are continually exposed to it.

Thankfully, the Environmental Protection Agency is developing air pollution standards for the oil refineries after a settlement agreement reached last December in a case Earthjustice brought. But if industry has its way, these standards won’t see the light of day.

The Department of Energy today released stronger new energy efficiency standards for central AC units, furnaces and heat pumps. The new rules adopt levels recommended by a coalition of manufacturing, consumer and environmental groups, including Earthjustice, filed with the department in 2009.

Reflecting the varying climates found across the U.S., the rules set up standards tailored to regional conditions.  For example, the AC standards require the greatest efficiency improvements in units sold in warmer climates like Miami (40 percent less energy), while a new furnace in the North will have to use about 20 percent less energy than under the prior standards that were established in the late 1980s.

Claire McCaskill is among 44 senators calling for coal ash to be treated as a non-hazardous waste.

Okay, so we’ve established the hazards of coal ash. There is no doubt that arsenic, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, lead, selenium and other toxic metals have no business in our drinking water. So why are 44 of our elected leaders calling on the Obama administration to treat coal ash as a NON-hazardous waste?

Let’s back up a bit: the Obama administration announced a few weeks ago that the coal ash rule will not see the light of day until at least 2012. The EPA had considered regulating coal ash as a hazardous waste after the December 2008 toxic coal ash spill  in Tennessee, which sent 1.1 billion gallons of coal ash slurry gushing into the Emory River and surrounding community. We realized there was continued industry pushback for the rule but were disheartened to learn that it would be delayed, given that there are at least 676 coal ash dams in 35 states, including 48 “high hazard” dams (similar to the Kingston TVA site) across the country. Failure of any of these likely would take human life. Another 136 “significant hazard” dams would cause substantial economic and environmental harm if they failed.

There is no refuting the fact that coal ash is toxic and should be kept away from communities.But some of our senators feel otherwise.

Rep. Ed Markey

While the House GOP majority doggedly stood behind false claims of job creation and lowered prices at the gas pump to push through legislation (263-163) that would hasten the oil drilling permitting process, there are a few of our elected leaders who get it.

Representatives Edward Markey (D-MA), Frank Pallone (D-NJ) and Jim McGovern (D-MA) called on their colleagues to take safety into account before approving H.R. 1229, and continually derided them for their Big Oil handouts. “Your policy is oil above all,” said a disgusted Markey, “everything else gets defunded.”

Markey and others against the legislation brought up Big Oil’s revenue in the most recent quarter – a staggering $33.3 billion. He also mentioned the $4 billion in tax breaks American consumers give to oil companies every year. “The Republicans think that’s not enough money,” he said.

2008 coal ash spill in Tennessee

Another week, another voice calling on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to release federal coal ash rules. The drumbeat is getting louder, although it feels like the calls are falling on deaf ears. In this editorial by the Knoxville News Sentinel, the Tennessee paper says the EPA’s announcement that the rule might be delayed leaves much uncertainty for industry and communities about how to handle coal ash.

Just a few weeks ago, there was news that the EPA might delay the coal ash rule until the end of 2012 or 2013. As my colleague Lisa Evans details, the rule is already 30 years overdue. Recall that, Tennessee is the site of the Dec. 22, 2008 retention pond rupture, which sent 1.1 billion gallons of coal ash slurry gushing into Kingston and surrounding communities.The editorial goes on to say:

As we wait for federal standards to regulate coal ash, it seems that some states are following suit with delays on their standards as well.

In Albany, the Environmental Conservation Commission announced plans to “carefully” examine an already long-delayed proposal to ban coal ash altogether (the federal proposal would regulate it as a hazardous waste) at its Ravena cement plant. This is mystifying for many reasons. The proposal has collected dust since October 2008 during the administration of former New York Gov. David Paterson. Current Gov. Andrew Cuomo recently resubmitted the proposal to the DEC for another review. Huh?

Jim Travers of the Selkirk Ravena Coeymans Against Pollution said in this article: “I don’t understand why it is being revisited by DEC, when it was DEC that pushed it up to the governor for action more than two years ago.”

On Wednesday, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released a new guidance that will restore protections to waterways that are currently the dumping grounds for industrial polluters. The “Clean Water Framework” is a huge deal for the millions of Americans who depend on this water for drinking.

The Clean Water Act was passed in 1972, but two muddied Supreme Court decisions in 2001 (SWANNC) and 2006 (Rapanos) removed safeguards for many of our nation’s water bodies. Basically, these rulings made it so that Clean Water Act protections would only be available for “navigable” water bodies – or waters that are significantly linked to such water bodies.
In a conference call with reporters, today, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said the guidance would follow with a proposed rule and a comment period. She wouldn’t give a date for the proposed rule, but said she was really proud the EPA was moving in this direction.

Coal ash strikes again.

In this video by Sam Despeaux and Carly Calhoun titled “TVA At the Crossroads” (also check out “American Nightmare”), Lynn and Jean Gibson speak about living near a coal ash dump in Benton County, Tennessee. The area is some four hours from the site of the December 2008 TVA spill/disaster in Harriman, but it’s a testament to just how much of Tennessee has become a dumping ground for coal ash. The coal ash landfill in question is from the Tennessee Valley Authority’s New Johnsonville plant. And while the U.S. EPA is taking its time considering regulating coal ash as a hazardous waste, TVA is considering opening up more coal plants and coal ash landfills to host the coal combustion byproduct. This is not good.

It’s been a harrowing past few weeks (to say the least). The first jolt came Feb. 19, when House leaders approved a spending plan that slashed an array of environmental safeguards and pretty much gave polluter industries a free pass to continue using our air and water as their dumping grounds.

Amid the back and forth over the final spending legislation, the government came this close to a disastrous shut-down, with rumors that women’s reproductive rights and the EPA’s authority to regulate carbon emissions were on the bargaining table, but in the end, President Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid were able to stave off clean air and water attacks. The final budget will be voted on by congressional leaders in the next few days and cuts $38 billion.

But not all was won. In the 11th hour, House Speaker John Boehner and his Tea Party flank were able to slip a few anti-environmental attacks in there, among them one that will remove ESA protections for gray wolves.