On Friday, April 19, the Environmental Protection Agency met a court-ordered deadline and released long-awaited draft Coal Water Pollution Standards (also known as Effluent Limitation Guidelines or ELGs). These standards, originally scheduled for completion in 2012, are needed to replace woefully outdated rules to regulate wastewater discharges from coal ash, the toxic residue remaining when coal [...]
Recently I presented at the 15th annual Alabama Water Rally, which is the yearly meeting of the Alabama Rivers Alliance. The presentation focused on the report, Freshwater Use by U.S. Power Plants, a product of the Energy and Water in a Warming World (EW3) Initiative, which details the vast amounts of water required for thermo-electric power [...]
Last week I had the privilege of accompanying experts from the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) on a three-day tour of Georgia and Alabama to highlight coal plants that should be considered for retirement. UCS is a national, science-based non-profit that advocates for policy decisions that are based on credible research. UCS’s report, Ripe for [...]
This guest post was written by Andrea Delgado, EarthJustice and was originally published here. Your action is urgently needed to stop multiple anti-environmental riders that threaten to allow more toxic pollution in our air and water by tying EPA’s hands and rolling back key provisions of the long-trusted Clean Air Act. Click here to tell your senators to [...]
Over the last few weeks several Southeastern states introduced coal ash-related legislation. Presumably these actions are in response to the ongoing delay of the Obama Administration to direct the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to finalize national coal ash rules. The lack of guidance from EPA actually led North Carolina Representative Pricey Harrison (D-Greensboro) to testify [...]
This blog by Waterkeeper Alliance and Tennessee Riverkeeper originally appeared on EcoWatch’s website. Click here to view the EcoWatch blog. Citing ongoing coal waste contamination at Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)’s Colbert Fossil Plant, conservation groups have charged that the facility is violating the Clean Water Act and that failure to address these violations will result in a lawsuit. As outlined [...]
SACE staff member Joan Walker contributed to this post. Today Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, in partnership with Appalachian Voices, Southern Environmental Law Center, and North Carolina Conservation Network, are launching the first-ever comprehensive online tool that allows citizens to find specific information about coal ash impoundments near them. The site, www.SoutheastCoalAsh.org, features an interactive map [...]
This blog is a guest post originally published on EcoWatch. On Aug. 2, twenty four Senators demonstrated their obedience to the coal industry by introducing a new bill that permanently blocks the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from regulating toxic coal ash. By introducing the bill right before the August recess, they hoped that the [...]
As we enter the dog days of summer, much of the Southeast region has once again succumbed to drought conditions, especially Georgia and neighboring Alabama. And nationally, drought is plaguing much of the country and affecting not just the “usual” suspects out West–even presumed “water rich” regions including the Southeast and areas along the East [...]
Last week brought a lot of news about coal ash in national media, some good, some bad. On one side we learned of new information from EPA to add to the growing mountain of evidence about the risks of unregulated coal ash (that’s bad). On the other side we pulled out a narrow victory in Washington, [...]