On November 24, 2014, the Environmental Integrity Project sent a letter urging U.S. EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy to confirm that 74 coal ash sites are releasing toxic pollutants to such an extent that they should be deemed “proven” damage cases. These are cases in which danger to health or the environment has been documented through a scientific study, an enforcement action, or evidence that pollution has migrated.
EPA is required to release the first-ever federal coal ash regulations on December 19, 2014, and EPA is legally required to consider evidence of damage to health and the environment in making its regulatory decision.
Coal ash contains a toxic mix of pollutants including arsenic, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, and selenium, and EPA has already confirmed 133 coal ash “damage cases” where evidence of harm has occurred.
EIP’s letter, co-signed by 60 environmental organizations, provides a list of 74 sites throughout the nation for which evidence of damage has already been submitted to EPA but that EPA has not yet deemed to be “proven” damage cases.
The groups state that EPA must release an updated list of damage cases when the final rule is released on December 19 that reflects consideration of the full evidence of damage on the record before the Agency prior to the rule’s release.
For a copy of the letter, click here.
For the list of 74 damage cases, click here.
For the enforcement action list, click here.
If you are interested in viewing the attachments, please contact Tom Pelton, Director of Communications, Environmental Integrity Project, at tpelton@environmentalintegrity.org
