Use of Coal Ash in Concrete and Wallboard Appropriate

"Using a newly developed methodology, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today released its evaluation of the two largest beneficial uses of encapsulated coal combustion residuals (CCR or coal ash): use in concrete as a substitute for portland cement, and the use of flue gas desulfurization gypsum as a substitute for mined gypsum in wallboard. EPA’s evaluation concluded that the beneficial use of encapsulated CCRs in concrete and wallboard is appropriate because they are comparable to virgin materials or below the agency’s health and environmental benchmarks..."Coal Ash

EPA Announces Plans to Regulate Coal Ash
"The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today is proposing the first-ever national rules to ensure the safe disposal and management of coal ash from coal-fired power plants.

Coal combustion residuals, commonly known as coal ash, are byproducts of the combustion of coal at power plants and are disposed of in liquid form at large surface impoundments and in solid form at landfills. The residuals contain contaminants like mercury, cadmium and arsenic, which are associated with cancer and various other serious health effects. EPA’s risk assessment and damage cases demonstrate that, without proper protections, these contaminants can leach into groundwater and can migrate to drinking water sources, posing significant health public concerns.

Today’s action will ensure for the first time that protective controls, such as liners and groundwater monitoring, are in place at new landfills to protect groundwater and human health. Existing surface impoundments will also require liners, with strong incentives to close the impoundments and transition to safer landfills, which store coal ash in dry form. The proposed regulations will ensure stronger oversight of the structural integrity of impoundments in order to prevent accidents like the one at Kingston, Tennessee. Today’s action also will promote environmentally safe and desirable forms of recycling coal ash, known as beneficial uses..."

EPA Releases Reports on Dam Integrity Assessments at 17 Coal Ash Impoundments
"As part of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s ongoing national effort to assess the management of coal combustion residuals, EPA is releasing the final contractor reports assessing the structural integrity of 17 impoundments and similar management units containing coal combustion residuals, commonly referred to as coal ash, at nine facilities. These 17 impoundments have a “high” or “significant” hazard potential rating. A high hazard potential rating is not related to the stability of those impoundments but to the potential for harm should the impoundment fail. A significant hazard potential rating means impoundment failure can cause economic loss, environmental damage, or damage to infrastructure.

The assessments have rated the structural integrity of seven impoundments as “satisfactory,” nine units as “fair,” and one unit as “poor.” None of the units assessed received an “unsatisfactory” rating. According to dam safety experts, only impoundments rated as unsatisfactory pose immediate safety threats.."