ACAA Office Relocation Completed Smoothly

Thanks to months of advance planning by American Coal Ash Association staff in Colorado, ACAA headquarters has now taken up residence in Michigan. Phone numbers and email addresses remain unchanged. The Association’s new physical and mailing address is:

American Coal Ash Association
38800 Country Club Drive
Farmington Hills, MI  48331. 

The relocation was completed when ACAA’s Aurora, Colorado, lease terminated in February. The Michigan location, hosted by Creative Association Management, was selected last year after a volunteer member task team solicited bids, reviewed proposals and negotiated a management services contract that was approved by the ACAA Board of Directors.

ACAA Staff Changes Come with Move

With ACAA’s relocation to Michigan, the Association welcomes a new member to the team. Alyssa Barto will now provide the day to day member services previously handled by Annely Noble. Alyssa has bachelors and masters degrees in public administration.

Annely will assume a new role handling membership recruitment/retention and data management for the annual CCP Production and Use Survey while working remotely from her home in Colorado. Additionally, Dave Goss and John Ward will continue to provide contract services in special projects and communications.

With the move, ACAA parted ways with Colorado employees Harry Roof and Tracey Kaminsky. Harry and Tracey were commended for their service to ACAA and the key roles they played in facilitating a smooth transition. Thanks to each of them for jobs well done!

Ash Marketers Move to Join Litigation over Ash Regulation

Coal ash marketer Headwaters Resources on February 9 filed a Notice of Intent to sue the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over delays in the Agency's now three-year-old coal ash disposal rulemaking proceeding. Charah , Inc., has since indicated that it will support the Headwaters action and Boral Material Technologies has filed its own Notice of Intent in the same manner.

The moves come following an announcement in January that a dozen local and national environmental activist groups plan to sue EPA to force a deadline on the coal ash disposal rulemaking. The environmental groups’ press release here and see a complete copy of their notice to EPA here. Some people have speculated that the environmental groups may be pursuing a “sue and settle” strategy aimed at establishing a judicial deadline that restricts the ability of other agencies to participate in the rulemaking process. (EPA currently has no legislative or judicial deadline to do anything with coal ash.) Look here for an explanation of how these “sue and settle” maneuvers can result in poor regulations.

Meanwhile, the chairmen of two key U.S. House of Representatives committees sent a letter to EPA urging the Agency to avoid such settlement agreements with the environmental groups. Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI) and Environment and Economy Subcommittee Chairman John Shimkus (R-IL) described the Headwaters Notice of Intent this way: “Stakeholders are concerned about being cut out of the rulemaking process as evidenced by Headwaters Resources, Inc., now submitting its own notice of intent to sue to ensure that its voice will be heard with respect to any rule that may result from settlement. The fact that some stakeholders also feel compelled to also bring suit to prevent themselves from being cut out of the rulemaking process underscores that the NOI threatens to inappropriately convert what is an open and discretionary process, that takes into account the views of all stakeholders, to a potentially closed-door, judicial process involving only the narrow interests of select parties.”

The complete text of the Congressional letter is here.

White House Coal Ash Petition Receives Response

The White House website petition sponsored by Citizens for Recycling First last October has received the response promised by the Obama Administration.

The petition – launched on the White House’s “We The People” website – gathered more than 5,000 online signatures in less than 30 days. The petition urged the Administration to “protect coal ash recycling by promptly enacting disposal regulations that do NOT designate coal ash a ‘hazardous waste’”

The response was authored by Mathy Stanislaus, Assistant Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response. While the response did not respond to the plea to avoid a “hazardous waste” designation for disposed coal ash, it did reaffirm EPA’s support for beneficial use of coal ash. “As the EPA has stated previously, we strongly support the safe and protective beneficial use of coal ash, and recognize that many environmental and economic benefits are gained, including the potential for job growth,” Mr. Stanislaus wrote. “We also recognize that many of the businesses that are involved in the recycling of coal ash are small businesses.”

Read the complete response here.

Coal Ash in the News

Coal ash was mentioned favorably in a National Public Radio Science Friday segment focusing on “Concrete’s Role as a Building Block in History.” Robert Courland, author of the book "Concrete Planet: The Strange and Fascinating Story..." (Prometheus, 2011), said during the program: “The use of fly ash is very important… It’s wonderful material.” You can hear a replay of the interview here.

