Three environmental groups said today they plan to sue the federal government for being 26 years late in setting limits on toxic discharges from coal power plants.
In the wake of TVA’s coal ash spill at the Kingston Fossil Plant in December, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson has pledged to issue federal regulations by the end of the year for nearly 600 coal plants with on-site coal ash storage ponds or landfills.
But in a notice filed with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, environmental lawyers said EPA should already have limited coal ash discharges to meet the its own requirements for annual environmental reviews.
The three environmental groups — the Defenders of Wildlife, the Sierra Club and the Environmental Integrity Project — filed a notice of intent to sue EPA today in Washington, D.C.
“Toxic discharges from power plants can threaten the health of local communities, contaminate ground and surface waters and destroy aquatic life,” said Eric Schaeffer, executive director of the Environmental Integrity Project. “EPA should have limited these discharges decades ago as the law requires. EPA needs to stop kicking the can down the road and set a date for regulation.”
EPA data shows that coal plants discharge millions of pounds of toxic pollutants every year. In Kingston, more than 5.4 million cubic yards of coal ash spilled from a coal-ash holding pond last December when a earthen wall ruptured. The ash contains elevated levels of arsenic, selenium and lead, among other toxic substances.
EPA has not revised any of its effluent standards for coal combustion products or other effluents since 1982, Mr. Schaeffer said.
For complete details, see tomorrow’s Times Free Press.
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