The regime, in its ongoing effort to dismantle environmental protection laws painfully established over the last decade, will announce a reduction of
regulations limiting the amount of heavy metals that are allowed to
leach from ash dumps created by coal power plants. The new rules will relax requirements and completely exempt a significant number of plants from all regulation.The rules being overturned were passed during the previous administration after a containment pond in Tennessee burst, spilling more than 1.1 billion gallons of coal-ash slurry into nearby rivers and destroyed homes. In 2014 82,000 gallons spilled from a ruptured coal ash slurry pipe into North Carolina's Dan River. Duke Energy, [photo] owner of the closed fossil fuel plant,
paid a $6 million fine for violating clean water laws. Industry
supporters claim the regulations passed in the wake of these disasters
were an "overreaction", and motivated by a desire to close fossil fuel
facilities.Environmental organizations say the proposed rollback is dangerous and a huge step backwards. EPA says 1.1 million 'Mericans live within three miles of a coal plant. The 2015 rules set deadlines for plant owners to invest in modern waste treatment facilities to keep toxins out of local water sources, set minimum standards for storage structures, and monitor water quality. However, they did not designate coal ash as a "hazardous substance", which it clearly is. The old rules would have increased plant operating costs, but better protect public health from heavy metal exposure. Heavy metals like lead, arsenic, selenium and mercury are very toxic and carcinogenic. Around the nation there about 1,300 coal ash, the waste from burning coal, storage sites. About 130 tons are created each year. A study by environmental groups, found 90 percent of the 265 coal plants required to test their groundwater near coal ash dumps discovered unsafe levels of at least one contaminant. The old were rules were to go into effect in 2018, but were delayed until 2020 by industry hack, Scott Pruitt, who was forced to resign as EPA administrator for ethics violations.