Coal Residuals Reuse and Management Act of 2013

Floor Speech

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Mr. LATTA. I thank the chairman for yielding.

I rise today, Mr. Chairman, in support of the Coal Residuals Reuse and Management Act.

Designating coal ash as a hazardous waste, which the EPA proposed in June 2010, would not only raise energy prices for families and businesses, but it would also destroy a large coal ash recycling industry and all of the jobs that go with it. H.R. 2218 will protect these jobs by setting minimum Federal standards that the States will be charged with implementing and by providing regulatory certainty that has ceased to exist within the coal ash industry since 2009.

If this legislation is not 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 require a ``hazardous waste'' designation. In fact, in the EPA's May 2000 regulatory determination, the EPA 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 and $450 per ton as opposed to about $100 per ton under the current system. In 2008, 136 million tons of coal ash were generated. That means not passing this bill could put an additional $20- to $47 billion burden on the 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. Designating coal ash as a hazardous waste could halt these beneficial uses, which the EPA estimates will lead to $16.7 billion in increased costs per year.

It will provide certainty in the coal ash industry, and it strikes the appropriate balance of strong environmental protection without all of the economic consequences of a ``hazardous waste'' designation. I urge support of the legislation.

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