EPA delays decisions on coal ash as one-year anniversary of Kingston spill approaches

The Environmental Protection Agency announced Thursday it will delay the release of proposed new rules on the handling and disposal of toxic ash from coal-fired power plants. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson had promised the rules proposal would be issued before the end of the year, Ken Ward Jr. of The Charleston Gazette reports. The announcement came five days before the one-year anniversary of the Dec. 22 collapse of the coal-ash impoundment at a Tennessee Valley Authority power plant near Kingston, Tenn.

That spill sent more than 1 billion gallons of coal ash, containing more than 2.6 million pounds of toxic pollutants, into local streams, fields and homes, Ward writes, and gave new ammunition to environmental groups campaigning for stricter regulations on coal ash. "In October, a U.S. Government Accountability Office report said the Obama administration was considering a 'hybrid' approach that would regulate some coal-ash dumps as hazardous waste sites and subject others to less strict non-hazardous waste rules," Ward reports.

Last week the Electric Power Research Institute warned in congressional testimony that an EPA hazardous-waste designation for coal ash could force nearly 200 coal-fired power plants nationwide to close. Earthjustice attorney Lisa Evans, a longtime advocate of tougher coal-ash regulations, told Ward the EPA delay was "unfortunate," and she hopes that EPA "will prevail over the power industry's fear mongering and campaign of disinformation." (Read more)

Terri Likens, editor of the weekly Roane County News, reflected this week on the spill and her newspaper's coverage, including an aerial view: "It was on that chilly morning flight that I finally was able to really comprehend the enormity of the TVA disaster. I knew then that the coverage of this event was going to be nearly a full-time beat." The recession kept her from replacing a reporter," So with a national-level disaster taking up even more time, we had to tackle what we could while taking a hit to the newsroom. I am proud of what we have been able to accomplish — even while short-staffed — in dealing with this disaster." (Read more)