Sludge Safety Project Legislative Update

February 25, 2005

Great Lakes o' Sludge!

by Mary Wildfire and Vivian Stockman

To hear coal companies tell it, toxic sludge is good for you. But what's really good for you is to take action! Please, if you haven't taken action as we requested in the last Legislative Update, call or e-mail your legislators and tell them you are worried about coal sludge impoundments. Mention that you'd really like to know exactly what is the coal waste stored in these impoundments.

This weekend marks a grim anniversary: On February 26, 1972, a coal waste dam, of much shoddier construction than present day impoundments, failed at Buffalo Creek. A 30-feet high wall of water surged down the creek, killing 125 people, destroying over 1,000 homes and leaving 4,000 people homeless. This avoidable disaster prompted the passage of the 1977 Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act.

But disasters continue. It was miraculous that no human life was lost in Oct. 2000 when over 300 million gallons of sludge spewed out of a crack in the bottom of a Massey Energy coal sludge impoundment in Kentucky. If the entire 309 million gallons had surged down one creek instead of two, the concentrated volume and greater force might have had tragic consequences. We may not be so lucky next time.

Yes, we believe that due to violations of design and construction requirements, there could well be a next time-unless we act now by banning new sludge impoundments and moving to shut down the most dangerous existing impoundments. As long as impoundments loom over the coalfields, people are needlessly in harm's way. Many counties still do not have adequate evacuation plans, and instead rely on the evacuation plans provided by coal companies as part of the permitting process. These plans are poor at best and sometimes even have communities evacuate upstream towards the breaking impoundment, or have an emergency meeting place in the inundation area.

Across the coalfields, smaller "blackwater" spills occur frequently (see the recent news at www.sludgesafety.org), fouling both streams and groundwater. But what exactly is in that black gunk oozing down to your drinking water intake supply? We need to know. It's likely that the chemicals used in the coal preparations plants are in the slurry pumped to coal sludge ponds. Several coal prep plants workers are suing manufactures of the processing chemicals because they believe the chemicals have made them very ill. We've listed some of the chemicals used in these plants on our website, www.sludgesafety.org.

After the Martin County disaster in Kentucky, Senator Byrd decided something needed to be done. He secured funding for a 2001 study by the National Research Council (NRC), which issued a report a year later called Coal Waste Impoundments: Risks, Responsibilities and Alternatives. One thing the committee asked for was that "research be performed to identify the chemical constituents contained in the liquid and solid fractions of coal waste, and to characterize the hydrogeological conditions around impoundments."

This is an excellent point. When a spill occurs, what happens to the fish and other creatures that live in a creek? What health effects do the people who live in the communities surrounding coal processing plants, or those downstream, suffer as a result? (Anecdotal evidence suggests a high cancer rate.) How long do the effects last? What, exactly, is in that stuff? These are questions that need to be addressed. Please let your legislators know that you want to know, and you are in good company-the National Academy of Science National Research Council wants to know too!

Some of the chemicals found in coal:

Aluminum; Antimony; Arsenic; Barium; Beryllium; Cadmium; Calcium; Chromium; Cobalt; Copper; Iron; Lead; Magnesium; Manganese; Mercury; Molybdenum; Nickel; Potassium; Selenium; Silver; Sodium; Strontium; Tin; Vanadium; Zinc.

Some of the chemicals used to wash coal (and therefore likely in coal sludge impoudments):

Aniline; Acenaphthene; Aenapthylene; Anthracene; Benzidine; Benzo(a)anthracene; Benzo(a)pyrene; Benzo(b)fluoranthene; Benzo(ghi)perylene; Benzo(k)fluoroanthene; Benzyl alcohol; bis(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate; bis(2-chloroethoxy)-methane; bis(2-hloroethyl)ether; bis(2-chloroisopropyl)ether; Butyl benzyl phthalate; Chrysene; Dibenzo(a,h)anthracene; Dibenzofuran; Dibutyl phtalate; Diethyl phthalate; Dimethyl phthalate; Dioctylphthalate; Fluoranthene; Fluorene; Hexachlorobenzene; Hexachloroethane; Indeno(1,2,3-c,d)pyrene; Isophorone; N-Nitrosodi-n-propylamine; N-Nitrosodiphenylamine; Naphthalene; Nitrobenzene; Phenanthrene; Pyrene; Suspended Solids; Acrilamide; Hexachloro-1,3-Butadiene; Hexa-Cl-1,3-Cyclopentadiene; 1,2,4-trichlorobenzene; 1,2-Dichlorobenzene; 1,3-Dichlorobenzene; 1,4-Dichlorobenzene; 2,4-Dinitrotoluene; 2,6-Dinitrotoluene; 2-Chloronaphtalene; 2-Methylnapthalene; 2-Nitroaniline; 3-3'-Dichlorobenzidine; 3-Nitroaniline; 4-Bromophenyl phenyl ether; 4-Chloroaniline; 4-Chhlorophenyl phenyl ether; 4-Nitroaniline;

---Lists compiled by Abe Mwaura