Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2017

Floor Speech

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Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia. Madam Chair, power companies are closing coal-fired power plants as we move toward cleaner, more sustainable ways to generate electricity. A material known as coal ash is a byproduct of this industry. Coal ash contains carcinogens, known carcinogens, such as arsenic, lead, and mercury.

The EPA is now regulating coal ash with its final rule on the disposal of coal combustion residuals from electric utilities. Many of the neighborhoods already exposed to dangerous levels of coal ash are in predominantly low-income and minority communities.

The problem of low-income and minority communities being disproportionately exposed to chemicals, hazardous waste, and toxic materials is neither new nor confined to one area of the country. More than 134 million Americans--their homes, schools, businesses, parks, and places of worship--are in harm's way from dangerous exposure to coal ash.

A 2014 study found that residents in vulnerable zones are disproportionately African American or Latino, have higher rates of poverty than the U.S. as a whole, and have lower housing values, incomes, and education levels. The poverty rate in these zones is 50 percent higher than the national average. The percentage of Blacks is 75 percent greater than for the U.S. as a whole, while the percentage of Latinos is 60 percent greater. This means that almost half of the people more likely to suffer from exposure are Black or Latino.

But make no mistake, Madam Chair, coal ash poisoning is not racially discriminatory. Rural White communities throughout north Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Oklahoma are suffering from exposure to coal ash dumping, leaking coal ash ponds, and coal ash dust from coal ash transport. We cannot allow people across the country to fall between the regulatory cracks simply because they live in a certain neighborhood or have certain income levels.

This amendment requires implementation of the EPA's coal ash rule to be consistent with Executive Order No. 12898. That executive order's purpose was to focus Federal attention on the environmental and public health effects that Federal regulations have on minority and low-income communities.

More coal ash is expected to be dumped in the State of Georgia. In Jesup, Georgia, a landfill has agreed to accept over 10,000 tons of coal ash per day. Duke Energy is moving their coal ash from North Carolina to a landfill in Banks County, Georgia. Elsewhere within Georgia, communities have been exposed to contaminated drinking water by existing coal ash facilities. Last month, arsenic, beryllium, and selenium were found in the groundwater of various coal ash sites in the State.

As we saw in Flint, we need to act at the Federal level before our failure to do so results in irreversible damage to the health and to the environment of the communities we represent. American families, regardless of income level, should not be unfairly and unreasonably exposed to toxic chemicals.

I ask for support for my amendment.

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Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia. I yield to the gentleman from California.

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Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia. I thank the gentleman.

Madam Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

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