“Coal waste represents a serious problem for Texas,” Rodriguez said Thursday in Austin, according to a press release from Public Citizen, a national, nonprofit consumer advocacy group. “I have legislation in the House that would improve regulation of coal combustion waste. Texas needs a thorough assessment of current coal combustion waste sites, and plants permitted after this legislation goes into effect should dispose of coal ash in Class I hazardous waste sites permitted by TCEQ.”
TCEQ is Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
Rodriguez and several environmental watchdog groups explained his proposed bill in a press conference Thursday at the State Capitol in Austin.
Tom “Smitty” Smith, director of Public Citizen’s Texas Office, said in the press release, “Coal combustion waste represents yet another reason why we should not be building new coal plants. In addition to the threat of climate change, sulfur dioxide and mercury, coal combustion waste is a gift that will keep on giving for generations. With 12 proposed dirty coal-fired plants on the books, Texas is ground zero for the hidden threat from coal ash.”
Disasters like the Kingston, Tenn., coal sludge spill dramatize the cost of unsafe coal waste disposal practices, but no state stands to lose as much in terms of human and environmental health as Texas, Smith said.
“In Texas, the risk from coal waste is hidden and slow, as these wastes can travel underground to contaminate our water reservoirs,” Smith said. “A 2007 EPA document called Coal Combustion Waste Damage Case Assessments reports how back in the ’70s, there were a number of instances in North Texas where coal ash pits overflowed into nearby lakes. It took 20 years to clean those lakes up enough so that the fish were safe to eat again.”
On Tuesday, a coalition of more than 100 national and grassroots environmental organizations, including Public Citizen, joined forces to urge EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson to regulate coal combustion waste. Public Citizen has urged the EPA to phase out the wet storage or disposal of coal combustion waste, and to ensure that new regulations also ensure the safe disposal of dry ash.
A Natural Resources Defense Council report, according to the press release, ranked Texas as the nation’s worst state in terms of coal ash waste that would result from proposed and existing coal-fired power plants. The environmental watchdog organization said Texas disposes of much of the coal waste from its coal plants in landfills or unlined ponds, from which toxic metals can contaminate surface and groundwater sources and cause a wide range of harmful health impacts.
Neighbors for Neighbors is another environmental watchdog group. Its president, Travis Brown, said in the press release, “Advanced air quality equipment ensures that dangerous emissions are captured from the coal combustion process, but if the disposal of that waste is not adequately regulated we are just dumping it right back into our watersheds. That’s like vacuuming a room and then shaking the bag into your drinking well.”
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality reported recently none of the state’s 17 coal-fired power plants have violated coal ash disposal regulations in their landfills.
Under current regulations, the EPA and TCEQ characterize coal ash as a non-hazardous, industrial solid waste product. TCEQ described coal ash as “a relatively stable, chemically inactive material” that does not change in chemical composition over relatively long periods of time, meaning it does not decompose. Coal ash may harden over time when it is stockpiled or exposed to moisture, the TCEQ reported.
Reports from the EPA indicate 314,000 tons of coal ash is stored in Milam County, but Luminant Energy stated that most of the by-product came from Alcoa’s three Sandow Power Plant units, which closed Dec. 31, 2006.
Luminant, which operates the lignite-fired Sandow 4 Steam Electric Station in Milam County and schedules its Sandow 5 coal-powered electrical generating plant to go on line in August, conducts routine inspections, said spokesman Ashley Monts. “Maintenance of our landfills are a priority and as a result, no landfill failures have ever occurred at a Luminant facility.”
Luminant recycles coal ash and has sold 34.5 billion pounds of the byproduct in the past 13 years to companies that manufacture roofing, concrete and carpeting, in addition to oil-field projects and road paving. Luminant sold 3.8 billion pounds in 2007 for recycling purposes, the company reported. Remaining coal ash is dumped in registered, approved and inspected landfills at each facility.
Rodriguez’s House Bill 1450 would amend the Health and Safety Code to require TCEQ to assess the status and stability of each site where coal ash is disposed of or reused, and to publish a public cumulative report every five years.
The bill would require the state to publicly report the volume of coal ash at each site, including any toxic coal ash constituents. Coal combustion waste produced from an electric generating facility that receives a preconstruction permit on or after Sept. 1 is considered Class I industrial solid waste for purposes of disposal of the waste and may not be used as mine backfill under Chapter 134 Natural Resources Code. Additionally, information related to groundwater and soil monitoring of sites conditioning coal ash must be made public. Public reports on coal ash dumps must be filed by Sept. 1, 2014, under the bill.
