June, 21 2010, 11:20am EDT
EPA Coal Ash Rule Sends Mixed Signal on Strong, Federally Enforceable Safeguards
Leaves open the possibility that at least half of all toxic ash will remain unregulated
WASHINGTON
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency proposed two options to
regulate coal ash dry dumps and waste ponds. One option offers a
groundbreaking solution to closing and monitoring leaking toxic dumps,
while the other option perpetuates the status quo, ensuring that coal
ash will continue to threaten lives and communities. The EPA must
embrace the stronger option in order to protect public health and the
environment.
Today, the Agency published the proposed federal regulation of coal ash -- the first of its kind -- in the Federal Register.
The plan seeks comment on two separate proposals: one that regulates
coal ash as a "special waste," with strong, federally enforceable
requirements for monitoring and cleanup, and another that treats coal
ash as a "non-hazardous waste" and offers only guidelines that leave
many communities at risk of exposure to toxic contaminants found in
coal ash. Under the weaker option, the EPA assumes that in Alabama,
Arizona, Georgia, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Mississippi,
Montana, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and Wyoming, coal ash dumps
and waste ponds will retain their current status quo: poorly regulated,
unprotected and unsafe. Thus even in Tennessee, where the largest
environmental disaster occurred short of the Gulf oil spill, the EPA
predicts that protections will not be put in place.
The two-rule option demonstrates the power and influence of
lobbyists for the coal and power industries who continue to block the
EPA attempts at strong coal ash safeguards that protect communities.
The EPA's 'special waste' proposal is the only way to guarantee the
closure of the most dangerous waste ponds, ensure strong federal
oversight and cleanup of contaminated streams, rivers and drinking
water supplies, and protect communities across the country from coal
ash contamination. The EPA itself admits that under its weaker option,
many states will not adopt strict federal guidelines and that
approximately 50% of the coal ash generated in the U.S. will continue
to be managed under state programs that do not require basic disposal
safeguards. Power plants in the U.S. produce enough coal ash annually
to fill train cars stretching from the North Pole to the South Pole.
Below is a brief summary the EPA provided of its two regulatory options for coal ash:
Regulating coal ash as a "special waste":
- Requires phase out of waste ponds within five years.
- Eliminates health risks from groundwater and surface water
contamination for both coal ash dumps and waste ponds, and avoids
damages from uncontrolled ground "fill" operations and attendant
environmental remediation costs. - Eliminates the future threat of catastrophic failures of waste ponds.
- Provides for corrective action, including at closed units at
facilities with waste ponds or dumps regulated under the rule, and
imposes groundwater monitoring requirements. - Provides for Federal oversight, which EPA experience has
shown is necessary for successful implementation of...industrial waste
regulations, especially as it relates to groundwater monitoring and
corrective action, when needed.
Regulating coal ash as a "non-hazardous waste" (emphasis added):
- Requirements would not be enforceable by the EPA or the states
(unless states had similar requirements under state law). Lack of
enforcement and Federal oversight may significantly reduce compliance
and effective implementation of regulatory requirements. - Liners required for all coal ash waste ponds but only for
new landfills. This option sets national criteria for landfills and
waste ponds that manage coal ash after the rule goes into effect. For
any coal ash dumps and waste ponds that closed before the effective
date, there would be no regulatory controls over those units, unless
the states choose to adopt controls over such units. - Eliminates some ground-water contamination over the current
situation (e.g., because of waste pond retrofitting), thus avoiding
some damage cases, again assuming effective implementation. - Requires review of waste ponds for stability by independent
experts, but because these ponds could remain in operation (because
they are currently lined or owners choose to retrofit line them rather
than phase them out), there would still be a risk of future structural
failures of waste ponds.
"Only one road leads to protecting public health and the environment
from toxic coal ash and collapsing ponds -- and the EPA has clearly
laid out this option," said Lisa Evans, Senior Administrative Counsel
at Earthjustice. "If the EPA predicts that the dangerous conditions
will persist under the weaker option, that option must be left by the
wayside."
