Coal execs hope to spend big to defeat Conway and Chandler
Companies seek to pool funds to defeat chandler, Conway, and delay disclosure
By John Cheves - jcheves@herald-leader.com- Wednesday, Jul. 28, 2010
Several major coal companies hope to use newly loosened campaign-finance laws to pool their money and defeat Democratic congressional candidates they consider “anti-coal,” including U.S. Senate nominee Jack Conway and U.S. Rep. Ben Chandler in Kentucky.
The companies hope to create a politically active nonprofit under Section 527 of the Internal Revenue Code, so they won’t have to publicly disclose their activities, such as advertising, until they file a tax return next year, long after the Nov. 2 election.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled last winter that corporations and labor unions may pour unlimited funds into such efforts to influence elections.
“With the recent Supreme Court ruling, we are in a position to be able to take corporate positions that were not previously available in allowing our voices to be heard,” wrote Roger Nicholson, senior vice president and general counsel at International Coal Group of Scott Depot, W.Va., in an undated letter he sent to other coal companies.
Nicholson declined to comment on his letter Tuesday, after the Herald-Leader obtained it.
“A number of coal industry representatives recently have been considering developing a 527 entity with the purpose of attempting to defeat anti-coal incumbents in select races, as well as elect pro-coal candidates running for certain open seats,” Nicholson wrote. “We’re requesting your consideration as to whether your company would be willing to meet to discuss a significant commitment to such an effort.”
Nicholson listed three races “of interest”: Conway against Republican Rand Paul for Kentucky’s open Senate seat; Chandler against Republican Garland “Andy” Barr in Kentucky’s 6th House District; and Democratic U.S. Rep. Nick Rahall against Republican Elliott “Spike” Maynard in West Virginia’s 3rd House District. Read entire article

Massey Says Increased Federal Mining Inspections Reduce Coal Productivity

By Mario Parker - Jul 28, 2010- Bloomberg
Massey Energy Co., the owner of the West Virginia mine where 29 people died in April, said increased scrutiny from government inspectors reduced productivity at its operations during the second quarter.

Massey’s coal production was about 500,000 tons lower than expected in its deep mine operations due to reduced productivity amid “distractions” from the Upper Big Branch accident, temporary shutdowns and increased inspections, Baxter Phillips, the company’s president, said today on a conference call with analysts.

Massey said in a statement yesterday that shipments during the quarter dropped below its projections by about 1 million tons, of which 700,000 tons were lost due to lower productivity and temporary shutdowns. Three export shipments were delayed to July from June, accounting for about 220,000 tons of the shortfall, the company said.

“Certainly investor focus is on Massey’s ability to focus on this year’s tragic events and achieve their targets in what could be a very robust coal market,” said Michael Dudas, an analyst at Jefferies & Co. Inc. in New York. “They’re set up to do so, but with anything in Central Appalachia it’s going to be a challenge.”

Massey rose 65 cents, or 2.2 percent, to $30.30 at 11:38 a.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The shares have fallen 45 percent since the fatal blast on April 5.

Earnings Report:

The coal producer yesterday reported a net loss of $88.7 million on costs associated with the disaster and lowered its sales estimate for the year. Massey lost 88 cents a share, compared with a profit of $20.2 million, or 24 cents, a year earlier, the company said.

Massey, based in Richmond, Virginia, took a pretax charge of $128.9 million in its second-quarter and first-half results for the accident. Read entire article.

Massey Energy’s Blankenship:  No shame, but plenty of blame
By Dana Milbank- July 25, 2010- Washington Post
If Don Blankenship had any sense of shame, he’d crawl into a mine and hide.As CEO of Massey Energy, he has presided over a coal company that had thousands of violations in recent years, leading up to the April explosion that killed 29 of his miners. The company now faces a federal criminal investigation into what the government has called negligent and reckless practices.But Blankenship must have no sense of shame, because he visited the National Press Club last week to complain about “knee-jerk political reactions” to mine deaths and to demand that the Obama administration lighten regulations on his dirty and dangerous company. “We need to let businesses function as businesses,” an indignant Blankenship proclaimed. “Corporate business is what built America, in my opinion, and we need to let it thrive by, in a sense, leaving it alone.” Read entire article.

