Several environmental groups are suing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Interior Department over a recent rule that eases the dumping of coal mining waste into nearby streams.
The Sierra Club, Earthjustice, Waterkeeper Alliance and others want to overturn the new rule, which went into effect Dec. 12 and revised an earlier version prohibiting the waste disposal from mountaintop coal mining within 100 feet of streams.
It is the latest in a stream of last-minute regulation changes in favor of the coal industry during the waning days of the Bush administration. A few weeks ago, the EPA administrator
issued a memorandum saying that carbon dioxide isn't a regulated pollutant that should be considered during the approval of new power plants.
Meanwhile, environmental groups are pressuring President-elect Barack Obama to ditch a pending federal rule that would make it easier to dump waste ash from coal combustion into abandoned mines despite concerns over water contamination, the
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported.
Coal waste ash is the second largest industrial waste stream in the country and contains heavy metals, such as lead, cadmium, chromion, arsenic and mercury, but is not considered a hazardous material. The environmental groups say coal ash has polluted water in 23 states.
Environmental groups have long lobbied for tighter restrictions on coal waste. In an unrelated story, more than a billion gallons of water and coal fly ash, a byproduct of burning coal, broke through a retention pond last week in eastern Tennessee and flooded nearby houses, according to the
Knoxville News Sentinel. The EPA detected high levels of arsenic in water from the affected area near TVA Kingston Steam power plant, which is run by the nation's largest public utility.
