Trump Moves to Let Coal Companies Pollute Waterways With Their Toxic Slag

Trump Moves to Let Coal Companies Pollute Waterways With Their Toxic Slag

After a utility company burns a heap of coal to fire a turbine, they’re left with tons of coal ash, a hazardous waste product chock full of heavy metals, toxic substances, and even trace amounts of radioactive elements. As such, it’s incredibly dangerous to human health, which is why the Environmental Protection Agency under Joe Biden took up a badly needed rule meant to finally regulate coal ash dumping for the first time in 2024. Two years lat…

Nearly 20 years after Tennessee spill, the EPA says it wants to relax rules on coal ash

A 25-foot wall of ash at the site of the 2008 Kingston coal ash spill. TVA contractors worked for years to clean up the toxic ash, in many cases without masks or gloves to protect their health.(Brian Stansberry / Creative Commons)The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has proposed revisions to its rules regulating coal ash, a byproduct of burning coal that contains heavy metals toxic to people. The federal regulator says it hopes to change the…

Trump EPA proposes coal ash rule rollback

The Trump administration on Thursday proposed weakening rules for the disposal of ash produced by burning coal that can contain hazardous heavy metals and contaminate groundwater. Those regulations were strengthened under the Biden administration as part of a wider crackdown on pollution from coal-fired power plants. The Trump administration proposed easing standards for monitoring and protecting groundwater near some coal ash sites, and rolling…

EPA proposes gutting rules for handling toxic coal ash, a move that threatens groundwater

Read the full story from PBS News Hour. The Trump administration on Thursday proposed weakening rules for the disposal of ash produced by burning coal that can contain hazardous heavy metals and contaminate groundwater. Those regulations were strengthened under the Biden administration as part of a wider crackdown on pollution from coal-fired power plants.