As Coal Ash Hearings Begin Across U.S., EIP, Earthjustice and Sierra Club Report to Reveal Ineffective State Oversight & Growing Need for EPA to Step Into Gap; Sites Overlooked by EPA Found in AR, CT, FL, IL, IA, KY, LA, MI, NE, NY, NC, ND, OH, OK, OR, PA, SD, TN, TX, VA and WI.
WASHINGTON, D.C.//NEWS ADVISORY//More than three dozen coal-ash dump sites in 21 states that are contaminating drinking water or surface water with arsenic and other heavy metals are not being monitored properly by state governments and require the intervention of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), according to a major new report that will be released at 11 a.m. EDT Thursday (August 26, 2010) by the Environmental Integrity Project (EIP), Earthjustice and the Sierra Club.
To date, the EPA has acknowledged the existence of 67 coal combustion waste (CCW) disposal sites that have contaminated water with toxic chemicals. However, a February 2010 EIP/Earthjustice report documented 31 additional sites in 14 states that the EPA should have included on its list. The more than three dozen additional sites in Thursday’s report bring the total number of toxic contamination cases to more than 100. Even EPA acknowledges that there are likely many more cases that have not yet been documented.
Set to be released just days before the first in a series of major coal ash rulemaking hearings, the EIP/Earthjustice/Sierra Club report shows that, at every one of the CCW sites equipped with groundwater monitoring wells, concentrations of heavy metals like arsenic or lead exceed federal health-based standards for drinking water, with concentrations at one site in Pennsylvania reaching as high as 341 times the federal standard for arsenic.
The 21 states with more than three dozen additional sites also being ignored by the EPA are (in alphabetical order): Arkansas, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Nebraska, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin.
The first public hearing on pending EPA coal ash rule is set for August 30, 2010 in Washington, DC. Hearings will follow in: Denver, CO on September 2; Dallas, TX on September 8; Charlotte, NC on September 14; Chicago, IL on September 16; Pittsburgh, PA on September 21; and Louisville, KY on September 28.
News event speakers will include:
· Jeff Stant, director, Coal Combustion Waste Initiative, Environmental Integrity Project;
· Lisa Evans, senior administrative counsel, Earthjustice;
· Lyndsay Moseley, federal policy representative, Sierra Club;
· J. Russell Boulding, environmental scientist, Boulding Soil-Water Consulting; and
· Barb Reed, whose son was a victim of pollution from FirstEnergy’s Little Blue Run Impoundment, Greene Township, Beaver County, PA.
TO PARTICIPATE: You can join this live, phone-based news conference (with full, two-way Q&A) at 11 a.m. EDT on August 26, 2010 by dialing 1 (800) 860-2442. Ask for the “coal ash water pollution" news event.
CAN’T PARTICIPATE?: A streaming audio recording of the news event will be available on the Web as of 4 p.m. EDT on August 26, 2010 at http://www.environmentalintegrity.org.
CONTACT: Virginia Cramer, (804) 225-9113 x 102 or Virginia.cramer@sierraclub.org
Ailis Aaron Wolf, (703) 276-3265 or aawolf@hastingsgroup.com.
The Environmental Integrity Project (http://www.environmentalintegrity.org) is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization established in March of 2002 by former EPA enforcement attorneys to advocate for effective enforcement of environmental laws. EIP has three goals: 1) to provide objective analyses of how the failure to enforce or implement environmental laws increases pollution and affects public health; 2) to hold federal and state agencies, as well as industries , accountable for failing to enforce or comply with environmental laws; and 3) to help local communities obtain the protection of environmental laws.
Earthjustice (http://www.earthjustice.org) is a non-profit public interest law firm dedicated to protecting the magnificent places, natural resources, and wildlife of this earth, and to defending the right of all people to a healthy environment. Earthjustice works through the courts on behalf of citizen groups, scientists, and other parties to ensure government agencies and private interests follow the law. On Capitol Hill, Earthjustice works to protect and strengthen federal environmental laws and preserve special places, like the Arctic.
The Sierra Club (http://www.sierraclub.org) is America’s largest, oldest and most influential grassroots environmental organization. Inspired by nature, our 1.3 million members are working together to protect our communities and the planet.
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