After an election and a Tennessee spill disaster in 2008, the Obama administration roared into office vowing to regulate electric utility coal ash. Now, as the tight 2012 election hinges partly on coal (and coal states), the administration's proposed regulations are on hold.
"In Maryland’s Zekiah Swamp, one of the Chesapeake Bay’s most important tributaries, 8.4 million tons of coal ash in pits from former operations of the Morgantown power plant are leaking into groundwater. Residents on the Moapa River Reservation north of Las Vegas blame a spike in respiratory illnesses on the uncovered ash ponds and ash dump from a generating station nearby.
The ash left after burning coal includes toxic elements such as arsenic, lead, cadmium, selenium and mercury. Produced by 431 coal-fired power plants, which supply 36 percent of the nation’s electricity, coal ash piles up at the staggering rate of 140 million tons a year.
More than 40 percent of it is recycled to help make concrete, gypsum wallboard and pavement. But utilities store the rest in landfills, ponds or mines, and evidence has been growing in recent years that leakage is a problem."
Juliet Eilperin reports for the Washington Post October 14, 2012.
SEE ALSO:
Sidebar (Map): "Where Coal Ash Has Leaked" (Washington Post)
Sidebar (Photo Gallery): "The Cost of Coal" (Washington Post)
"EPA Reviews Cane Run Ash Problem" (Louisville Courier-Journal)
"Coal Ash Complaints Filed Against Utilities" (Asheville Citizen-Times)
"Conflicting Tests Results Highlight Need for Study" (Fairbanks News-Miner)
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