Coal Ash: The Other Carbon Emission

When a breach in an earthen dam at the Tennessee Valley Authority's power plant 40 miles west of Knoxville sent over 5 million cubic yards of toxic coal-ash slurry into the Emory River in December 2008, a good deal of the nation was introduced to the "other carbon emission." But in small towns around the nation, this "carbon emission" had been on their minds for some time. Colstrip, MT is one of those towns.

Seattle's Sightline Institute reported on an investigation by the Center for Public Integrity that determined that waste ponds at a massive coal-fired power plant outside town had leaked over the decades, contaminating wells in residential neighborhoods and groundwater under cattle grazing lands. Some who drank the well water got diarrhea; another resident stopped drinking her strange-looking tap water after her cat would no longer lap it up.

Coal contains a number of toxic compounds and elements, compounds and elements that cannot be extracted from the coal except by burning it. Some go up the smokestack with the exhaust, most notably lead and mercury. But significant amounts of lead and mercury remain in the ash, along with arsenic, cadmium, and selenium. These toxins have been associated with cancer, birth defects, stomach ailments, fish kills, and livestock deaths. But despite this, ash disposal remains a sort of unregulated wild west of an industry.

An EPA report identified 85 sites from every region of the nation that have been affected by coal ash leakage and contamination, although Ohio has the largest number of sites and Texas produces the most total volume. Some states do not regulate the ash disposal at all either out of ignorance or out of deference to their power industries. But the price is being paid nonetheless.

To be fair, when confronted with the damage done, some power plant operators are trying to make amends. They are capping ash disposal pits, drilling wells to try to capture and decontaminate the underground plumes, and paying to have residents connected to a municipal water system to get them off their own (contaminated) wells. But the reality is that given the volume of contaminated water in these aquifers, and the long recharge times, it's really impossible to get all the contaminants out of the ground.

I bring all this up, not as another bit of discouraging news, but as a glimmer of hope. Industry propaganda to the contrary, coal is by far and away the dirtiest form of energy in use today. Its attraction to industry is strictly its low cost. The Obama Administration is proposing new Federal regulations for coal ash disposal. (In an unusual development, the EPA has proposed two alternate regulatory paths and is soliciting comment on both. One classifies coal ash as a "hazardous waste" and on as a "non-hazardous waste." The distinction is more than a matter of words, but too large an issue to go into here. Suffice to say that coal ash is clearly hazardous waste, and it is a tribute to industry influence that a "non-hazardous" classification would even be considered.)

This is hopeful because effective Federal regulation of any sort will force coal users to pay the full cost of using coal. If we are able to get cap and trade in place for airborne carbon emissions as well, we at least start making the transition to renewable energy more economically wise for power companies. And its that economic decision, not the common good, that is going to change things.

Paul Birkeland lives in Seattle, WA, US, and develops Strategic Energy Management Systems for government, commercial, and industrial organizations through Integrated Renewable Energy.