Coal Residuals Reuse and Management Act
Floor Speech
Mr. LATTA. I rise today in support of H.R. 2273. Designating coal ash as a hazardous waste, as the EPA proposed in June 2010, would raise energy prices for families and businesses and destroy a large coal ash recycling industry and all jobs associated with it. H.R. 2273 creates a unique regulatory infrastructure at the State level that provides strong environmental protection without all of the economic consequences of a hazardous waste designation. I have an email from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency asking me to support this legislation and allow them to do their jobs in Ohio.
If this legislation is not passed and signed into law, the EPA will overturn 30 years of precedent and designate coal ash a hazardous waste, despite findings from the Department of Energy, the Federal Highway Administration, State regulatory authorities, and the EPA itself that the toxicity levels in coal ash are well below the criteria that requires a hazardous waste designation. In fact, in the EPA's May 2000 regulatory determination, they concluded that coal ash does not warrant regulation as a hazardous waste, and that doing so would be environmentally counterproductive.
It is estimated that meeting the regulatory disposal requirements under the EPA's proposal would cost between $250 to $450 per ton, as opposed to about $100 per ton under the current system. In 2008, 136 million tons of coal ash was generated. That means not passing this bill could put an additional $20 billion to $47 billion burden on electricity generators that use coal.
Energy costs aside, about 45 percent of the coal ash generated is recycled, being used as an additive in cement, concrete, wallboard, roofing materials, road-based fill materials, and snow and ice control. While all of this is completely safe, designating coal ash as a hazardous waste would halt these beneficial uses, which the EPA estimates will lead to $16.7 billion in increased costs per year, further damaging our economy. This legislation keeps those products on the market and avoids job losses in those industries.
For those reasons, I support the legislation.
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