Coal ash from Tennessee to Minnesota

Bad as it was to hear about the coal ash sludge bursting out of its dam and destroying homes and rivers in Tennessee, at least the news seemed far away. Tennessee — they have coal mines there, don’t they? Or weak environmental laws? It’s a dreadful thing that happened, and we are sorry for those poor people and glad that we don’t have to worry about it up here.

Except that we do. I never heard of a coal ash dump until the disaster in Tennessee. Now I know that there are 1300 coal ash dumps spread all across the United States. Three of them are in Minnesota, with 18 to 50 foot high dikes holding in the coal ash in Becker, Cohasset and Hoyt Lakes. Like the other 1300 coal ash dumps, these three hold tons of coal ash sludge containing lead and mercury and other chemicals.

According to the New York Times,

Numerous studies have shown that the ash can leach toxic substances that can cause cancer, birth defects and other health problems in humans, and can decimate fish, bird and frog populations in and around ash dumps, causing developmental problems like tadpoles born without teeth, or fish with severe spinal deformities.

A 2007 Scientific American article notes that coal ash contains concentrated amounts of uranium and thorium, and says that “fly ash emitted by a power plant—a by-product from burning coal for electricity—carries into the surrounding environment 100 times more radiation than a nuclear power plant producing the same amount of energy.”

The Environmental Integrity Project on January 7 released a report saying that “the Stanton Energy Facility in Orlando, FL., has reported dumping roughly 10 times more of the carcinogen in its site between 2000-2006 than the TVA did over the same period in its now ruptured Harriman, TN storage pond site.” The EIP report listed other sites that are more contaminated than the Tennessee site.

Eric Schaeffer, director, Environmental Integrity Project, said: “The Tennessee eco-disaster has cast a spotlight on what is a very serious national problem – the existence of under-regulated toxic pollution coal dump sites near coal-fired power plants that pose a serious threat to drinking water supplies, rivers and streams. Our analysis confirms that this problem is truly national in scope and that Tennessee may end up only being a warning sign of much more trouble to come. In addition to so-called ‘surface impoundments’ in ponds, we need to be concerned about inadequate oversight and monitoring of land-based disposal and other ‘storage’ of these toxic wastes. We can no longer afford to ignore this problem and we certainly can’t be content to just sit around and wait for the next Tennessee-style disaster to happen.”

Minnesota regulatory agencies told the Star Tribune that these dams are safe, not like the one on the North Shore, which “crashed” down a hillside in July 1993 after a heavy rain. That dam, like the one in Tennessee, was made up in part of ash, while the three dams at Becker, Cohasset and Hoyt Lakes are entirely earthen.

Minnesota’s stringent rules call for inspection of coal ash dumps every eight years, though State Dam Engineer Jason Boyle told the Strib he couldn’t find inspection records for two of the three dams.