EPAs Pruitt Clears The Way For Power Plants To Further Pollute Our Water

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Plans to Drop Requirement that Companies Monitor Coal Ash Effects on Groundwater

Coal ash, the toxic remnants of burning coal, was not classified as hazardous waste by government regulators after a long pushback by politically powerful utilities, and EPA administrator Scott Pruitt wants to water down those regulations even further.

Pruitt’s proposal could allow groundwater monitoring requirements to be suspended. He announced the proposed changes March 1, a day before the deadline for power plant operators to release information about groundwater contamination that showed contamination near more than 70 coal-fired power plants and ash dumps from Alaska to Virginia.

“The EPA is choosing to side with polluters over the public,” said Lisa Evans of Earthjustice.

U.S. power plants produce more than 110 million tons of coal ash a year. The ash contains arsenic, lead and mercury and has typically been dumped into unlined pits or ponds, often near rivers. At least 414 coal plants that have disgorged hundreds of millions of tons of waste would be affected by the changes.


More: https://www.dcreport.org/2018/03/30/epas-pruitt-clears-the-way-for-power-plants-to-further-pollute-our-water/



Featured image: Cleaning up after the 2014 Dan River coal-ash spill in North Carolina. Photo by Steven Alexander U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

[Angry Dragon]

1. killing the land and the people