Coal Residuals Reuse and Management Act

Floor Speech

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

Ms. CASTOR of Florida. I thank my colleague from the Energy and Commerce Committee for yielding me time.

In December of 2008, the communities surrounding the Tennessee Valley Authority's coal-fired plant in Kingston, Tennessee, suffered one of the worst environmental disasters in the Nation's history--5.4 million cubic yards, or over 1 billion gallons, of coal ash sludge covered the neighborhood after a dam break. This was along the Emory River. It damaged 42 homes. That disaster raised a lot of questions and concerns about how coal ash is stored all across the country. In that case, the TVA had used an above-ground, unlined storage pond that broke loose after a heavy rain.

Some States have appropriate storage standards, like my home State of Florida. They're appropriate. But the problem is some States do not have the appropriate standard, so I believe EPA was right to begin an appropriate national review of guidelines for proper coal ash disposal.

The problem here is the GOP bill stops that effort in its tracks. The GOP bill is too liberal and too permissive. I have relayed to EPA that many actors in the field recycle coal ash material. In my hometown of Tampa, we send a lot of coal ash for the building of the new Panama Canal expansion. And it's used in wallboard. This needs to be encouraged. We want to see the beneficial reuse industry flourish. Recycled fly ash should not be labeled as hazardous, and I think it shouldn't even be labeled as special waste, and I encourage the EPA to take this approach. In fact, I proposed an amendment to support this approach after discussion with industry leaders, but the Republicans ruled it out of order.

Without it, the GOP bill goes too far. They're abdicating their responsibility to protect communities from disasters like Kingston. The bottom line is that we all have a responsibility to ensure that coal ash is disposed of in ways that protect communities across the country and protect human health. The GOP bill does not take that approach and does not take its responsibility seriously. It could allow a disaster like TVA's Kingston catastrophe to happen again.

Therefore, I urge my colleagues to oppose the bill.

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