Coal Lays Waste and Will Continue to Lay Waste

The fly ash spill in Tennessee this past December has drawn national attention to an often-overlooked phase of the coal cycle: combustion waste. There are two ways to deal with industrial waste generation: either by controlling wastes after they are generated or by preventing the generation of wastes in the first place - the pollution prevention principle.

Traditionally, the industry attempts to “control” the wastes after they are generated. This is done by dumping industrial wastes into landfills, capturing pollutants in scrubbers and other technology prior to the pollutant entering the atmosphere, incinerating wastes, treating wastes etc.

There are problems with the pollution control paradigm. Oftentimes wastes are simply shifted from one environmental medium to another, i.e. captured air pollutants become land-based wastes. Other problems include the lack of regulation or enforcement and the issue of inevitable human or technological error. These errors can , as we have recently witnessed, have catastrophic consequences, both to the environment and human health.

Coal represents the confluence of problems within the pollution control system, including the enormous volumes of toxic waste generated and the lack of more appropriate and necessary preventive measures.. By becoming more energy efficient and deploying clean renewable and distributed generation technologies, we can effectively avoid the generation of new coal related wastes by phasing out coal plants within a 40 to 50 year timeframe.

There are numerous waste streams associated with coal, mainly coal wash water, which is the waste created when coal is crushed and washed prior to burning. It contains thousands of tons of toxins, including mercury, arsenic, beryllium, cadmium, nickel, selenium. This toxic waste is simply held at mining sites in toxic lakes for lack of a method for safe and proper disposal. These slurry ponds leach heavy metals into the groundwater, endangering the health of those who use that water.

The next stage of the cycle is dirty as well. Burning coal releases toxic metals and particulates into the air . The particulates alone are responsible for an estimated 24,000 premature deaths per year due to lung disease, which costs the public nearly $170 billion per year in health costs and lost work days.

Coal combustion waste consists of the residue left over from burning coal. The US generates 130 million tons per year, enough to fill one million railroad cars. This waste contains enormous quantities of toxic metals that can cause cancer, birth defects, reproductive problems, damage to the nervous system and kidneys, and learning disabilities in children.

There are 600 toxic coal combustion waste landfills and waste ponds in the country, located at 440 coal-fired power plants. The EPA determined years ago that all landfills (even ones with regulation lining) will eventually leak. Indeed, the EPA estimates that the risk of cancer near CCW dumps is 10,000 times what government safety standards allow. In a 2007 report, the EPA found threats or potential threats to human health at 67 CCW landfills and waste ponds in 23 states. Tennessee, Kentucky and West Virginia are in the top nine states for coal combustion waste generation – together generating about 20% of all coal combustion waste.

Of course, catastrophic accidents have also occurred due to the improper management of coal waste. In October 2000, 300 million gallons of toxic sludge poured into land and rivers in Eastern Kentucky and West Virginia from a catastrophic failure of a CCW dump. A federal official, subsequently fired for whistle blowing by the Bush Administration, said the spill “polluted 100 miles of stream, killing everything in the streams, all the way to the Ohio River.”

Most recently in December of 2008 in Knoxville, TN,5.4 million cubic feet of coal waste sludge spilled, destroying hundreds of acres of property and contaminating miles ofthe Ocoee River. Environmental Integrity Project reported very high levels of arsenic, as well as other metals deemed dangerous to human health, in the sludge.

Of course, none of these health and environmental costs are factored into the price of our “cheap” energy.

How have we addressed coal combustion waste? EPA has kept it from being regulated asa toxic waste for decades. We are in denial about coal, a very destructive force from one end of the fuel cycle to the other. There is no such thing as “clean coal.” The unproven technologies of carbon capture and sequestration do nothing to address the toxic pollution at the beginning and end of the coal cycle. Political incantations cannot trump reality.

Sources:

Rachel's Democracy & Health News , March 15, 2007

Dangerous Disposals: Keeping Coal Combustion Waste Out of Our Water Supply, Natural Resources Defense Council, September 2007

Peter Montague of Rachel’s Democracy & Health News

Coal Combustion Waste Damage Case Assessments US EPA, Office of Solid Waste, July 9, 2007

Coal Combustion Waste Management at Landfills and Surface Impoundments 1994-2004 US DOE & US EPA, August 2006

A Toxic Cover UP? CBS News, April 4, 2004