This week Congress could pull the plug on any effort to protect communities and the environment from another disaster like the coal ash dam failure in Tennessee in 2008. (See video.) There are hundreds of coal ash dumps across the country, and living near an unlined coal ash pond can put residents at a 1-in-50 risk of cancer from arsenic. This is 2,000 times greater than the acceptable level of risk.
The proposed legislation tells the EPA and the states not to treat this toxic sludge as toxic. The specific language is to treat coal ash impoundments like any "landfill." The House of Representatives is likely to vote this week on H.R. 2273, a bill designed to maintain the status quo of weak state oversight and cut off a rulemaking process already underway by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. More than 450,000 Americans commented on that rule, asking the EPA for strong, enforceable safeguards from toxic coal ash.
According to Jared Saylor Campaign Director, Earthjustice:
"This bill subverts the public participation process and essentially silences the voice of pubic."
Despite an massive outcry for regulation of coal ash, the bill responds to pollutors request to keep the ash virtually unregulated. Voters still have time to contact their legislators. This can be done by contacting your Federal legislators or through the Earth Justice Campaign.
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