HUFFINGTON
06.17.12
OLD KING COAL
Under the first option, coal ash
— which can include a wide range
of waste materials like fly ash,
bottom ash and others — would
be treated as a “special waste”
under Subtitle C of RCRA, which
governs hazardous wastes. A second option would deal with the
material under Subtitle D of the
statute, which governs non-hazardous wastes.
The coal ash industry opposes
both of these regulatory designations and has lobbied hard to
block them, claiming, among other
things, that the combination of increased costs and attending higher
electricity rates would result in as
many as 316,000 lost jobs across
the economy, and as much as $110
billion in lost economic activity
over a 20-year period.
The industry has spent millions
making their case on Capitol Hill,
and Republicans in both houses introduced bills last year that would
effectively strip the EPA of its ability to oversee coal ash disposal.
On April 5, a group of 11 environmental and public health
groups sued the EPA in an attempt
to force the issue, arguing that
federal oversight of coal ash is
“long overdue.”
By nearly al