E.P.A. Weakens Rules Governing Toxic Water Pollution From Coal PlantsWorkers in Conway, S.C., checked a dam built to keep coal ash from reaching the flooded Waccamaw River after Hurricane Florence last year.Credit...Randall Hill/Reuters
By Lisa Friedman
Nov. 4, 2019
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Monday moved to weaken an Obama-era regulation aimed at limiting the seepage of toxic pollution into water supplies from the ash of coal burning power plants, a change that coal industry leaders say could keep plants open longer and which environmental groups fear will increase the risk of water contamination.
Andrew Wheeler, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, issued the proposed regulation, which relaxes rules set in 2015 imposing stringent inspection and monitoring rules at coal plants and requiring plants to install new technology to protect water supplies from arsenic, lead, selenium and other toxic effluent.
The rules are part of President Trump’s vast environmental deregulation agenda aimed largely at eliminating rules the fossil fuel industry finds burdensome and extending the life of coal burning power plants. In addition to discharging pollutants into the air and water, coal plants are the top source of United States carbon dioxide emissions, the principal greenhouse gas warming the planet.
The new measures lower pollution limits, extend the deadline for power plants to comply with new technologies until Dec. 31, 2028, and exempt many coal plants altogether.
So, after all the hoopla over the Coal Ash Rule the past two years, coming from EPA and Oklahoma (all the court cases also), the EPA now says forget about it, we're deleting parts of the 2015 Rule or postponing rest until 2028 so coal-fired power plants burn and pollute as usual. Oh, by-the-way, forget about climate change and keeping the atmospheric temp within 2C of pre-industrial level, we're burning coal!! Did I forget to mention all the contaminants in our streams and rivers? That too!!! By all means, lets have another Trump term for all you idiots who think this is great!! I would like to hear how you explain it to your children and grandchildren!
By Lisa Friedman
Nov. 4, 2019
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Monday moved to weaken an Obama-era regulation aimed at limiting the seepage of toxic pollution into water supplies from the ash of coal burning power plants, a change that coal industry leaders say could keep plants open longer and which environmental groups fear will increase the risk of water contamination.
Andrew Wheeler, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, issued the proposed regulation, which relaxes rules set in 2015 imposing stringent inspection and monitoring rules at coal plants and requiring plants to install new technology to protect water supplies from arsenic, lead, selenium and other toxic effluent.
The rules are part of President Trump’s vast environmental deregulation agenda aimed largely at eliminating rules the fossil fuel industry finds burdensome and extending the life of coal burning power plants. In addition to discharging pollutants into the air and water, coal plants are the top source of United States carbon dioxide emissions, the principal greenhouse gas warming the planet.
The new measures lower pollution limits, extend the deadline for power plants to comply with new technologies until Dec. 31, 2028, and exempt many coal plants altogether.
So, after all the hoopla over the Coal Ash Rule the past two years, coming from EPA and Oklahoma (all the court cases also), the EPA now says forget about it, we're deleting parts of the 2015 Rule or postponing rest until 2028 so coal-fired power plants burn and pollute as usual. Oh, by-the-way, forget about climate change and keeping the atmospheric temp within 2C of pre-industrial level, we're burning coal!! Did I forget to mention all the contaminants in our streams and rivers? That too!!! By all means, lets have another Trump term for all you idiots who think this is great!! I would like to hear how you explain it to your children and grandchildren!
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