Check out the January 2012 issue of Concrete International for a major story on coal fly ash effectiveness in mitigating alkali-silica reaction. “50 Years Old and Still Going Strong - Fly ash puts paid to ASR” is authored by Michael Thomas, R. Doug Hooton, Chris Rogers, and Benoît Fournier. From the article: “The rock types used to construct the Nant-y-Moch Dam and Lower Notch Dam are mineralogically similar and have been implicated in damaging ASR in numerous concrete structures, even when the available alkali content is relatively low. Despite this, both dams remain in excellent condition after 40 to 50 years in service—strong evidence of the benefits of using fly ash. Dams built with similar aggregate but without fly ash show severe ASR-related damage, resulting in costly repairs in two cases and replacement in further two cases.”

Coal Power magazine has kicked off a series of articles about coal ash management. Part 1 of the series – addressing constructing and managing landfills – is here.

A lawsuit alleging fly ash exposure caused kidney cancer has been filed in connection with the Battlefield Golf Course in Virginia. A newspaper story on the subject is here. Additionally, the plaintiffs whose separate lawsuit at Battlefield Golf Course was dismissed last year have refilled a new action. See here for an account.

Coal ash regulation was recently the subject of a “Twitterstorm” in our nation’s capital. Environmental group Earthjustice urged its members to send anti-coal ash tweets to the White House Twitter account. Republican Congressman John Shimkus took to Twitter to criticize the storm, writing “#KickCoalAsh supporters ignore the benefits of recycled #CoalAsh in products we rely on daily."

ACAA Members in the News

Jeff McNelly of ACAA member ARIPPA succeeded in publishing an article in the Harrisburg Patriot News highlighting the negative effects of EPA’s fossil regulations on the widely recognized, environmentally beneficial alternative energy industry. Read the article here.

CERATECH is exhibiting its fly ash-based corrosion resistant cement technology for precast concrete manufacturers at The Precast Show in Orlando, Florida, March 1-3. CERATECH's ekkomaxx300 cement technology utilizes a unique cement chemistry that's virtually unaffected by the Microbial Induced Corrosion (MIC) process as well as a host of other corrosive agents. Specific information about CERATECH’s precast applications can be found here.

Two Important Survey Opportunities

The Exploratory Advanced Research program for the Federal Highway Administration is working to identify organizations or individuals who are receiving funding for alternative cementitious material research in relation to civil infrastructure, transportation, highway pavements and structures. Alternative cementitious materials are defined as fly ash, geopolymer materials, green cements, low carbon cements, or other products with little or no regular portland cement. Anyone who knows of organizations or individuals receiving funding in these areas should contact Lance Warren.

The National Ready Mixed Concrete Association has requested assistance in motivating ready mixed concrete producers to respond to a survey regarding use of supplementary cementitious materials, including fly ash. The survey is part of a funded research project on increased fly ash utilization in hydraulic cement concrete. The data will be kept confidential and only the overall nationwide survey results will be shared with all survey participants and other researchers.  March 15 is the deadline. For more information, contact Karthik Obla.

Welcome New Members

Hull & Associates, Inc., an ACAA Associate non-voting member, is a project development, science and engineering company that helps businesses and government solve complex challenges related to land, energy and the environment. Hull & Associates, with six offices and more than 160 employees, leverages its expertise in property redevelopment, waste management, industrial applications, beneficial use opportunities, energy and environmental engineering to devise a solution that meets its clients’ needs. Please click here to visit Hull & Associates, Inc.’s website. Mr. William (Bill) Petruzzi will be ACAA’s primary point of contact and Shawn McGee will serve as the alternate.

Silar Services, Inc., an ACAA Associate non-voting member, meets its clients’ complex challenges by providing strategic environmental and risk management services by integrating short and long-term social, economic, regulatory, and financial considerations tailored to meet their unique circumstances. SSI is composed of licensed practitioners, environmental consultants, former utility company professionals and regulators who manage the risks and implementation of environmental affairs. Please click here to visit Silar Services, Inc.’s website. Mr. Tim Silar will be ACAA’s primary point of contact.

The Phoenix was sent to you from the American Coal Ash Association: info@acaa-usa.org.
15200 E. Girard Ave., Ste. 3050, Aurora, CO 80014-3955
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The ACAA’s mission is to advance the management and use of coal combustion products in ways that are environmentally responsible, technically sound, commercially competitive, and more supportive of a sustainable global community.