West Virginia: Coal ash vote coming

Oct 10 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - David Beard The Dominion Post, Morgantown, W.Va.

Rep. David McKinley said his coal ash regulatory bill may see a vote in the full House of Representatives this Friday.

Meanwhile, he and his colleagues in the West Virginia delegation are celebrating a court victory for coal.

McKinley, R-W.Va., talked about his bill and the court ruling with The Dominion Post on Friday after a classroom visit to WVU.

McKinley's bill is HR 2273 -- the Coal Residuals Reuse and Management Act. It amends the Solid Waste Disposal Act to enable states to adopt and run permit programs to manage and dispose of fossil fuel combustion products -- particularly coal ash, also called fly ash.

The bill came in response to an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposal to reclassify coal ash -- used in such things as cement and drywall, and on surface mines to mitigate acid drainage -- as hazardous waste.

A June Veritas Economic Consulting Report said classifying coal ash as hazardous waste could cost 183,000 to 316,000 lost jobs across the nation -- 41,000 to 73,000 in the region that includes West Virginia -- and $78.9 billion to $110 billion over 20 years.

The bill has two parts, McKinley said Friday. First, it acknowledges that coal ash isn't hazardous, so it can continue to be used in commercial products. "There's no scientific evidence that it's hazardous," McKinley said.

Second, it settles a 10th amendment debate over whether the EPA or states should regulate unrecycled coal ash. Coal combustion generates about 140 million tons of ash a year, he said. About 40 percent -- 56 million tons -- gets recycled, leaving the remaining 840 million for use on surface mines or disposal in landfills.

Unfortunately, he said, many old landfills had no liners, just clay. They failed over time and the ash leeched out.

The bill allows states to set the requirements for coal ash disposal, including such things as landfill liners. All 50 states said they have the ability to meet the bill's guidelines, McKinley said, and signed on to the bill.

Reps. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., and Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., are bill co-sponsors.

Some environmentalists oppose the bill, and a report by a group called Earthjustice, based on a review of regulations in 37 states, says most states don't require landfill liners, groundwater monitoring or other basic safeguards, and allow siting of coal ash dumps in water tables and other sensitive areas. The report, titled "State of Failure," calls for a comprehensive EPA coal ash rule.

McKinley said that under his bill, if a state drops the ball, then the EPA would step in and take over a landfill. "We're going to make the states toe the line on that."

While the bill is scheduled for a Friday vote, he said, there are several others in line in front of it. So the exact day will depend on the will of the members.

McKinley said the bill has received bipartisan support and he expects it to pass. "I've already started working with some folks on the Senate side." He said he expects a few tweaking amendments.

Court ruling celebrated

Late last week, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that the EPA has been overstepping its authority regarding its use of the Clean Water Act to review permits for mountaintopremoval mining operations.

In West Virginia, the EPA used the Clean Water Act to retroactively revoke a permit for the Arch Coal's Spruce No. 1 Mine in Logan County, a permit already vetted by the state Department of Environmental Protection and approved four years ago by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

McKinley, Capito, Rahall, and Sens. Joe Manchin and Jay Rockefeller, both D-W.Va., issued press releases celebrating the ruling.

McKinley said his staff is closely reviewing the ruling, and it may allow work to begin at Spruce Mine.

Following the EPA's Spruce Mine ruling, McKinley introduced a bill, HR 457, that would have removed the EPA's power to retroactively revoke Clean Water Act permits. The thrust of his bill was incorporated into a July bill, HR 2018, which passed earlier this month.

According to Capito, HR 2018 reasserts the states' role in the Clean Water Act permitting process.

This was one of several recent blows to attempted EPA overreaching, McKinley said. Seven EPA rules were projected to cost the economy more than $100 billion, but the Obama administration is taking note of the setbacks.

"I think they're starting to understand that the regulatory bodies need to be reined in, not done away with, just pulled back for right now."