Coal Ash Spill: A Case Study

What is coal ash, and how does it relate to North Carolina? Coal ash is a mixture of chemicals and metals that are a threat to the environment and the well- being of others. The dangers of coal ash increase as the ponds they are stored in are being located near power plants sitting beside our water sources. Sadly, we Americans use coal for a significant number of things. This may include electricity, steel, cement, etc. North Carolina has 30 additional sites of coal manufacturing located in 14 different locations. As a community, we continuously take resources that we need such as water for granted. We don’t realize how contamination of our water sources can affect our daily lives.

Coal Combustion Residuals, often referred to as coal ash, are currently considered exempt wastes under an amendment to RCRA, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. They are residues from the combustion of coal in power plants and captured by pollution control technologies, like scrubbers. Potential environmental concerns from coal ash pertain to pollution from impoundment and landfills leaching into ground water and structural failures of impoundments, like that which occurred at the Tennessee Valley Authority’s plant in Kingston, Tennessee. The need for national management criteria was emphasized by the December 2008 spill of CCRs from a surface impoundment near

An unnatural coal disaster is one caused by human error or negligence, there have been many unnatural coal disasters from past to present such as Turtle Mountain in Canada .Normal erosion due to weather changes played a part in this unnatural disaster but the biggest factor was inadequate support beams .which in turn caused gigantic slab of limestone rock weighing 75millions tons broke free and crashed into the town below mowing over homes and killing 76 people. The Tennessee valley disaster, Tennessee Valley slurry impoundment burst freeing approximately 500 million gallons of toxic ash into the country side and

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was supposed to be cleaning up. Instead, the government agency made a big mess -- unleashing an estimated 3 million gallons of mine waste into the Animas River. It's a yellow-orange, toxic mess that stretches 100 miles into the Navajo Nation.

Two wastes that resulted from this production were coal tar and purified waste. Coal tar was a formation of less volatile chemical compounds. Coal tar’s sole purpose was for roofing and road building material. Scientists taking coal tar as a starting point developed other uses. Manufactured gas plants were creating more coal than they could find buyers for and eventually formed an emulsion with water. The tar produced spills and leaks over decades of operation. Chemicals found in coal tar were anthracene, fluorene, napthalene, pyrene and many others (dec.ny.gov). Sulfur and cyanide compounds that were being removed through purifier beds consisting of lime or wood chips formed purifier waste. Reactions took place between the gas and purifier material corroding gas pipes, stoves and lighting fixtures. Purifier beds would eventually fill up with tar and become unusable. Having to dispose of the material, the waste had a strong odor and the wood chips would ignite if left uncovered. The purifier waste would either be shipped to landfills or fill low-lying areas on premises. The cyanide compound found in purifier waste contaminated groundwater away from the burial location. The water that became affected was highly acidic and caused harm to fish and

Water contamination is the next major concern of environmental groups. The Environmental Protection Agency, the governmental regulatory agency created in 1970 to manage the enforcement of environmental policy, states its concerns in a letter to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 2009 (United). Specifically addressing mines in West Virginia and Kentucky, the EPA expressed serious concerns over water pollution from strip mining (“EPA”). The rupture of an ash dike at the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Kingston Fossil Plant in Roane County, TN on December 22, 2008 granted credibility to the EPA’s concerns. In an article published by in Environmental Health Perspectives, Rhitu Chatterjee comments on the poisonous substances contained in ash produced from processing coal, listing

The tar creek mining site originally was owned by a Native American tribe, the Quapaw. The Quapaw wanted to keep these lands, but the Bureau of Indian Affairs deemed members opposing a transaction to mining companies “incompetent” (1). In such a case the business could continue and the Bureau of Indian Affairs sold the lands to mining companies. In essence these lands were stolen from the Quapaw because they were ripe for mining. These mines were then used from approximately 1891 to 1970. In the 79 years the mines were open 1.7 million metric tons (~3.75 billion pounds) of lead and 8.8 million metric tons (~19.4 billion pounds) of zinc were withdrawn from the mine (2). The entire area around Tar Creek is known as the tri-state mining

