By Randy Wilson, KFTC Member, Clay County

From July 19th-26th, a delegation of 5 from Kentucky - including Randy Wilson and two other KFTC members - participated in a Witness for Peace trip, which was focused on "The People Behind the Coal in Kentucky and Colombia." We spent the week learning about the impacts of the coal industry on communities in a northern coastal region called La Guajira.

    We got up @ 5:30 am and were on the bus by 6:00....another day on the road in the Guajira region of northern Colombia.  I don't think I saw more than 12 tourists the whole 7 days we were in that region....perfect for mining coal....nobody comes up there.  But we were there as a part of Witness for Peace observing what the mines were doing to the region.  Everywhere we went leadership said, "They promised prosperity and jobs...."and then the long list of economic, environmental, and health problems they had inherited from the coal companies.

Tabago Open Pit Operation at Cerrejon Mine

This day we had to leave the tour bus and take a four wheel van back into those villages directly effected by a coal pit the size of Long Island!   Thirty five miles long and five miles wide.  We pitched to and fro through rutted roads, crossed a swelling river once...then got caught in the rising river a second time.  Locals rustled up a long rope and a bus pulled us out to safety.  At one time all these villages were joined by a convenient trade route.  They traded tobacco, garden vegetables, goat and cattle.  They had no clear boundaries.  Their cattle ranged fair and wide.  Some indegenous tribes lived in the region before the European invasion in 1499.   But here was a different kind of invasion led by mining multinationals, supported by the US and Colombian governments, and strong armed by military and paramilitary thugs....displacing folks right and left in their path. 

Dancers in the Tamaquito Village

Some villagers were united.  Some were not.  The company picked off some, divided others.  All were in negotiations for removal.  One such village was Tomaquito, home of the indigenous Wyhuu people.  Once lord of thousands of hectares, now they were reduced to ten and bound within the confines of their village, dependant on food sources from town some 25 miles of treacherous road away.   They lived under a cool canopy of trees in mud huts with palm thatched roofs.  They performed for us a dance where the women covered from head to ankle in flaming red capes circled the open ground to the sound of a drum.  They told us of their life there.  "Once we fished, we hunted, we grew crops, we tended goats and cattle.  We had no boundaries.  We traded with nearby villages.   There was no need for electricity.   When the sun sets and night falls it is dark, but we know where we are.  We are not lost.  Once we lived in peace."

   Every year 132 million tons of Colombian coal goes to fire coal fired plants in places like Mobile,Ala, Tampa, Fla., and Salem, Ma.  These plants put us all at risk.  The very people who know how to live sustainably, who figured this out long, long ago, are being displaced by a society whose principles and policy don't have a clue.

More than 30 years after it was temporarily exempted from national solid waste regulation laws, coal ash remains largely unregulated – but that is about to change. The U.S. EPA is soliciting public feedback on recently proposed coal ash standards and is expected to adopt some this year. If appropriately stringent controls are adopted, the industry will be forced to protect the public from exposure to coal ash toxins.

EPA  just posted the proposed rules on the federal register website and is soliciting public comments until early September. KFTC is requesting that a public hearing about these proposed regulations be held in Louisville.

To learn more about the issue, read here.

Further, Louisvillians are actively opposing a proposed 60-acre coal ash landfill currently under consideration right now for the LG&E Cane Run power plant. LG&E wants to get this expansion passed before new, more strict regulations are implemented. Eventually reaching a height of 14 stories, the proposed impoundment is located in the middle of south-end neighborhoods and is adjacent to many homes.

Learn more about the Jefferson County campaign here.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency unveiled two options today to regulate waste from coal-burning power plants in order to better protect public health and drinking water sources. The two competing alternatives would provide varying levels of protection to the state water resources, and could take years to implement.

“The time has come for common-sense national protections to ensure the safe disposal of coal ash,” said EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson. “We’re proposing strong steps to address the serious risk of groundwater contamination and threats to drinking water and we’re also putting in place stronger safeguards against structural failures of coal ash impoundments. The health and the environment of all communities must be protected.”

