Improving Coal Combustion Residuals Regulation act of 2015

Floor Speech

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Mr. Chairman, my amendment requires the owners and operators of coal ash ponds to immediately clean up pollution from spills or disasters that involve their coal ash waste. The underlying bill inexplicably did not contain such a requirement.

I know that is hard to believe, in the face of the horrendous coal ash disasters of the past 2 years, that my Republican colleagues did not include such a requirement. So my amendment reinstitutes the requirement for cleanup of these disasters.

Now, the EPA rule requires an owner or operator of coal ash waste to respond immediately to a spill or release, whether it is through the air, water, or soil. The rule requires the polluter to alert both the local authorities and the public and to immediately prepare a cleanup plan. I mean, that is a fundamental concept of doing business, isn't it? Yet the Republican bill eliminates that requirement for owners and operators.

They would no longer have to be responsible for their pollution or a disaster? That is a scary proposition after the Dan River Duke Energy spill in North Carolina that spilled over 39,000 tons of coal ash and 140,000 tons of toxic wastewater, and after the TVA blowout that they say will cost over a billion dollars to remediate that community.

Now, there are over 600 coal waste disposal impoundments across the Nation, and more than 100 million tons of coal waste are generated each year.

In my home State of Florida, there are over 42 coal ash ponds at 8 power plants, 27 of which are unlined, and 13 landfills, 6 of which are unlined. My local power provider alone has 11 coal ash ponds and one landfill. Over 6.1 million tons of coal ash are generated in Florida each year, yet Florida does not really regulate coal ash ponds, and that is similar to a lot of communities across the country.

But we have learned the hard way that we need to have some basic standards to prevent these type of disasters. The EPA has identified 170 coal ash ponds and landfills that have contaminated groundwater, surface water, or otherwise increased risks of harm to human health over the past years.

These surface impoundments where coal ash is stored in ponds pose a threat, and even a threat to loss of life, if they fail. Coal ash ponds are located in 33 States, and 50 impoundments are currently considered high hazard, meaning that a failure would probably cause loss of human life.

One such impoundment was at the TVA Kingston Fossil Plant, which burst on December 22, 2008, releasing 5.4 million cubic yards of coal ash to the Emory and Clinch Rivers and surrounding areas, creating a Superfund site that could cost about $1.2 billion, they estimate.

The initial release of material created a wave of water and ash that destroyed three homes, disrupted electrical power, ruptured a natural gas line in the nearby neighborhood, covered railways and roadways, and necessitated the evacuation of a nearby neighborhood. This disaster forever changed the lives of farmers, ranchers, and families. More than 1 billion gallons of waste washed down the valley like a wave, covering more than 300 acres. The volume of ash and water was nearly 100 times greater than the amount of oil spilled in the Exxon Valdez disaster. Thankfully, no serious injuries were reported since this occurred at night while people slept.

And since 2008, we have had three major coal ash disasters, including the largest toxic waste spill in United States history.

In addition to the TVA disaster, the Dan River plant spill in North Carolina was absolutely horrendous. February 2014, a pipe burst beneath an unlined coal ash impoundment, sending over 82,000 tons of coal ash slurry into the Dan River, spreading 70 miles downstream.

The cost of cleaning up spills and leaking dumpsites has already snowballed, with six companies reporting liabilities that exceed $10 billion. And we want to let them off the hook? I don't think so.

We have got to correct this by adopting my amendment. Without Federal action to guide cleanup within a reasonable time, we are going to let folks off the hook, and that would not be fair. The chronic risks are significant. The risks to public and private property are significant. The risks to public health are too significant to ignore.

So Mr. Chairman, I urge my colleagues to adopt the Castor amendment. Vote ``yes'' to restore the rule's requirement to clean up releases of pollution caused by these coal ash impoundment ponds.

I reserve the balance of my time.

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