Partnership with Industry Sidesteps Public and Worker Toxic Exposure Concerns
Washington, DC — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has an explicit partnership agreement with the coal industry to market its combustion wastes for consumer, agricultural and industrial uses without knowing the true health risks, according to documents released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). As a result, one arm of EPA now is moving to classify coal ash and other combustion byproducts as hazardous waste even as another arm is promoting its use in wallboard, kitchen counters and carpet backing among an array of so-called “beneficial uses”.
Each year, the coal industry generates approximately 125 million tons of wastes from burning coal in the form of fly ash, bottom ash, boiler slag, and flue gas desulfurization gypsum. Nearly half of that total – 50 million tons – is re-used in everything from road construction to (industry claims) tooth paste, despite a growing body of scientific research indicating that these coal combustion wastes (CCW) are toxic and should not be allowed in contact with water or soils, and certainly not in direct contact with humans.
Due to a regulatory retreat in 2000, EPA declined to declare CCW as hazardous waste, a decision the agency is now revisiting following the disastrous spills in December from Tennessee Valley Authority sludge ponds. As a result, CCW is virtually unregulated, despite unquestionably high toxic content.
During the Bush administration, EPA entered into a formal partnership with the coal industry and its various arms, most prominently, the American Coal Ash Association – an arrangement that continues to this day. This joint venture is called the Coal Combustion Products Partnership or C2P2. EPA promotion of coal wastes generates more than $11 billion each year for the industry, but industry derives immensely greater economic benefit by avoiding costs it would face if CCW was treated as hazardous waste.
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