Comments on: Coal Ash: 130 Million Tons of Waste
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- That would be the same coal used to produce electricity used to transmit CBS shows, power CBS offices, and power the TV's for people who watch CBS?
Yea, I thought so. The very same coal.
H Y P O C R I T E S. - Reply to this comment
- Fly ash would likely be a hazardous waste by chemical analysis.....but the coal lobbyists had it specifically exempted from regulation back in the late 70s.
Now, its a common ingredient in concrete mixes. - Reply to this comment
- Hasn't anyone ever heard of NATURAL GAS?
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- Coal ash is a tremendously toxic substance and yet the power companies and coal industry pooh-pooh it as benign - "it's like dirt!" Leslie Stahl's report showed the truth about how this toxic byproduct of coal combustion is poisoning us. If the EPA finally regulates coal as a toxic substance, then the cost of coal will skyrocket. It will become very expensive due to the high disposal costs, thus we are finally looking at coal's TRUE COST. And if a carbon tax is instituted in the U.S., then coal becomes as costly as nuclear power if not more. Then renewables will finally be considered "economic".
The public might find this of interest! Platte River Power Authority is shipping it's fly ash for use in feedlots. I wonder where those feedlots are located and what animals are being poisoned? So, when you "eat the beef" (or maybe pigs), some of us are consuming high levels of arsenic, lead, mercury, selenium, and cadmium in our hamburgers. What is the cost to our society when fly ash is put into the food chain? Cancer, immune disorders, neurological ailments? I'm no doctor but I'll leave it up to your imagination.
Please, 60 minutes - expand this investigation and uncover the multitude of stories across the entire country that need to be heard. - Reply to this comment
- Going green using solar and\or wind power seems to make more sense after what happened to Kingston, TN. In some cases it might look somewhat unsightly throughout the landscape, but not really. Obviously it is free energy and it gives off nothing hazardous (imagine that). I would expect the big coal burning advocates to totally rip this up, but right now they have no leg to stand on, but again money talks and ******** walks, or in this case slides down the Kingston river.
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- Yes, what about the health and well being of those who live within 30 miles of coal fired power plants, particularly baseload coal fired power plants - and places where Mountain Top Removal is happening on a massive scale above homes, communities, water supplies, food sources?
I truly am not all that interested in carbon emissions per se. What I am interested in is the pollution as a whole; air, water, ground, livestock and foodstuff farms.
And humans that have to breath all this pollution, or drink water that has been compromised by the pollution, or eating from their gardens or farms or selling these products to grocery store for others to ingest.
Sure, the newer coal plants have less pollution than the older plants - but if you remember that old hemorrhoid relief commercial where they say while demonstrating with their hands, "If THIS is your problem, THIS is no answer."
And every new coal plant, particularly baseload power plants that are added, adds to the overwhelming problems already related to coal extraction, preparation and transportation, and of course the end result coal ash waste.
There are many waterways that are already injured and flow downstream to rivers and bays, like the Chesapeake Bay here in VA which is already struggling to get the pollution under control from years of lack of regard for what goes into it pollution wise from various industries.
And what of local water ways, like right near us in the Blackwater River system, that has mercury levels in many areas where you can't eat fish more than once a week (if at all) due to the mercury content already in it - before the new 1500 MW ODEC coal fired power plant is built and spewing even more pollution to add insult to injury.
As Elisa Young from Ohio noted above, Virginia isn't alone in this battle. Many states are struggling with the clash between the health and welfare of their population, and the need and/or greed of money and power (both electrical and over people).
We really need to stop looking at the dollar signs and start looking at the telltale danger signs for the health and welfare of our people and our children, grandchildren and their children, and grandchildren -- The future!
You know, George Carlin was right when he said the problem isn?t the planet, the planet will do just fine - it will just shake us off like a bad case of fleas and continue on it's merry way - it's us I'm worried about! (forgive the paraphrase).
Yes, the world will continue either way - we just might not be in the equation. Another species will rise up to take our irreverent and uncaring place.
No one is saying turn off the coal plants, except to upgrade them to better technologies. They are already with us and the current ones are needed to get us by for awhile. And for a hazardous material to be regulated as it should have been from the start.
However, we don't need any NEW coal plants adding to the problem, what we need is the OLD ones upgraded to newer technology currently available AND ANY new facilities based on renewable sources.
I really feel for those areas in the country that are already feeling the affects of having coal plants so long near their homes, schools, water supplies and food sources due to these coal plants. I am saddened that it took me until now when they want to put a 1500 MW baseload coal fired power plant so close to our home, schools, water supply and farms/gardens to realize the dangers others have been facing for years -- from Mountain Top Removal to these coal fired plants around the country and around the world.
For complete disclosure, here is my connection to the coal industry:
I am a property owner/resident in the small 300+ Town of Dendron, in Surry County, VA where ODEC proposes to build a 1500 MW coal fired power plant. My Jim has a paralyzed right side diaphragm and is on an oxygen concentrator a minimum of 12 out of every 24 hours and struggles with Lyme Disease. Oxygen concentrators filter out nitrogen from the air to concentrate the oxygen, but doesn't filter out anything else (pollutants in the air), and we will be well within the 1 mile stack shadow (as will EVERY SINGLE RESIDENT OF DENDRON AND OUR WATER SUPPLY). Not to mention, the wetlands close on two or three sides of the 1500 MW plant proposed. They actually had to move the plant CLOSER to the town to better 'protect' the wetlands. Well, what about the people that they moved it even closer to??!