Coal ash, also known as coal combustion waste and coal combustion residue, contains toxic chemicals and heavy metals such as arsenic and lead — pollutants that cause cancer, birth defects, reproductive problems, damage to the nervous system and kidneys, and learning disabilities in children.  Kentucky coal-burning plants generate a total of 8.5 million tons of this waste every year, housed at 44 impoundments across the state. Of these impoundments, 7 have been labeled as imminent threats to human health and safety by the EPA. To learn more about it, click here.

One proposal option, the "Subtitle C" option, would designate coal ash as a hazardous waste. This type of waste already has a national regulation and permitting system in place under the federal "Resources Conservation and Recovery Act" (RCRA). Coal-burning power plants and state enforcement agencies would be expected to take steps over the next 5 years to ensure that existing and new impoundments meet these stricter guidelines. A plethora of scientific research has shown that coal ash meets the federal definition of "hazardous" and is also leaching into groundwater and drinking water sources near storage sites.

Under option 2, or non-hazardous regulation, the EPA would require wet coal ash impoundments to be retrofitted with a composite liner, rather than being phased out. If the disposal site chooses not to comply, the regulation would prohibit receiving additional coal ash, and require the closure of the unit within five years. The closure process and post-closure groundwater monitoring would be self-implemented, with no federal or state oversight. The EPA notes that this option would be much more difficult to monitor and enforce.

Both designations would leave in place the rule allowing coal ash to be recycled in so-called "beneficial uses" such as drywall, concrete and other construction materials. Many of these uses are virtually untested for their health effects or have little benefit in application. For example, at the proposed Smith plant, which would generate 520,000 tons of the waste annually, its coal ash would be buried with structural fill, which the company describes as a "beneficial re-use." Both options would also prohibit coal ash disposal in unlined landfills, although disposal in old mining sites would still be allowed.

Jefferson County chapter member Beth Bissmeyer supports the first option. "It's outrageous that storage and disposal of a substance that contains known cancer-causing pollutants has gone unregulated for so long. I live within five miles of the Cane Run Road coal-burning power plant and coal ash landfill and roughly 10 miles from the Mill Creek power station that also stores coal ash. The more I learn about the dangers of coal ash and its harmful effects on the health of people and the environment, the more sickened I become, knowing that the safety and health of my community is being neglected. Seeing the EPA finally take some steps toward coal ash regulation is great, but I hope they go far enough and declare coal ash a "hazardous waste." To do any less would be unjust and unreasonable."

The announcement comes after the EPA failed to meet self-imposed deadlines in the past concerning the designation of coal ash as a hazardous substance. The proposals will be turned over to the public for a 90-day comment period and one or more public and stakeholder hearings, after which the EPA will announce a decision.

“I would want communities to know that I believe, that EPA believes, it is very important to get on with this regulatory process,” said Jackson. “There has been lots of discussion already. We’ve heard from elected officials, from members of congress, from state governments, from private industries. I’d like to hear from public citizens about what they think is the most effective rule.”


In December of 2008, one billion gallons of toxic coal ash burst through a dam near a Tennessee Valley Authority power plant in Kingston, Tenn., polluting the Clinch and Emory rivers and launching the safety of coal ash into the national environmental debate.

The public can make comments on the proposed coal ash regulations until the end of the year once the final rule is posted (check in the next couple of weeks). Make comments by typing in EPA–HQ–RCRA–2009–0640 in the search box at www.regulations.gov.

(Parts of this blog entry are copied from Appalachian Voices)

Locations of coal ash impoundments in Kentucky:

A new study finds that people living nearest to streams polluted by coal mining are more likely to die of various types of cancer, even after adjusting for other factors that could affect health outcomes such as smoking. The study, released last week, was focused on West Virginia, but scientists believe its findings likely apply to anywhere in the Central Appalachian region that coal mining takes place.

The study took three measures into consideration - levels of stream pollution from coal mining, cancer deaths amongst residents, and proximity of those who died to areas of high mining intensity. The scientists found that, for those living near lots of coal mining and thus near streams heavily polluted by mining activities, rates of death from the following types of cancer increase:

• Respiratory
• Digestive
  
• Urinary
  
• Breast

Dr. Michael Hendryx, who testified about the public health impacts of coal mining before the Kentucky General Assembly this year, co-authored the study. Click here to read more about Dr. Hendryx's testimony and to learn more about the public health impacts of coal.

