Environmental Groups Plan to Sue EPA over Coal Ash Regulations
A dozen local and national environmental activist groups have notified the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that they intend to sue EPA to force a conclusion of the Agency's now three-year-old coal ash disposal rulemaking proceeding.
Entities suing federal agencies are required to provide 60 days notice before filing a lawsuit. In their letter to EPA giving Notice of Intent, the groups indicated three major challenges to the Agency, including: a challenge to EPA’s previous decision to exempt coal ash from Subtitle C regulation, a challenge to EPA’s failure to revise Subtitle D regulations for coal ash, and a challenge to EPA’s standard methods for determining coal ash toxicity.
News stories about the legal challenge are here and here. You can read the environmental groups’ press release here and see a complete copy of their notice to EPA here.
The legal maneuver can be seen as an effort by the environmental groups to force a deadline on EPA’s rulemaking activities. On other environmental issues, EPA and environmental groups have used lawsuits like this to form the basis of settlement agreements that impose court-ordered deadlines and limit the ability of other groups to ensure that rules are developed rationally. (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.
Don't Miss Powerful Lineup of Guest Speakers in Tampa
Pre-registration numbers indicate the American Coal Ash Association is on track to host a record number of attendees at its winter meeting in Tampa January 30-31.
Meeting attendees will hear presentations from a wide range of distinguished guest speakers, including:
Additional presentations will focus on agricultural gypsum research, roller compacted concrete, Electric Power Research Institute coal ash research activities, coal ash marketing, and more.
On-site registration will be available at the Doubletree Tampa Airport Westshore Hotel. Information on detailed meeting schedules, meeting pre-registration and online hotel reservations can all be found here.
Five ACAA Members Volunteer at Transportation Research Board
Five American Coal Ash Association members staffed the ACAA exhibit booth at this week's Transportation Research Board meeting in Washington DC.
Mike Adams and Keith Bargaheiser of Headwaters Resources, Dr. Lisa Bradley of AECOM, Ann Couwenhoven of Constellation Energy, and John Ward of Citizens for Recycling First promoted coal ash utilization to the international gathering of more than 11,000 transportation professionals.
ACAA member CERATECH also exhibited at the conference.
The TRB Annual Meeting program covered all transportation modes, with more than 4,000 presentations in nearly 650 sessions and workshops addressing topics of interest to all attendees—policy makers, administrators, practitioners, researchers, and representatives of government, industry, and academic institutions.
ASTM Coal Ash Structural Fills Standard is Out for Ballot
The New Standard (Formerly E2277-2003) Guide for Design and Construction of Coal Ash Structural Fills WK36036 is currently being balloted by ASTM Committee E-50 under Ballot No. E50 (12-01).
ASTM standards not only provide valuable technical guidance, but they also provide invaluable liability protection to professionals who follow them. This particular standard helps legitimize Coal Combustion Products as useful and safe materials while establishing broad guidelines for structural fill utilization applications.
The American Coal Ash Association encourages every Committee E-50 member to vote on this important standard.
Update on Establishing Coal Ash International Trade Data
Anne Weir, executive director of CIRCA (Association of Canadian Industries Recycling Coal Ash), reports that efforts to establish international trade data for coal ash are progressing on several fronts.
A formal proposal to the World Customs Organization is expected to be filed in late February or early March. The effort has been embraced by World Wide Coal Combustion Products Network and has already received data from Canada, Australia and South Africa. Data from the United States and Europe are currently being collected.
The combined efforts are expected to establish that the industry meets a $50 million annual international trade threshold, thereby compelling the WCO to revise its classification of coal ash. Creating legal status of coal ash as an internationally traded commodity will help continue to establish the material as a valuable “product” – rather than as a byproduct or residual – and provide other benefits to the coal ash beneficial use industry.
Detailed presentations from last year’s World of Coal Ash by Anne Weir concerning this effort are available here and here.
Coal Ash in the News
The U.S. Energy Information Administration has released the 2012 edition of its Short Term Energy Outlook. The report predicts modest declines for coal consumption, but shows coal remaining as America’s largest resource for generating electricity. Uncertainty because of increasing environmental regulations is a major theme. A story summarizing the publication is here. The complete report can be found here.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that the October 31 bluff failure and coal ash spill at the Oak Creek power plant sent less dirt and ash into Lake Michigan than initially estimated and that the incident would not have any serious environmental impact. Read the story here.
Waste Business Journal published this story providing extensive coverage of ACAA’s recent coal ash production and use data.
An account of the recent day-long symposium on the environmental impact of concrete sponsored by MIT’s Concrete Sustainability Hub is here.
The Phoenix was sent to you from the American Coal Ash Association: info@acaa-usa.org.
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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.
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