Coal Ash Landfill Safety Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, power companies are closing down old, air-polluting, coal-fired power plants as we move toward cleaner, more sustainable ways to generate electricity.

As these small producing plants close, they leave behind a toxic substance known as coal ash. The coal ash is a public health hazard if it is not disposed of properly. Coal ash is toxic and can cause sickness and death. It is a dangerous substance that must be kept out of our drinking water. Coal ash contains known carcinogens such as arsenic, mercury, and lead. That is why coal ash is being regulated by the EPA.

As power companies shut down or upgrade their facilities while closing existing coal ash ponds, where much of this toxic material has been temporarily stored, the need to permanently dispose of this hazardous byproduct is growing.

We now know that some waste disposal companies have been quietly exploiting a loophole in the new EPA rules, which allow them to dump toxic coal ash into municipal solid waste landfills. So far, these waste disposal companies have dumped millions of tons of coal ash into unlined municipal solid waste landfills across America. These landfills, which are often located near neighborhoods and schools, are simply not built or constructed or equipped to safely handle this toxic material.

EPA rules do not require sufficient commonsense protections for people who live nearby these landfills. Unfortunately, many of these landfills are disproportionately located in low-income and minority communities.

Today I introduced the Coal Ash Landfill Safety Act to close the loopholes in the EPA rules to ensure that landfills receiving coal ash are properly equipped with the necessary safeguards that will protect the public from the health risks caused by drinking water contaminated with the coal ash components.

In addition to ensuring that landfills accepting coal ash are lined properly to protect groundwater, the Coal Ash Landfill Safety Act would also protect communities by working to minimize coal ash dust in the air, which is also toxic. It will require groundwater monitoring, mandate proper cleanup requirements, and require weekly, monthly, and annual inspections, thereby keeping the public informed by posting the monitoring data, corrective action plans, and inspection reports on a publicly accessible Web site.

As we saw in Flint, Michigan, we need to act at the Federal level before our failure to do so results in irreversible damage to the health and environment of the communities we represent. I don't want American families, regardless of income level, to be unfairly and unreasonably exposed to toxic chemicals because dangerous materials, such as coal ash, are being deposited into inadequately protected facilities in their neighborhoods.

Together, we can find sensible solutions to all of these problems that we face, but we must deal with the regulations, the shortcomings. We must protect the American people.

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