Coal Ash Cleanup in the News

Today's News-Gazette had an AP story about the industry fighting clean-up orders and costs that reminded me of our local coal ash problem leaking toxic waste into the Middle Fork of the Vermilion River. Here's the relevant AP excerpts:

Eighteen states, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, national coal industry interests and more than a dozen other groups are urging an appeals court to overturn a coal ash cleanup order at a federal utility's Tennessee plant, contending the decision will have wide-reaching, expensive consequences.

In a 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals brief this week, the states argued that the order at the Tennessee Valley Authority's Gallatin Fossil Plant would broadly expand federal oversight into groundwater pollution historically regulated by states. More citizen lawsuits will almost certainly be filed and they will require coal ash cleanups elsewhere, costing utility ratepayers tens of billions of dollars, attorneys for the states wrote.

It references an example fight:

The uproar by the group of other largely Republican states stands in contrast to Tennessee, where environmental regulators have their own lawsuit pending against the Tennessee Valley Authority over pollution at Gallatin. Tennessee environmental regulators also say the Gallatin cleanup shouldn't cost ratepayers any more money or take as long as the nation's largest public utility has estimated.

TVA initially said the project would cost $2 billion. Newer estimates factoring in an onsite landfill range below $1 billion. The utility's timeline says it will take 24 years to move the ash to an onsite landfill.

The utility has contended that capping the waste where it sits would be less expensive and avoid a possible larger spill from moving the ash. But capping the ash isn't an option under the court order.

If toxic coal ash pollution sounds familiar, I mentioned it this week's "The Week Ahead" post:

[T]he Environment & Land Use deals with environmental issues and how land is used within the County's jurisdiction. I'm interested in the "Update regarding Coal Ash in Floodplain of the Middle Fork of the Vermilion River" from the Environment & Land Use Committee because that sounded just awful. Seriously, toxic sludge oozing into the Vermilion River (from the Chicago Tribune)

 From that Chicago Tribune article:

Before Dynegy closed the plant in 2011, the two companies deposited more than 3.3 million cubic yards of coal ash into pits next to the river — enough to fill the Empire State Building nearly 2½ times. Testing by Dynegy and the Prairie Rivers Network shows the multicolored waste oozing into the water contains dangerous levels of heavy metals found in coal ash, including arsenic, chromium, iron, lead and manganese.

“This toxic waste needs to be cleaned up,” said Andrew Rehn, water resources engineer for the network, based in Champaign. “We want to make sure that Dynegy can’t just walk away from its responsibility. We all have a right to a clean Vermilion River.”

So if you hate toxic waste about as much as you hate insane unexpected costs to tax payers. This is one story to follow.

More recent news on this involved the formation of the Protect the Middle Fork group:

Group formed to push Dynegy to move coal ash away from Middle Fork
A small group of people who love the Middle Fork River have formed a new grass-roots group to push the Dynegy energy company to move tons of coal ash away from the National Scenic River.

"We are people who simply care about the Middle Fork and want to make sure the right thing is done, so our local river is not polluted by coal ash," said Kristin Camp, whose new group, Protect the Middle Fork, is holding in conjunction with Eco-Justice Collaborative its first meeting that's open to the public at 7 p.m. today in the Danville municipal building, 17 W. Main St., Danville.

They're inviting anyone who wants more information about the coal-ash issue along the Middle Fork.