More Freedumb From Shitstain's EPA - No Need For Utilities To Have $$ For Coal Ash Cleanup
The Trump administration wants to give electric utilities a pass on proving they could finance a hazardous waste cleanup in the event of a Superfund disaster. The proposed rule from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says electric utilities should not have to make “financial assurances” to cover the risk the industry will produce pollution it cannot afford to clean up.
The rule comes in response to a decade-long push and legal battle with environmental groups, who petitioned the EPA to write the rules during the Obama administration. But under the Trump administration, the agency decided electric utilities do not pose a significant risk and can forego the requirement.
The decision calls into question who will be on the hook to pay for and clean up old waste sites with lagoons of coal ash, the toxic byproduct that is left when coal is burned in power plants to produce electricity. Stored in pits, coal ash can contaminate drinking water or blow into nearby communities. It went largely unregulated until EPA issued rules in 2015 to address the problem. Virginia has more than 28 million tons of coal ash stored in pits in the state, according to the Virginia Conservation Network. Much of Virginia’s coal ash is part of a cleanup agreement the state legislature passed earlier this year, but some remains unaddressed. The state’s waterways can also be affected by coal ash in neighboring states.
Some advocacy groups are concerned the EPA’s proposal could open the door for coal-fired power plants to abandon toxic coal ash pollution or leave consumers to foot the bill. “We know there is coal ash pollution across the United States that will cost billions of dollars to clean up, and the question becomes who is going to pay for it,” said Sarah Saadoun, a researcher at Human Rights Watch, an international human-rights advocacy group that is tracking the regulation.
The obscure federal rule has gone mostly overlooked since its proposal in July. The public comment deadline closes Sept. 27, but there are currently only seven comments filed — while other environmental regulations garner hundreds of submissions.
EDIT
https://www.virginiamercury.com/2019/09/25/11582/