Coal ash is the toxic waste left behind after coal is burned. It is laden with arsenic, hexavalent chromium, lead, mercury and other dangerous substances.
140 million tons of coal ash are generated every year, and this waste is often dumped into unlined and unprotected ponds and landfills.
Coal ash has contaminated over a hundred sites across the country. In 2008, a massive coal ash dump in Kingston, TN, spilled over a billion gallons of coal ash, damaging a dozen homes and destroying nearby rivers and streams. There are dozens more sites just like this one, tragedies waiting to happen.
Our elected officials are considering plans to cut any effort the EPA makes to regulate coal ash dumps and landfills and install important safeguards that protect our water and our health.
On October 14, the U.S. House of Representatives passed
H.R. 2273, a bill that would block the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s attempt to adopt the first ever federal regulation for coal ash disposal. Now, the newest threat is in the U.S. Senate.
We Ask to President Obama VETO this bill and keep Coal Ash out of our water.President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Phone: (202)456.1111
Fax: (202)456-2461
Email:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/