The scientists concluded that the integrity of the environment in coal mining areas is significantly related how many people die of cancer. They also state that study results suggest that coal mining demonstrates important effects on public health in these communities.

To download a handout that details the public health costs of coal-based electricity, click here.

 (Quote at right reposted from this Coal Tattoo blog story about this study.)

This blog post was written by Jefferson County KFTC member Beth Bissmeyer.

You might remember seeing a Jefferson County action alert about a Section 404 permit through the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for a 5.7 million cubic yard coal ash site about a month ago. The Army Corps received well over 100 public comments – a higher number than the Army Corps is used to seeing for this type of project! But our work is not over!  E.ON has to obtain several different permits for this project and they have now applied for a 401 Water Quality Certification permit through the Kentucky Division of Water to add a 60-acre coal combustion waste (CCW) landfill adjacent to the power plant. The public comment period for this is now open and ends THIS Friday, April 16 at 4:30 p.m. 

The current CCW pond on-site at the Cane Run Power Station is one of 44 classified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as “high hazard” – meaning that a spill would result in significant damage or loss of life.

CCW is the solid waste left over from burning coal. CCW is a combination of waste from the coal plant’s air filters and the residue from coal boilers. The ashy part of the waste, called coal ash, contains concentrated pollutants, including many toxins known to cause cancer in humans.

 The proposed permit would:

• allow 5.7 million cubic yards of CCW, which contains toxins known to be hazardous to human health, to be dumped on site. The U.S. EPA states that 1 in 50 adults and 1 in 100 children that live near CCW storage sites are at risk of developing cancer
• allow more than 3,000 feet of ephemeral and intermittent streams and 8 wetland areas to be filled
• allow use of an inferior containment liner that deteriorate over time, likely resulting in toxic chemicals leaching into groundwater
• ignore restoration requirements for 5 of the wetlands and require only minimal restoration for the other 3
• allow this waste to be dumped on land located at the end of the Ohio River floodwall, clearly in the river’s flood plain putting residents downstream at risk

---Find out more about the impacts coal ash can have on your community and health here.

---The 401 permit through the KY Division of Water agency interest #2121 is available for viewing here.

---The Courier-Journal recently published a front page article on the proposed coal-combustion waste expansion.

Solution

Let the Kentucky Division of Water know that you oppose this permit!

 **Please take action by April 16, 2010 deadline**

Send an email requesting that the Kentucky Division of Water to deny this permit to:

 jesse.robinson@ky.gov

 Put the Water Quality Certification agency interest # 2121 as the subject. Provide your physical mailing address and telephone number with your signature.

OR write to:

Mr. Jesse Robinson

Kentucky Division of Water

Water Quality Certification

200 Fair Oaks Lane

Frankfort, KY 40601

A SAMPLE LETTER/ EMAIL

Please deny E.ON’s request for a permit to expand Cane Run Power Station’s CCW landfill

Mr. Jesse Robinson

Kentucky Division of Water

Water Quality Certification

200 Fair Oaks Lane

April 16, 2010

To Whom It May Concern:

 Please support clean air and the health of Kentuckians by denying E.ON’s permit request to expand the Cane Run Power Station’s coal combustion waste landfill. Coal ash exposure puts our health at risk. The EPA estimates that up to 1 in 50 nearby residents could get cancer from exposure to contaminants in poorly stored coal ash. Other health effects may include damage to vital organs and the central nervous system, especially in children.

 This permit is problematic for several reasons:

·      The dump will not be properly contained, putting nearby residents and families at risk of health hazards and death.

·      The permit allows over 3,000 feet of ephemeral and intermittent streams and 8 wetlands to be filled with 5.7 million cubic yards of coal combustion waste.

·      Minimal restoration requirements for destroyed wetlands.

·      The land selected for this expansion is not an extension of the existing landfill and is right outside the end of the Ohio River floodwall in the flood plain putting residents downstream at risk. 

