Coal Ash Disposal Sites Contaminating Ground Water In 19 States

[GoLeft TV]

From DeSmogBlog -

The Environmental Integrity Project (EIP) has released a new report showing that coal ash disposal sites are threatening water supplies at 33 sites located in 19 different states across the U.S. The EIP says that the levels of heavy metals like arsenic in these locations are dangerously higher than federally accepted levels, which the group says could mean that legal action could be taken against the companies involved in the coal ash dumping.

From an EIP press release:

EIP found levels of groundwater contamination at 33 coal ash landfills or impoundments nationwide that are high enough to trigger the "open dumping" provisions of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). Based on a review of recent (though limited) groundwater monitoring data from state agencies, the 33 active coal ash disposal sites in 19 states—Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, North Carolina, North Dakota, Nebraska, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Texas—meet the open dumping criteria for one or more of the following coal ash-related pollutants: arsenic, barium, cadmium, chromium, fluoride, lead, mercury, and selenium.


Get the full story at DeSmogBlog - http://desmogblog.com/coal-ash-disposal-sites-contaminating-ground-water-19-states

[izquierdista]

1. As is a heavy metal?

Here I was thinking it was a Main Group metalloid most commonly found in the +3 oxidation state. Learn something new every day.

[txlibdem]

2. Coal industry lobbyists granted access to the White House 3 times more often than environmentalists

"Between October 2009 and April 2010, coal industry representatives held at least 33 meetings with White House staff on the coal ash issue, almost three times as many meetings as environmentalists and university scientists were granted on the subject."
...from your link: http://desmogblog.com/coal-ash-disposal-sites-contaminating-ground-water-19-states

So much for our clean drinking water, clean air and possibilities of living a healthy life...

[Divernan]

6. Add Big Fracking & Obama's $1billion fundraising goal to the picture.

Pennsylvania might as well change it's name to PennsHellVania.

[txlibdem]

7. Makes you wonder who really controls "our" elected officials

Campaign finance laws have got to change or we are all in big trouble... We meaning the "little people" not the "Corporations that are people."

[Divernan]

3. Pennsylvania's spent hundreds of millions to try to clean up after Big Coal

Now the Big Frackers are disposing of carcinogenic/radioactive waste from fracking at some 30 sites in the state.

[Nihil]

4. I gather that the groundwater is a popular disposal "site" too. (n/t)

:hide:

[Divernan]

5. You got that right - usually in the dead of night.

[txlibdem]

8. Those are only the most recent findings - there are 67 more sites the EPA found earlier

Those sites are in addition to the 67 EPA has already identified. At every site with groundwater that the report authors visited, concentrations of arsenic and lead exceeded federal health standards for drinking water.

http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2010/08/30/public_hearings_started_today/