We have been here for over 10 years and took a lot of time looking for and researching the area for a home that we could live in for the rest of our lives and sunk everything we had into it. There was NO mention in any papers about this area at that time that ODEC was even considering this plant in 1998, or I can tell you with a certainty that we would not have purchased here. - Reply to this comment
- It occurs to me that most of this coal comes to the power companies in loaded rail cars and the cars return to the mine from whence they came from empty. Why not fill a few of them with this ash and send it back where it came from, it can be used to fill the holes that were created in the process of removing the coal in the first place. If the railroad cars have to return to the mine anyhow why not use that opportunity to return the ash back to the mine in them also.
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- Lesley Stahl, thank you for this report. If you were frustrated by industry and government double-speak, and the resulting contamination form coal ash, you must investigate the energy industry's push to begin horizontal hydro-fraction for natural gas extraction in New York State before the NYSDEC begins permitting. The process used to drill in deep shale uses 3-9 million gallons of water per well into which is injected approximately 245 chemicals, including Arsenic, Cadmium, Chromium, Benzene, Toluene, Ethyl Benzene and Xylene (BTEX) and other volatile components which are known to cause cancer, endocrine disruption, neurological disorders, bleeding from the nose and mouth, headaches, nausea, dizziness, and in some cases death. The NYSDEC has just opened a very short period for public comment on this issue. Their proposed regulation of the industry is limited. Governor Patterson's new New York State Energy Plan embraces drilling for natural gas for the immediate revenue, but we know the long-term costs will be far greater. As many as 50,000 wells are proposed for the Delaware River Basin alone. The DRBC is presently considering a request by Chesapeake Energy for water withdrawal for hydro-fraction from the West Branch of the Delaware in Pennsylvania, across the river from Hancock, NY, a nationally recognized trout fishing location. There is no viable plan for effective waste water treatment. The Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC) is considering permitting waste water to be returned to the watershed. Only national investigative news organizations like 60 Minutes will be able to STOP this dangerous and irreversible practice from industrializing hundreds of thousands of acres of the Catskills and the Southern Tier of NY, contaminating the air with volatile organics, and contaminating rural wells and the water supply for NYC, Philadelphia,PA and Trenton, NJ. Lesley, PLEASE investigate this issue before it's too late. Here are some links:
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) website explains the drilling process and gives the government's perspective:
http://www.dec.ny.gov/energy/46288.html
The Oil & Gas Accountability Project, (OGAP) has an on-line booklet about oil and gas development in the Marcellus Shale. The following website has this and other information about gas drilling:
http://www.earthworksaction.org/publications.cfm?pubID=354
The following website describes chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing for natural gas and their effects on human health:
http://www.endocrinedisruption.com/chemicals.introduction.php
This website has very good pictures and information about gas drilling in Pennsylvania, as well as interviews with land owners:
http://www.donnan.com/Marcellus-Gas_Hickory.htm
This is a website devoted specifically to issues surrounding Marcellus Shale:
http://www.marcellus-shale.us/
News Articles on natural gas:
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2006/05/05/fracking/index.html
http://www.propublica.org/feature/buried-secrets-is-natural-gas-drilling-endangering-us-water-supplies-1113
This website has a trailer for the film "Split Estate" which very clearly documents the impact drilling for natural gas has had on communities in the west. "Split Estate" will be on Discovery Channel in October, and will soon be available for purchase on DVD. It really is a must see film for anyone involved in making decisions about gas drilling whether they are land owners or politicians at every level of government. The "Split Estate" website also has links to many sources of information:
http://www.splitestate.com/
The following organizations are some of the growing number created by people living in the rural areas slated for industrialization in the Marcellus Shale. Each has a lot of information, can provide videos and testimonials from land owners and links to more information:
http://www.catskillcitizens.org/
http://www.damascuscitizens.org/
http://un-naturalgas.org/
http://www.catskillmountainkeeper.org/node/290
http://www.preservethefingerlakes.com/id1.html
http://binghamtonsustainability.org/index.php?/test/gas-drilling-education-amp-action/
Thank you for reading this letter. I hope to hear from you soon,
Simple Truth - Reply to this comment
- Coal ash is safe, the Artic is not melting, republiCONS care about the world and yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus! What a bunch of dumb as dirt lemmings following Flush Rush, Calamity Hannity and punch druck Oreily .... Vote the republiCONS out in 2010! Return America to the people!
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- I can identify with the victims of "coal ash". I am a victim of the "trash" in chinese drywall! The USA is not "creating it", we are "importing it". We have imported more than 7 million sheets of chinese drywall that emits toxins and gases into our homes. The CPSC has received complaints from 28 states. Thousands of homeowners have been affected, and many are being forced to leave their homes and belongings because of the contamination. Their health has been attacked, pets have died, people have become debilitated by the effects of the gases and toxins. It was discouraging to hear that the EPA is "still" studying the effects from a "coal ash" spill from December 2008. They keep delaying our reports, too. We need national media attention on chinese drywall.
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