Ash Blog

Faced with mounting evidence that their push for a “hazardous waste” designation for coal ash is harming environmentally beneficial recycling activities, anti-coal groups are falling back on an old strategy: Accuse “industry” of “misleading” the public. In a February 3 post on the Earthjustice “Tr-Ash Talk” blog, Lisa Evans accuses the American Coal Ash Association of “flim-flam” manipulation of the coal ash production and use survey it has conducted every year since the ...

Coal ash recycling rates stalled after eight years of dramatic growth when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency began reconsidering a “hazardous waste” designation for ash that is disposed. Now, as EPA’s activities drag on, recycling rates have begun to drop. The American Coal Ash Association – which has tracked coal ash production and use since the 1960s – released figures for 2010 in December. The results showed a startling turnaround. In 2010, 42.5 percent of the 1...

Citizens for Recycling First has succeeded in gathering 5,000 signatures for its petition on a new White House website that promises a response from the Obama Administration. A total of 5,133 signatures were gathered by the October 24 deadline. According to the White House website, the administration must now formally respond to the petition which reads: “We believe the Obama Administration should protect coal ash recycling by promptly enacting disposal regulations that do NOT designate coal ash a ‘hazardous waste.’” ...

A bipartisan group of 10 U.S. Senators filed a bill on October 20 to create enforceable national coal ash disposal standards while protecting coal ash recycling from an unwarranted “hazardous waste” designation. The Coal Residuals Reuse and Management Act – which has not yet received a Senate bill number – is patterned after a bill that passed the U.S. House of Representatives less than a week earlier. The original Democrat co-sponsors of the Senat...

The U.S. House of Representatives on October 14 passed legislation designed to protect coal ash recycling and strengthen coal ash disposal regulations without a “hazardous waste” designation for the material. HR 2273 – the “Coal Residuals Reuse and Management Act” – was approved by a bipartisan vote of 267-144, with 37 Democrats voting in favor of the bill. That is the highest number of Democrats to vote for any of the House bills considered this year to address regulations proposed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Action will now move to the U.S. Senate, w...

Citizens for Recycling First has placed a petition on a new White House website that promises a response from the Obama Administration if we can get 5,000 signatures by October 24. You can sign the petition by clicking here: http://wh.gov/gu4 In addition to signing the petition, there are at least five easy ways you can help reach the 5,000-signature goal. For instance: 1. Encourage family members, friends and business associates to visit the White House website and sign the petitio...