Wednesday was a difficult day for The American Independent News Network, which is the larger entity that operates The Iowa Independent. Our chief executive and founder announced two of our sister sites would close and their content would be moved to The American Independent.
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The coal plant at Iowa State University.
A new report by a coalition of environmental groups identifies 39 sites in 21 states where coal ash — the toxic byproduct of coal-fired power production — is being dumped. The groups say that the coal ash is “contaminating drinking water or surface water with arsenic and other heavy metals.”
Three sites — George Neal Station North and George Neal Station South in Woodbury County and Lansing Station Ash Ponds and Landfill in Allamakee County — are located in Iowa. The report does not include the sites many Iowa activists believe are the Hawkeye State’s most dangerous — two former quarries and a mine that are not mandated to conduct comprehensive groundwater monitoring and do not utilize protective liners. The state’s three regent universities paid for groundwater monitoring at another unlined quarry in Waterloo that they utilize as a coal ash dump.
The report notes that there are at least five public water wells within a five-mile radius of each of the three Iowa sites. Coal ash contains much greater concentrations of elements such as mercury, zinc, lead, arsenic and selenium than the coal itself. Exposure to these toxins can lead to cancer, birth defects and reproductive problems.
The sponsors of the new report — the Sierra Club, the Environmental Integrity Project and Earthjustice — say it shows “that state governments are not adequately monitoring the coal combustion waste (CCW) disposal sites and that the USEPA needs to enact strong new regulations to protect the public.” The report comes on the heels of a Feb. 2010 report by the groups that identified 31 coal ash disposal sites in 14 states. Add the 67 coal ash sites identified by the Environmental Protection Agency, and the total number of sites that have been identified across the country comes to 137.
Jeff Stant — director of the coal combustion waste initiative at the Environmental Integrity Project — said the report shows the need for the Environmental Protection Agency to adequately regulate coal ash.
“The case for a national regulation setting common sense safeguards for states to meet, such as liners, monitoring and cleanup standards, could not be more persuasive,” he said in a statement. “The need for more direct EPA involvement is clear; leaving enforcement to the same states that have refused to do their jobs for the last 40 years is simply not a responsible course of action.”
The report comes as EPA has scheduled seven public hearings in August and September on its proposal to regulate coal ash.
According to the EPA, its coal ash proposal will “ensure for the first time that protective controls, such as liners and ground water monitoring, are in place at new landfills to protect groundwater and human health.” In addition, “the proposed regulations will ensure stronger oversight of the structural integrity of impoundments and promote environmentally safe and desirable forms of recycling coal ash, known as beneficial uses.”
For more information on the EPA proposal and the upcoming hearings, click here.
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