"If the ongoing BP oil disaster and the Tennessee coal ash tragedy
taught us anything, it's that we can no longer ignore scientific and
safety concerns without a very high cost," said Lyndsay Moseley, Sierra
Club coal ash analyst and Tennessee native. "EPA should issue
enforceable federal safeguards quickly before more communities are
exposed to toxic coal ash."
"The voluntary guidance EPA has proposed as a second option just
kicks the ball back to state agencies, which have already been
overwhelmed and outmatched by the coal lobby," said Jeff Stant,
Director of the Coal Combustion Waste Initiative at the Environmental
Integrity Project. "The states' failure to enforce standards has led to
at least 71 sites where EPA admits coal ash has contaminated drinking
water, injured wildlife, or caused other environmental or property
damage, as well as untold other damaged sites that we do not know about
because so many coal ash dumps do no monitoring at all. EPA needs to do
the right thing by getting uniform standards in place, and having the
guts to enforce them."
"Coal ash that is being disposed meets the chemical definition of a
hazardous waste. As a hazardous waste, coal ash needs to be disposed in
a properly engineered landfill so deadly chemicals do not leach into
our drinking water sources or threaten our environment and wildlife,"
said Scott Slesinger, Legislative Director, Natural Resources Defense
Council. "All other industrial hazardous waste must meet these
requirements; there is no rationale for treating this waste
differently. We expect the EPA to finalize this rule so it protects
human health and the environment."
Earthjustice is a non-profit public interest law firm dedicated to protecting the magnificent places, natural resources, and wildlife of this earth, and to defending the right of all people to a healthy environment. We bring about far-reaching change by enforcing and strengthening environmental laws on behalf of hundreds of organizations, coalitions and communities.
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Working-Class Independent Dan Osborn Giving GOP Senator Run for Her Money in Nebraska
New polling suggests that "a willingness to take on millionaires, billionaires, and the politicians who serve them plays well everywhere," said one columnist.
Sep 25, 2024
Dan Osborn, a mechanic and union leader running to unseat Republican U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer in Nebraska, told an Omaha news station on Tuesday that recent polling showing a highly competitive race didn't come as a surprise to him.
"It's what I'm seeing on the ground," he toldKETV of a Survey USA poll showing 45% of respondents supporting him, compared with 44% backing Fischer. "People, I think, are ready for a change."
Osborn describes himself as a "lifelong Independent," and has not sought or accepted endorsements from either major political party.
He does have the backing of the United Auto Workers, which said in June, "It's time for labor to get behind candidates who look like us, talk like us, and know the issues facing working-class people."
Osborn began working as an industrial mechanic for a Kellogg's plant in 2004, and eventually rose to the presidency of his union local, Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers, and Grain Millers (BCTGM) Local 50G.
In that role in 2021, he led 500 of his co-workers at the cereal plant in a work stoppage that lasted 77 days, with workers protesting a two-tier hiring system that left new employees with lower pay and no pensions and demanding fair working schedules and pay.
The strike forced the company to agree to cost-of-living raises, no plant closures through 2026, and no permanent two-tier system.
"I've gone up against a major American corporation," Osborn toldThe New York Times in February. "I stood up for what I thought was right, and I won."
The Fischer campaign and its supporters have taken notice of the senator's opponent as multiple polls have shown the two candidates neck-and-neck. Last month, Fischer was up by just one point, with 23% undecided.
Conservative super political action committee Heartland Resurgence has spent $479,000 in a new ad campaign opposing Osborn, repeating the same false claims about his support for abortion care as those Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump made at his debate against Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris earlier this month: that Osborn "supports abortion until the moment of birth."
Osborn told the independent rural news outlet Barn Raiser in March that he believes "a woman's decision on whether or not to have an abortion is between her and her doctor, it's not the federal government's place to dictate those things to people. Deb Fischer believes in a complete abortion ban. I strongly disagree with that position."
In an ad released this week, Osborn is seen next to a stand-in for Fischer, who wears a blazer decorated with the logos of some of her major corporate donors: Northrop Grumman, which has given her $64,827 over her career; Union Pacific Corp., which has donated $141,651; and Goldman Sachs, which has donated $18,200 this election cycle.
Osborn says in the ad that the Senate is made up of "millionaires controlled by billionaires."
