Coal Ash Spill Contaminates Lake Michigan, still No Plan for Clean-up
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We Energy’s Oak Creek coal-fired power plant on the shores of Lake Michigan suffered a bluff collapse that has now spilled massive, as yet undetermined, amounts of toxic coal ash into the lake. There is no known established plan for containment or clean-up, and the company says it has deployed a line of boom and has hired a contractor to plan and carry out the clean-up.
Last week, the House of Representatives voted to bar the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating coal ash spills, and the coal industry is now actively promoting the claim that toxic coal ash is in fact not harmful to the environment or to human health. As the Occupy Wall Street movement spreads, and the American people are increasingly demanding comprehensive economic, banking and political-process reform, there is mounting criticism that the Congress is not dealing with the pressing needs of the historical moment.
The Bush Admin. Had No Legal Authority to Grant Blanket Waiver for Fracking
The administration of George W. Bush took a literalist approach to enforcement of any and all environmental regulations. If a specific activity was not named and identified comprehensively in laws providing for environmental regulation, their position was that there was effectively no such regulation to be enforced. They gave the natural gas drilling industry a blanket waiver for all activities related to hydraulic fracturing, without any legal authority to do so.
Their waiver was based on two false claims: first, that hydraulic fracturing (fracking) was a new procedure not contemplated in the Clean Water Act or other environmental and public health regulatory laws; second, that fracking used water, and so it could not pose a threat of contamination. They required no release of information regarding the hundreds of toxic chemicals, some thought to be radioactive, that are used and/or released into groundwater, in the process.
EPA Update on Yellowstone River Oil Spill (Silvertip Pipeline), Week 1
(Billings, Mont —, July 9, 2011) On July 6th EPA issued ExxonMobil an administrative order instructing them to provide information on the circumstances of the spill, conduct appropriate recovery and remediation actions, and perform ongoing environmental sampling. The order also requires ExxonMobil to provide a work plan which is currently being reviewed by the state of Montana, EPA, and other agency partners. Once approved, the work plan will be publicly available.
Preliminary testing results of water samples indicate there are no detections above drinking water standards; we will be providing data over the weekend. There are 3 water systems in the affected area: Billings, Lakewood, and Laurel. Additionally, EPA will be conducting indoor air sampling at residences impacted by the spill and will continue to coordinate domestic well water testing.
(Source: epa.gov)
Millions of Americans Will Breathe Easier with Landmark “Good Neighbor” Rule
Rule Will Reduce Power Plant Pollution Linked to Thousands of Premature Deaths and Serious Health Threats to Millions of Americans
(Washington, D.C. – July 7, 2011) Millions of Americans will be protected from invading smokestack pollution under the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule that was announced today, according to Environmental Defense Fund (EDF).
EDF praised the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s landmark clean air standards, which will provide longer and healthier lives for 240 million people across the eastern half of the U.S. who are afflicted by the power plant pollution that pours across their borders.
NJDEP: Christie Administration Asks EPA To Require Major Reduction In Pollution Emissions From Pennsylvania Power Plant
Photo Credit: saferenvironment.com
DEP Commissioner Bob Martin, at a public hearing in Warren County today, urged the federal Environmental Protection Agency to force a Pennsylvania coal-fired power plant to dramatically reduce huge volumes of harmful air pollutants it emits, and which have long caused public health concerns for thousands of North Jersey residents.
Testifying at an EPA hearing in Oxford, the Commissioner offered the Christie Administration’s support for the EPA’s proposal — based on the DEP’s Clean Air Act petition — to require the power plant, operated by GenOn Energy (formerly Reliant or RRI Energy) in Portland, Pa., to immediately take steps to cut its sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions. New Jersey is seeking a 50 percent emissions reduction in the first year and 95 percent over three years, significantly reducing pollutants that can aggravate asthma and cause other respiratory difficulties.
