Coal Ash Spill: A Case Study

In the United States, 42 percent of the nation’s electricity is generated by burning coal as coal is cheap and plentiful.

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.

The pile provide dirty energy and wreck the environment. It is most problematic to the people living across from the river and the piles since it is where the air blows the dust. Where they are located and what business and homes are being affected. The hopes for renovating that area will quickly become into a past dream than a reality. The only cause of this problem is the existence of these piles and the demand to keep them for the use of energy. Also the council of Green Bay is partly at fault for allowing such an environmental hazard lurk in the downtown riverfront area for so long. The council's contribution to helping residents needs to step up. Something they While the existence of the coal piles is the obvious problem, looking to patch or solve this issue has become an ongoing fight for many groups, councils, and

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

According to our recent research and analysis, pelletizing our fly ash waste and selling it to the public as low-grade fertilizer would rid us of approximately 500 tons a year. However, we do have the capacity to dump this harmless fly ash on our back 40 acres, an area of land that was classified as a Type III landfill in 1979. Due to a crackdown on the general public and their free dumping on our lot, our forty acres were not approved for fly ash, but now 35 years later the 40 acre landfill is safe and ready for use with no liability to be seen by the Department of Natural Resources (DNR).

Coal ash is a byproduct of burning coal in power plants and is composed mainly of aluminum and silicon oxides. This ash is commonly stored away in dump sites, only to leach out solutions of concentrated toxic heavy metals. Such issues are detrimental to the health of water systems, posing both a human and environmental health risk. However, there are solutions to this problem. Coal ash possesses unique chemical properties that allow for the remediation of other environmental concerns, such as the treatment of soil polluted with heavy metals, the removal of nutrients from wastewater, and the remediation of acid mine drainage in streams.

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

Southern Nevada has developed hydropower projects, which generates electricity whilst the water passes through the pipes. The NDEP (Nevada Division of Environmental Protection) initiated environmental cleanup programs to clean up contaminations. To protect ground water, communities adopt strategies to protect these areas by keeping the thought of stopping contaminations in their heads. Also, the

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.

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

The ACCCE The American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity formerly ABEC or American for Balanced Energy

Following the release of an estimated 6.7 million pounds of toxic chemicals into the River in 2010 by DuPont Chambers Works in Salem County, a spokeswoman for the company stated that most of their remaining releases are nitrates, the product of a treatment process breaking down waste ammonia. Increasingly though, the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) has taken steps to implement and enforce standards while the Clean Water Act has further assisted in putting in place water pollution control efforts. Today, according the DRBC, “the clean-up of the Delaware is hailed as one of the world’s top water quality success stories.” Now fish populations in the River are supported year-round along with bald eagles, which hunt these fish as their primary food

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

     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).

Executive Summary: The Fly Ash Brick Project Case highlights a project idea between two potential business partners Rajiv Sharma and Alok Gupta. Rajiv has had a business idea for a long time regarding the manufacturing of Fly Ash Bricks, a construction material made up of recycled coal residue and three other materials (Gypsum, Lime, and Sand). He has been doing market research on the feasibility for this venture, and as an important step of the process, he must calculate the financial risk and potential of this business plan. He is relying on a cost-volume-profit (CVP) analysis to determine if this project is a reality for him financially.