The Senate is pressuring the EPA to promulgate new regulations managing coal ash. From Environment & Energy Daily:

In 2000, EPA produced a draft regulatory determination that said certain fossil fuel combustion wastes like coal ash should be regulated as a hazardous waste under RCRA, but no regulations have ever been promulgated.

Senate EPW Committee staff member Bettina Poirier said the Senate resolution is a largely symbolic gesture intended to demonstrate that EPA has the authority under RCRA to produce new coal ash regulations. “The notion of the resolution is we don’t have to have legislation for action to occur,” she explained.

While no hearings are planned for the resolution, Poirier said sponsors will attempt to gather more supporters before bringing it to a vote “to provide very public support for the action EPA takes.”

EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said last week that the agency is primarily focused on its enforcement and response to the spill and ensuring that other facilities manage their impoundments better than TVA did in Tennessee, but she said EPA will likely produce new regulations soon.

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Earlier this week, more than 100 environmental groups sent a letter to Jackson saying federal standards are needed to govern the disposal of coal combustion waste. The groups described coal ash waste as a huge threat, noting that nearly 100 million tons of coal ash and coal combustion waste are dumped in ponds, pits and mines across the United States each year.

Related headlines:

Coal ash will be dredged from the Emory River.  From MSNBC.com:

Environmental regulators also approved the start of dredging to remove ash from the Emory River. Until now, officials have been stabilizing the ash and working on a plan, said Anda Ray, the Tennessee Valley Authority’s top environmental officer.

Some 5.4 million cubic feet of coal ash, a byproduct of burning coal to make electricity, breached an earthen retention wall at the Kingston Fossil Plant about 40 miles west of Knoxville on Dec. 22.

Residents of the Tennessee coal ash spill are worried about their health, and some are complaining of respiratory problems. From WAAYTV.com:

Tennessee and federal environmental officials are encouraged with the progress in cleaning up a massive coal ash spill, but residents worry their health is being compromised.

Paul Davis, Tennessee’s top environmental officer, told more than 200 people attending a community meeting on the spill Thursday night in Harriman that “we appreciate to the fullest extent that we can the impact of this spill on you.” He vowed “total remediation” of the 300 acres that were covered by 5.4 million cubic yards of ash near the Kingston Fossil Plant on Dec. 22.

But Rick Cantrell with a residents’ group said the community is worried about coal dust in the air and in their homes. Some are complaining of trouble breathing and other illnesses.

Not only is TVA having legal trouble from the toxic coal ash spill but also out of control credit card spending is causing problems. From the Institute of Southern Studies:

The Tennessee Valley Authority, already caught in a legal quagmire following December’s disastrous spill of a billion gallons of coal ash from its Kingston power plant, is in trouble yet again — this time for out-of-control credit card spending by its employees.

A two-year review by TVA’s Inspector General found that spending as part of a program created in 1995 for minor business-related expenses had ballooned to more than $75 million annually

Homeowners are upset with performance bonus and pay raise accepted by Tennessee Valley Authority’s CEO as electricity rates shoot up. From MSNBC.com

When electric bills across Tennessee recently shot up, homeowners and lawmakers went after the TVA’s top man, CEO Tom Kilgore, and his $1 million bonus — a paycheck that became a real turn-off to rate payers.

His nearly $2.5 million paycheck is adding to the anger of everyday people who are struggling to pay their bills.

The public was angered by October’s rate increase. At that same time, Kilgore accepted a pay raise.

The end of wet fly ash storage may be over. From the Knoxville News Sentinel:

The spill near Harriman three days before Christmas most likely spells the end for wet storage at the steam plant, according to a mandatory corrective action plan submitted Monday to the state Department of Environment and Conservation. Any such transition would be subject to state approval and would take about two years.

“TVA has committed to ceasing wet ash storage in the failed dredge cell,” according to the plan. “In order to manage future ash production, TVA is considering the installation of equipment that enables the fly ash from Kingston to be collected dry. Collecting fly ash on a dry basis will allow for more flexible marketing and disposal options and reduce the size of pond structures. … If the decision is made to convert to dry collection, the time from project start to completion is expected to take 18-24 months.”

The spill has raised questions across the state and around the nation about the safety of coal ash and how to store it.

State Sen. Tim Burchett, R-Knoxville, introduced a bill Tuesday that would ban wet storage of fly ash.

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