The Cane Run plant’s current coal ash pond already puts nearby residents at risk of death and serious health impacts. Enough is enough. Help Louisville lead the way toward better environmental standards. E.ON can invest in energy efficiency, weatherization, and renewable energies to reduce and eliminate the need for hazardous expansions like this permit request.

Sincerely, 

While the Kentucky legislature has generally ignored the economic and environmental consequences of coal, it did get a few minutes today to consider the effects on human health when the House Committee on Health and Welfare gave KFTC 20 minutes on its agenda.

Our three panelists made those 20 minutes count, focusing on the dangers not only to coal miners but to the health of whole communities in the coalfields.

KFTC member Beverly May, a nurse practitioner who works in Perry County, said she sees miners who have contracted lung diseases from exposure to coal dust and silica dust. “At home in Floyd County, I have friends in Hueysville, David and Allen that are plagued by dust from both nearby strip mines and from coal trucks passing by their homes. This is the same sandstone dust which causes silicosis in the workers, so I have to wonder, what does it do to children with asthma or elders or anyone who breathes it every day?”

She described the headwaters of Raccoon Creek, which are now polluted from nearby mining. “So I have to wonder, is the public water supply safe?”

Beverly May

Dr. Michael Hendryx

“The coal industry isn’t answering these questions because they don’t have to,” said May. “This body and the federal government have not held them fully accountable.”

Dr. Michael Hendryx, director of the West Virginia Rural Health Research Center and an associate professor at West Virginia University, said his research has revealed higher rates of chronic heart, chronic lung and renal failure mortality rates in coal-producing areas than in the rest of Appalachia or the nation, even after the rates have been adjusted for other factors such as smoking, age and education.

“We have some evidence that the effects become stronger as the level of mining increases,” Dr. Hendryx said. He attributed this to “significant impairment of air and water quality near mines.”  He also noted that poverty and economic disadvantage are major predictors of public health and that mining areas have the highest poverty rates.

A couple of Dr. Hendryx's reports can be found here and here.

Nancy Reinhart read a statement from Dr. Paul Epstein, associate director of the Center for Health and the Global Environment at Harvard Medical School. Among other findings, Epstein stated that 19 of the known chemicals used and generated in processing coal are known cancer-causing agents, 24 are linked to lung and heart damage, and several remain untested as to their health effects.

The oral testimony was supplemented with dozens of pages of documentation and medical research given to committee members.

Bill Bissett, president of Kentucky Coal Association, asked to rebut and was given a couple of minutes. He did not say burning coal or dumping toxic mining wastes in streams improved anyone’s health or offer any refuting evidence, but did say the coal industry offers some scholarships to eastern Kentucky students to go to medical school.

Here's a video of the 21-minute hearing.

Last night dozens of KFTC members, joined with our great allies from all over the state, spoke up for clean air and public health at a hearing in Winchester, KY.  The hearing was sponsored by the Kentucky Division of Air Quality and was in regards to an air permit application for a proposed coal-burning power plant in Clark County.  The plant is being proposed to be built by East Kentucky Power Cooperative and would provide power to 16 rural electric co-ops around the state.

"I am a ratepayer/member of Bluegrass Energy, which gets its power from EKPC...As my co-op's power producer, I fear that EKPC is putting me and other members at dire financial risk by pursuing a coal-fired power plant design that is certain to result in higher additional environmental costs versus any other power generation choice it might make," said Madison County KFTC member Steve Wilkins during the public comments section of the hearing.

41 KFTC members and allies spoke out against the dirty air permit application.  Each of the speakers talked about why they believe in clean air, their vision for the future of Kentucky, and the good local jobs that will be possible if EKPC chooses to go down an alternative path of clean, renewable energy.

When asked why she came out, Jefferson County KFTC member Martha Flack said before the hearing, "I think it is really important that we start looking at alternative sources of energy so that we can do a better job protecting the environment and our health... I just dont want to see another coal-fire power plant go up."

Thanks to everyone who traveled far and wide -- especially our great KFTC members in the Eastern part of the sate -- to stand up for clean air, public health, and a better vision for Kentucky!