The Buffalo Creek flood of West Virginia is believed to be the most devastating coal relate disaster in West Virginia history. The flood occurred in the Buffalo Creek area of Logan County on February 26, 1972 when three dams broke and released 132 million gallons of water and coal waste known by miners as “gob,” and is a thick sludge-like material. The gob contains many toxic chemicals and pollutants such as mercury and arsenic that are left behind from the coal mining process. The wastewater would lie in settling ponds and dams until it could be properly disposed of. The water that was left over from processing coal would be disposed of in two different ways. Some of the water would be pumped from the dam back to the “tipple”, otherwise

As far as dumping goes, Tom Fleshman of the Richter Corporation, which happens to be located in the same DNR region as Farnsworth, has assured me that they have seen no repercussions for continuing their dumping practices regardless of the sanctions placed on them. Like Farnsworth, Freedom Power Company dumps wood fly ash on their own property. The difference is that freedom compacts their waste before disposal, but the DNR was not aware of this before writing them a permit to legally do

Due to the large bodies of water in the county, there is a high risk for drowning. Water quality pollutants in the county come from fertilizers, bacteria from animal feces, sediment from land that are being cleared and stream channel erosion. When the rain falls into farms, parking lots, construction sites, and lawns the water collects pollutants and they get carried to the stream and then eventually end up in the Chesapeake Bay. In 2010 10 out of 15 streams sampled were rated far to poor, E-Coli, dissolved oxygen, fecal coliform, Chlorophyll-A and Polychlorinated Biphenyls were noted in the samples (2013 Natural Resource Indicator Report, 2014). C & R Battery Company Inc. and the Defense General Supply Center DLA were found on the national priority list for the most hazardous waste sites identified by the Environment Protection Agency because it is a risk to human and/or the environment (Virginia Superfund Sites, 2013).

The Coteau Freedom Mine, a subsidiary of North American Cole Mine of NACO, provides coal to three main consumers: Antelope Valley Station, Leland Olds Station, and Dakota Gasification Company. All three consumers of the coal excavated at the Coteau Freedom Mine are part of the Basin Electric Company, which produces and distributes much of the power for the northern central states. The mine itself excavates about 15 million tons of coal per year, which is nearly 60,000 tons of coal per day. It is responsible for one half of the production of coal in North Dakota.

(ii) Under U.S. GAAP, FuelSource should not recognize a loss in its financial statement, and is not required to disclose the potential obligation of the cleanup cost. ASC 410-30-25-1 requires “the accrual of a liability arisen by environmental obligation if both (a) it is probable that an asset has been impaired or a liability has been incurred; and (b) the amount of the loss can be reasonably estimated, are met”. To determine the probability of an environmental remediation liability, ASC 410-30-25-4 further explains that “two elements need to be met: (a) litigation has commenced or a claim or an assessment has been asserted or, commencement of litigation or assertion of a claim or an assessment is probable; (b) it is probable that the outcome of such litigation, claim, or assessment will be unfavorable”. However, in this case, the Company has no legal obligation to clean up the contamination in Dirty Country as there is no such environmental legislation that requires to do so. Moreover, cleanup of contamination in other country outside of United States is not required by any of the Federal laws or Codification. It is remote that there will be any litigation; claim or assessment asserted that

According to the NAACP Press Release, low-income families as well as minorities are the victims of these power plants; stating that the 6 million people living near coal-fired power plants make over 3,000 dollars lower than the national average. “Coal Blooded: Putting Profits Before People”, the source of this

Acid rain deposits are found in fossil fuels emitted from utility and industrial sources. The power plants that were built before the 1977 Clean Air Act did not have to comply because they were supposed to be phased out eventually. Many are still operating today, releasing much more pollution than modern plants. 97 percent of the acid rain and haze-causing sulfur dioxide, 85 percent of the ozone smog-causing nitrogen oxide, and 99 percent of the toxic mercury pollution come from the utility sector.

     Another driving force behind the improper disposal of hazardous waste was the Mafia. “Organized crime controlled the solid waste disposal industry through the major trade associations, the relevant Teamster locals, and the connivance of political cronies”(Block, 1985, p.102). The Mafia has the ability to buy public officials with ease. This and their scare tactics led many EPA officials to do nothing about the illegal activities that took place. “Imagine an EPA inspector or state regulatory agent trying to deal with firms controlled by the members of the most powerful crime syndicates in the country”(Block, 1985, p.103).