Coal Ash EPA Standards Pushed By U.S. Green Groups

A coalition of environmental groups filed suit on Thursday to force the Obama administration to finalize new rules regulating the containment and disposal of coal ash, a power plant byproduct that could harm all of our waters and threaten public health.

See, I stand in a rather unique place among the public, because one of my grandfathers ran a power house for years and the other one sit on the board of a separate power house. I have heard my grandfather bitch about the EPA regulations regarding such in the past. But let me tell you what I know about this first.

First of all, this coal is some nasty stuff. It can and does contain a certain amount of mercury, arsenic, as well as some other nefarious chemicals. I forget the name of the plant that TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority) runs it may have been the Kingston plant and you can see a story about how their levee broke and let loose a ninety eight acre pile of sludge. It even knocked a few homes off their foundation.

But this is not an isolated incident, as there have been more about this same thing take place in our country. And I would hope and pray that the EPA forces new regulations on such disposal to ensure its safety and ours as well.