If you haven't yet sent in comments, there is still time to do so.  Please visit this link to send your comments to the Division of Air Quality.  The more Kentuckians speaking out for a cleaner, better way -- the more powerful we are! 

Here are a few links to some of the news stories about the hearing and our work!

• KY Public News Service
  
• Channel 36
  
• WEKU
  

We will be posting more videos and pictures soon.  Stay tuned!

You are invited and encouraged to attend the public hearing for the draft air pollution permit for the proposed coal-burning Smith plant on February 4 at 6:30 in Winchester. Stand with Clark County residents and folks all over the state to demand a clean energy solution. 

Click here to let KFTC know you plan to attend the hearing.

Background

This hearing is our time to make a public demonstration of our opposition to an unhealthy and risky coal-burning power plant, and to stand up in support of the clean and less-costly alternative of energy efficiency, weatherization and renewable energy.

All Kentuckians, whether you receive your power from EKPC or not, are stakeholders in this process as the plant would contaminate the air we all breathe. Already, hundreds of Kentuckians die prematurely each year from the illnesses caused by the soot, smog, mercury and other pollution spewed out by coal-burning power plants.

Now is the time to say, “Enough is enough!” The solution is simple and clear. Energy saving and renewable energy programs won’t need a permit because they won’t pollute our air. We must use this opportunity to speak out, letting the Kentucky Division for Air Quality and EKPC know that this clean energy solution is the just and healthy choice, not only for EKPC ratepayers, but for all Kentuckians.

_______________________________

And don’t forget: If you haven’t submitted a written comment yet, you have until February 12 to tell the DAQ that you oppose the draft air permit. Visit kftc.org/airpermit to submit a written comment to the Division for Air Quality, raising your voice in favor of a just energy future and public health.

The solid waste left over from burning coal is called coal combustion waste, part of which is called coal ash. Despite being dangerous to human health, coal ash is not currently considered hazardous waste. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is considering recognizing the waste as hazardous, which would force power plants to dispose of it in ways that protect the health of nearby residents.

Coal-burning power plants produce approximately 131 million tons of coal ash per year, making coal ash the second largest U.S. industrial waste stream. Currently, the federal government allows states to regulate coal ash disposal. In Kentucky, state coal ash disposal regulations do little to protect the public from exposure to coal ash toxins.

How is coal ash created?

The air leaving power plant stacks after coal is burned is filtered to limit air pollution, creating a more solid form of waste. This waste is combined with the residue from coal boilers to make what is called coal combustion waste. The ashy part of the waste, called coal ash, contains concentrated pollutants, including many toxins known to cause cancer in humans.

How is coal ash disposed of in Kentucky?

In Kentucky, coal ash is typically mixed with water and channeled into a pond on-site at the power plant. Many of these ponds were constructed without the consultation of an engineer and do not contain lining to prevent toxins from the ash from seeping into the ground. This "wet storage" method is the cheapest way to dispose of coal ash.

How much coal ash is stored in Kentucky?

According to the EPA, there are 44 coal ash ponds in Kentucky - the second highest number in the nation after Indiana.  Seven ponds in the state have been categorized by the EPA as "high hazard", including sites in Louisa, Harrodsburg, Ghent and Louisville. Out of the 100 coal-burning plants that produce the largest amount of coal ash in the nation, Kentucky houses 10.

Why is coal ash hazardous?

Coal ash waste contains toxic chemicals and heavy metals such as arsenic and lead — pollutants that cause cancer, birth defects, reproductive problems, damage to the nervous system and kidneys, and learning disabilities in children.  Kentucky coal-burning plants generate a total of 8.5 million tons of this waste every year.  Proposed plants in Kentucky, including EKPC’s Smith 1 plant, would generate 400,000 additional tons of coal ash annually.

What can you do to improve the safety of coal ash disposal?

Call today to request tighter controls on coal ash disposal. Ask decision-makers to define coal as as hazardous and not give into coal industry demands on this very important issue. The EPA requested comments on this issue late last year and did not receive many public responses.

(202) 395-3080 - U.S. Office of Management and Budget

(202) 564-4700 - Lisa Jackson, EPA director

Also be sure to take action to oppose EKPC's Smith 1 plant. Click here for more information.