How 'Hazardous' is Coal Ash Waste?

1 Jul 2009 // June 30, 2009 · Just how much of a hazard are the EPA's "high hazardous potential" coal ash waste impoundments to West Virginians? It depends on how close you live to the site.

Four coal ash waste impoundments in West Virginia recently made the EPA’s “high hazardous potential” list.

These special dams made the national news in December when an impoundment broke, spilling a billion gallons of coal ash waste across Tennessee land and into the Emory River.

On June 18, the environmental law firm Earthjustice, along with other environmental groups, filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the Environmental Protection Agency. The groups wanted to know where the “high hazard potential” coal ash waste impoundments in the United States were located.

At first, the US Department of Homeland Security didn't want to release the list. The office said the information could endanger local residents.

The debate ended Monday when the EPA released the information.

According to the agency, there are 44 “high hazard potential” coal ash waste impoundments in the United States.

North Carolina has the most with 12. Kentucky has seven; Ohio has six. Pennsylvania has one that’s reported to be creeping into West Virginia.

West Virginia itself has four in Pleasant, Putnam, Marshall, and Mason counties -- one of which is owned by Allegheny Energy. Three are owned by American Electric Power.

AEP spokesman Pat Hemlepp says the power company monitors the sites closely.

“We take great pains to make sure that our impoundments are safe with the regular inspections we do with the monitoring we do it’s not something that we anticipate will be a problem,” he said.

In the release, EPA says “high hazard potential” does not mean that the dam is unstable. The list evaluates the possibility for harm, should the dam fail.

Hemlepp says the list relates to population. The 44 dams are located around more people than other coal ash waste sites and therefore more lives would be lost if the “high hazardous potential” dams broke.

“What the list is designed to do is to have emergency responders knowledgeable about the facilities that are in their areas,” Hemlepp said.

“If there was some sort of sudden catastrophic failure of the impoundment could be a health risk or a safety risk for people downstream.”

Earthjustice representatives say they are pleased to information is now public, but they want the sites regulated as hazardous waste.

While Hemlepp would like to see a uniform standard for ALL ash waste sites for consistency, he doesn’t think it’s necessary to regulate the sites as “hazardous.”

“The reason for that is that a lot of these bi-products are actually used in other products,” Hemlepp said.

“They’re used in highway paving materials they’re used in concrete blocks and other building blocks. If you put a hazardous designation that would get rid of the beneficial use of these compounds and the more beneficial use you get the less of the compound that actually ends up going to landfill.”

Earthjustice is still trying to find out where hundreds of other coal ash sites are located.

EPA officials did not immediately return calls requesting comment.