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Washington, D.C. - Just three short weeks after the rupture of a Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) coal ash dam unleashed an avalanche of coal ash sludge covering more than 300 acres, House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Nick J. Rahall (D-WV) today introduced legislation requiring federal standards to regulate the engineering of coal ash impoundments.

"The disaster witnessed at the Kingston, Tennessee facility - which could have been avoided had TVA exercised appropriate engineering and monitoring regimes - was a clarion call for action.  Now is the time to take that action, before any lives are lost to a similar disaster, which is why I am introducing legislation to provide a basic level of safety for our communities and the environment from the hazards of coal ash waste," Rahall said.

The Coal Ash Reclamation and Environmental Safety Act of 2009 (H.R. 493) would impose uniform federal design, engineering, and performance standards on coal ash impoundments to avoid a repeat of the damage done in Kingston.  The legislation, which requires minimum design and stability standards for all surface impoundments constructed to hold coal ash, draws on the regulatory model for impoundments that is used for coal slurry management under the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA).

The majority of coal ash, a byproduct of the combustion of coal at electric utility power plants, is deposited in impoundments, landfills, or mines.  By comparison, coal slurry is one of the main refuse streams from the treatment of raw coal when it is mined.

There are currently no federal standards for coal ash impoundments as exist under SMCRA for coal slurry - instead, such impoundments are constructed and maintained under a patchwork of state requirements, or on a voluntary basis.

"It is impossible to write off the disaster in Tennessee as a freak accident.  The absence of national standards for coal ash has resulted in environmental damage and threats to human health throughout the country - not just last month, or last year, but for decades, and as far as we know this may be just the tip of the iceberg," Rahall said.

Requirements for coal slurry impoundments under SMCRA that would be made applicable to coal ash impoundments under H.R. 493 cover aspects of design, construction, operation, and closure, including:

• Regulations detailing the engineering and stability of the embankment.

• Regulations requiring all applications for an impoundment to have a foundation investigation to determine design requirements for stability.

• Each design plan must include a geotechnical investigation of the embankment foundation area.

• Each impoundment plan must include a survey describing the potential effect on the structure from subsidence of the subsurface strata resulting from past mining operations in the area.

• Plans for impoundments must be reviewed by a geologist or an engineer.
  
  
• Regulations requiring that a qualified engineer, with experience in construction of impoundments, inspect each impoundment regularly during construction, upon completion of construction, and periodically thereafter.

"For those states that do not already have careful standards for coal ash disposal, my legislation will require immediate attention to the shocking gaps in coal ash management.  The American public and our environment simply cannot afford to wait any longer to rein in the hazards posed by the shoddy and irresponsible coal ash disposal practices that currently exist."

Rahall has a long history of working to regulate coal ash waste.  In 1980, Rahall and former Representative Tom Bevill of Alabama successfully offered an amendment to what became the Solid Waste Disposal Act of 1980 requiring the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to determine how to regulate coal ash.  Yet, 29 years later, the EPA has consistently failed to control how coal ash is stored or used, or even classify coal ash waste as a hazardous waste.

A 2006 National Academy of Sciences study initiated at Rahall's request, along with a 2007 Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources oversight hearing, pointed to the pressing need for a federal regulatory regime governing the disposal of coal ash, whether in impoundments, landfills, or in mines.

(View fact sheet on H.R. 493)

The full text of Rahall's remarks upon introduction of H.R. 493 follows:

U.S. Rep. Nick J. Rahall

Chairman, Committee on Natural Resources

Introductory Remarks on H.R. 493

January 14, 2009

"COAL ASH RECLAMATION AND ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY ACT of 2009"

This disaster -- which could have been avoided if TVA had exercised appropriate engineering and monitoring regimes at its Kingston facility in Harriman, Tennessee -- was a clarion call for action.  Now is the time to take that action, before any lives are lost to a similar disaster.

Simply put, there are no federal standards for coal ash impoundments. They are constructed and maintained under a patchwork of State requirements, or on a voluntary basis.

Today I am introducing legislation to impose uniform federal design, engineering, and performance standards on coal ash impoundments.  These standards are aimed at ensuring the structural stability of these impoundments, and requiring adequate monitoring and inspection regimes to avoid a repeat of what happened at Kingston, Tennessee, and what almost happened just last week at another TVA facility in Alabama.   