"Deb Fischer is part of the problem," he says. "She's taken so much corporate cash she should wear patches."
Columnist John Nichols said the latest poll numbers in Nebraska suggest "that a willingness to take on millionaires, billionaires, and the politicians who serve them plays well everywhere."
Pro-worker media organization More Perfect Unionpointed to earlier polling in July that showed Osborn and Fischer tied 42-42.
"Fifty-seven percent of the state's GOP voters say they're open to voting for an Independent," the outlet reported. "Osborn, a long-time union worker, could kick a Republican out of the Senate."
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Deadly Flooding in Central Europe Made Twice as Likely By Climate Change: Study
"This is definitely what we will see much more of in the future."
Sep 25, 2024
The record-setting rainfall that hit Central Europe in mid September was made roughly twice as likely and 7% more severe by climate change, according to an analysis released Wednesday.
The 36-page study, conducted by scientists affiliated with World Weather Attribution (WWA), looked at the causes of the extreme rain that peaked from September 12 until September 15. Called Storm Boris, it hit many countries including Poland, Austria, and the Czech Republic, and set off flooding that killed at least 24 people.
The authors, whose work wasn't peer reviewed, warned that Storm Boris was a sign of what's to come.
"This is definitely what we will see much more of in the future," Friederike Otto, a climate scientist at Imperial College London and co-author of the study, told the BBC.
"[It] is the absolute fingerprint signature of climate change... that records are broken by such a large margin."
The floods that killed 24 people in Central Europe were caused by rainfall made twice as likely and at least 7% heavier by climate change 📈🌧️
Floods will become more destructive and costly with further fossil fuel warming.
Our analysis was published this morning 🧵 https://t.co/0rJjYuYnUt
— World Weather Attribution (@WWAttribution) September 25, 2024
The heavy rainfall was caused by a Vb (pronounced "five-b") depression that "forms when cold polar air flows from the north over the Alps, meeting very warm air in Southern Europe," according to a WWA statement that accompanied the study.
The damage came partly from the fact that the storm lingered for many days, with rain falling on saturated ground and overflowing bodies of water. The WWA scientists didn't determine if the duration was affected by climate change; however, in general, the affect of climate change on the jet stream, which normally helps push weather patterns through the continent quickly, could play a role in causing storms to linger, experts say.
"These types of blocking situations and meandering jet stream-induced situations are increasing in frequency," Hayley Fowler, a climate scientist at Newcastle University who wasn't involved in the study, toldNPR.
Other factors in the Stom Boris disaster were more clearly influenced by a warmer planet. The most basic and straightforward factor is that hotter air can hold more water—for each degree celsius that the Earth heats up, the atmosphere can hold about 7% more water, so there's more that can turn into rain.
The WWA study's key findings—a roughly twofold increase in the likelihood of Storm Boris and a 7% increase in intensity caused by climate change—may in fact be underestimates. The findings are "too conservative," the study says.
The analysis does contain good news: European authorities were more prepared for this storm than they had been in the past, likely saving dozens of lives.
Far more people died during extreme flooding episodes in the region in 1997 and 2002—more than 100, in each case—even though the rainfall in those events was less severe and didn't cover such a large area. Governments have since invested in forecasting, early warning systems, and flood defenses like levees. The city of Vienna has been particularly strong on flood preparations, and its investments paid off when Storm Boris did little damage there.
Otto, the co-author, said on social media that early warning systems worked well but flood defenses are, in general, still being put up "way too slowly." She said addressing the climate crisis would pay off in many ways for people on the continent.
"All Europeans need to know that tackling it will make their lives so much better—ending fossil fuels creates jobs, lowers energy bills, makes cities healthier places to live, and reduces the risk of killer floods," she said.
Many observers had assumed that climate change played a role in the flooding before the WWA analysis was released. On September 16, Greenpeace called for fossil fuel companies to pay for the damage caused by extreme weather events. The type of attribution science conducted by WWA helps strengthen the case for accountability, advocates say.
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Rights Groups List 50+ Calls for Gaza Genocide on Israel's Channel 14
"Incitement to war crimes is part of the Channel 14 poison machine, and its aim is to create a forever war here," said one campaigner.
