WASHINGTON - Toxic contamination from coal ash, a waste product of coal-fired power plants, has been detected in ground water and soil at 20 sites in 10 U.S. states, an environmental watchdog group reported on Tuesday.

 

These sites are the latest to contribute to a total of 157 identified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the independent Environmental Integrity Project, which released the report.

 

Coal ash is left after coal is burned at power plants and has concentrations of heavy metals and salts that can leach into the environment unless disposed of properly in ponds with liners and covers, said Jeff Stant, the report's editor.

 

But most states do not require ponds to be lined, have any construction standards or any monitoring or cleanup requirements, Stant said, adding that almost half the wastes from coal-burning in the United States are dumped this way.

 

Nineteen of the 20 newly identified sites show ground water contaminated with arsenic or other toxic metals exceeding the maximum contaminant level set out in the Safe Drinking Water Act.

 

The 20th site showed contaminated soil with arsenic 900 times the federal screening level for site cleanups, the report said.

 

Those who live near these sites, including three people who spoke at a briefing, reported contaminated streams, respiratory problems and air pollution powerful enough to turn a white house black. In one case, a rancher said he closely monitors the amount of sulfate in the water his cattle drink because this chemical can reach lethal levels.

 

Public health concern

The Environmental Integrity Project released an open letter to Congress signed by more than 2,000 people living near coal ash sites, decrying "legislation that would stop EPA in its tracks and replace real standards with imaginary state 'plans' that polluters could ignore ..."

 

Stant and others noted at a briefing that the House of Representatives has passed and the Senate is considering legislation that the environmental group said would give the states, instead of the federal government, authority to address the problem of coal ash contamination of water and soil.

 

"We already have here a clear and present danger to America's public health," Stant said at a telephone briefing. "It is no solution for Congress to hand authority for addressing the problem permanently to states that have refused to enforce common-sense standards for the last 30 years and hope that the whole problem goes away."

 

John Ward, of the American Coal Ash Association, disputed that interpretation of the measure now in Congress.

 

"There are no federal standards for coal ash right now," Ward said by telephone. "This bill would also expand EPA's enforcement authority from what it is now."

 

Ward noted that coal ash is generated in vast quantities and can be reprocessed into such consumer goods as wallboard and shingles.

 

"We think the solution to coal ash problems is to stop throwing it away, to alleviate the need to have these disposal ponds at all," Ward said.

 

On the Web: Environmental Integrity Project report

 

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