Coal ash is a byproduct of the combustion of coal at electric utility power plants.  Some of the coal ash produced is recycled, usually as construction materials like concrete, Portland cement, and wallboard.  However, the majority of coal ash is deposited in impoundments, landfills, or mines.

The larger issue here is how to regulate coal ash, and, in this respect, the track record is woefully inadequate.  Back in 1980, former Representative Tom Bevill of Alabama and this gentleman from West Virginia successfully offered an amendment to what became the Solid Waste Disposal Act of 1980 requiring the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to determine how to regulate coal ash.

I am sorry to say that after 29 years the EPA has yet to do so.  Over the years, I have cajoled the agency to move forward.  It came close to making a decision under the Clinton Administration, then retrenched under the Bush Administration.  I called for a study by the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences on this issue, which was completed in 2006.  Following up on that study, last year our colleague, Rep. Jim Costa, in his capacity as the Chairman of the Energy and Minerals Subcommittee of the Natural Resources Committee, held a hearing on coal ash. The study, and the hearing, all pointed to the pressing need for a federal regulatory regime governing the disposal of coal ash, whether in impoundments, landfills, or in mines.

I have no doubt that the Obama Administration will finally take action on this issue.  In the meantime, however, the purpose of my legislation is to address the engineering aspects of the impoundments themselves.

For its part, the electric utility industry says it complies with voluntary guidelines in this matter.  And some States claim they have adequate requirements. Yet, as it stands, one State might require strict standards for the construction of a coal ash pond, while the State next door largely ignores how coal ash ponds are constructed.  Pennsylvania, for example, requires a solid waste permit for all surface impoundments that receive coal ash, while Illinois and Indiana are among the states that regulate surface impoundments as water pollution control facilities, rather than solid waste management units. 

Similarly, requirements for liners for coal ash ponds vary State by State.  For example, Alabama and Florida do not require liners for surface impoundments for coal ash, while Wisconsin does.   

The argument that all States have adequate regulations for coal ash is not substantiated by the facts.    It is impossible to write off the disaster in Tennessee as a freak accident.  The absence of national standards for coal ash has resulted in environmental damage throughout the country B not just last month, or last year, but for decades. In 2007, the EPA recognized 67 contaminated sites in 23 states where coal combustion byproducts have polluted groundwater or surface water.  This may be just the tip of the iceberg, because most coal ash sites in the United States are not adequately monitored.

The "Coal Ash Reclamation and Environmental Safety Act of 2009" requires minimum design and stability standards for all surface impoundments constructed to hold coal ash.  The bill draws on the regulatory model for  impoundments that is used for coal slurry management under the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977. Requirements for coal slurry impoundments that would be made applicable to coal ash impoundments under this legislation cover aspects of design, construction, operation, and closure, including:

o Regulations detailing the engineering and stability of the embankment.

o Regulations requiring all applications for an impoundment to have a foundation investigation to determine design requirements for stability.

o Each design plan must include a geotechnical investigation of the embankment foundation area.

o Each impoundment plan must include a survey describing the potential effect on the structure from subsidence of the subsurface strata resulting from past mining operations in the area.

o Plans for impoundments must be reviewed by a geologist or an engineer.

o Regulations requiring that a qualified engineer, with experience in construction of impoundments, inspect each impoundment regularly during construction, upon completion of construction, and periodically thereafter.

The ACoal Ash Reclamation and Environmental Safety Act of 2009" also requires immediate development of a detailed inventory and analysis of all existing coal ash disposal sites, to guide informed and prompt decisions on how to bring that universe of ponds and lagoons up to safe standards, now. 

For States that already have careful standards for coal ash disposal, the bill I am introducing will not be a problem.  For those that do not, the ACoal Ash Reclamation Environmental Safety Act of 2009" will require immediate attention to shocking gaps in coal ash management. 

As a witness at our hearing last year so presciently reminded the Subcommittee on Energy and Minerals: Athe cost of safe disposal [of coal ash] is not burdensome to industry, although it has proved, at site after site, to be catastrophic to the public and the environment."

The time to act is now.