Sep 25, 2024
Since the October 7 attack, Israel's right-wing Channel 14 has broadcast over 50 statements by presenters, panelists, and guests advocating or defending genocide against Palestinians in Gaza and more than 150 calls for war crimes and crimes against humanity, according to a report published Tuesday by an Israeli newspaper.
Haaretzreported that the Israeli human rights groups—Zulat for Equality and Human Rights, Hatzlacha: Movement for the Promotion of a Fair Society, and the Democratic Bloc—have compiled a list of genocidal statements and incitements to war crimes made by individuals appearing on Channel 14 since October 7.
The groups have written to Israeli Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara requesting a criminal investigation into the station for "systematic and widespread incitement." The organizations want Channel 14 sanctioned and fined.
"On October 7, the terrorist organization Hamas committed war crimes and crimes against humanity," attorneys Michael Sfard, Alon Sapir, and Einat Gaier—who are representing the groups—told Haaretz. This caused "massive grief, deep sorrow, and burning and understandable fury."
"Israeli society is deeply traumatized, and this trauma will take years to heal," the lawyers continued. "This is exactly the type of ground upon which moral monstrosities are liable to flourish, and are flourishing."
The Haaretz article lists each incident in which genocidal statements have aired on Channel 14, with one program, "The Patriots," appearing repeatedly on the list.
On October 12, former Israeli lawmaker Moshe Feiglin—who has quoted Adolf Hitler, the leader of Nazi Germany, while arguing for the ethnic cleansing of Gaza—said on "The Patriots" that "if the goal of this operation isn't destruction, occupation, expulsion, and settlement, then we've done nothing."
Two days later on the program, presenter Nave Dromi said that "there are no innocents" in Gaza.
"In 1948, they brought the Nakba on themselves," she added, referring to the ethnic cleansing of more than 750,000 Arabs from Palestine by Jewish militias during the foundation of modern Israel. "Now they'll have a second Nakba, but for real, to finish the job."
The following day, October 15, Channel 14 aired a prerecorded message from Israeli singer Eyal Golan, who asserted that "Gaza should be totally wiped out, not one person should be left there."
Golan's message was cited in the South Africa-led genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague. Israeli State Attorney Amit Aisman is also considering a criminal investigation of Golan's remarks.
The human rights groups and Haaretz documented many other instances of on-air calls for indiscriminate bombing of Gaza, shooting civilians, and to "just exterminate" Palestinians.
Channel 14 personalities were aware of the legal implications of these statements. Following the ICJ's January order for Israel to avoid genocidal acts—which the country's far-right government has been accused of ignoring—Israeli journalist Shimon Riklin said on air that a law professor "warned me before the broadcast that if I say these things on the show I could be sued in The Hague."
"But I want you all to know that since October 7, one of the things that helps me to sleep is when I see all kinds of buildings flying through the air in Gaza, I enjoy it," he said. "Let's have more! Destroy as much as possible, so they won't have anywhere to go back to. Hang on a second, The Hague is calling... Hello?"
That same day another Israeli journalist, Itamar Fleischmann, argued on air that "the more humane solution is to starve" Palestinians in Gaza.
"And the choice is up to the civilians there," he added. "You want to keep starving? Keep supporting Hamas... That's why in my view, the Israeli interest is starvation in Gaza and a humanitarian disaster in Gaza."
At least dozens of Gazans, mostly children, have starved to death amid Israel's siege of the embattled enclave, where more than 147,000 Palestinians have been killed or injured by Israel's nearly yearlong onslaught.
"Incitement to war crimes is part of the Channel 14 poison machine, and its aim is to create a forever war here," Zehava Galon, a former left-wing Israeli lawmaker and president of Zulat for Equality and Human Rights, told Haaretz.
In a social media post, Zulat for Equality and Human Rights said Tuesday that "we specifically present here evidence of a serious crime being committed on Channel 14 and it needs to be stopped immediately."
Channel 14 "turned these statements into a systematic agenda," the group added. "An urgent investigation is required so that this incitement cannot be legitimate and allowed in Israel. It's time for the instigators to pay the price."
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