Europe Proposes to End Coal Mining Subsidies by 2014
By JAMES KANTER- NYTimes
It has been one of the most acrimonious debates in memory for officials at the European Commission, the executive body that runs the European Union. Should the commission allow nations to subsidize unprofitable coal mines to preserve jobs and help vulnerable regions? Or should it halt the aid to show the European Union’s commitment to reducing dependence on fossil fuels?
On Tuesday, in a preliminary victory for environmental groups and for green-minded regulators, the commission said that cash handouts for loss-making coal mines should end within four years — by Oct. 15, 2014 — rather than being allowed to continue for more than a decade as originally planned.
The decision, if approved by the European Union’s 27 governments, would mainly affect mines in Germany, Spain and Romania.
Debate over the measure had raged for weeks, with Connie Hedegaard, the union commissioner for climate action, and Janez Potocnik, the commissioner for the environment, leading efforts either to kill the initiative or to shorten the amount of time that aid would remain available.
“I’m satisfied with this outcome because it guarantees that the aid will stop soon and be stopped while this commission is still in office,” Mr. Potocnik said.
The tussle over subsidies for the coal industry in Europe was also seen as a sign of how difficult it would be to phase out government support for fossil fuels, even in the most industrially advanced parts of the world. Read entire article.

Top GOP prospect won’t seek Byrd’s Senate seat
Wednesday, Jul. 21, 2010- By LAWRENCE MESSINA - Associated Press Writer
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The top GOP prospect for the late Sen. Robert C. Byrd’s seat said Wednesday she won’t run, leaving the state’s Democratic governor the clear favorite as his party looks to keep its Senate majority in November.
Republican U.S. Rep. Shelley Moore Capito announced she would not enter the race a day after popular Gov. Joe Manchin launched his campaign to fill the remaining two-plus years of Byrd’s term. The filing deadline for candidates is Friday.
West Virginia GOP Chairman Doug McKinney said he has not heard from any Republican seriously weighing a bid and noted that a candidate would likely need to raise several million dollars quickly to mount a credible campaign.
Two Democratic challengers to Manchin stepped forward Wednesday: Ken Hechler, a 95-year-old former congressman and secretary of state; and former Monongalia County lawmaker Sheirl Fletcher.
The primary will be Aug. 28. Fletcher is an ex-Republican who ran against U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., in the 2008 primary and attracted less than 15 percent of the vote in a three-way race.
Hechler said he filed so voters can weigh in against the controversial strip mining method known as mountaintop removal that exposes coal seams through large-scale blasting. Manchin is a champion of the state’s coal industry, which considers the method highly efficient. Read entire article

Coal Lobby files suit against U. S. Environmental Protection Agency
July 21, 9:32 AM- Clay County Environmental News Examiner- Tammy Rose|
The coal industry lobby has a filed suit against the United States Environmental Protection Agency to challenge President Obama’s administration’s stated plan to take steps toward setting limits to govern the environmental impacts of Mountaintop Removal Mining.
Lawyers for the National Mining Association, filed the suit in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, are challenging EPA’s more detailed review of Clean Water Act permits for surface mines and the agency’s new guidance for controlling “conductivity” pollution from mountaintop removal operations. Read entire article.

Breaking: Activists Stop Strip Mining Machine on Coal River Mountain

Published by Sparki, July 14th, 2010

“It was usually around July you could go up there and sit and it was like the annual bear gathering up there… The whole area was full of laurels. The bears had tunnels through them, it was so thick…What’s going on today you know with the Brushy Fork of course, that whole area has just about been stripped out now, and that’s all been taken away.” Ed Wiley on Coal River Mountain.

MARFORK, W.Va. – Protestors associated with Climate Ground Zero and Mountain Justice have locked to and shut down a highwall miner on Coal River Mountain today. Colin Flood, 22, and Katie Huszcza, 21, are locked to the mining equipment on Massey Energy’s Bee Tree Surface Mine, near to the Brushy Fork Sludge Impoundment.  Their banner states “Save Coal River Mountain” alongside images of ginseng, a morel, a deer and a bear.

The human rights activists locked down in order to bring attention to the many local resources that will be lost if blasting on Coal River Mountain continues. This destruction led the four protesters, including 22-year-old Jimmy Tobias and 20-year-old Sophie Kern, both of whom acted as direct support, to take part in the action. “These mountains are home to some of the most biologically diverse temperate forests in the world and contain a variety of precious flora and fauna including edible and medicinal plants that can save lives, a wide array of extremely nutritious mushrooms, old growth forest and an abundance of deer and trout,” Huszcza said. “Coal River Mountain is priceless.” Read entire article.

EPA finalizes public hearing locations on coal ash
Published today, along with preregistration information, in the Federal Register:

- Arlington, VA August 30, 2010, Hyatt Regency
2799 Jefferson Davis Highway
Arlington, VA 22202
Phone: (703) 418–1234,
http://www.crystalcity.hyatt.com.

- Denver, CO September 2, 2010, Grand Hyatt, 1750 Welton Street, Denver, CO 80202
Phone: (303) 295–1234,
http://www.granddenver.hyatt.com.

- Dallas, TX September 8, 2010, Hyatt Regency Dallas
300 Reunion Boulevard
Dallas, TX 75207
Phone: (214) 651–1234,
http://www.dallasregency.hyatt.com.

- Charlotte, NC September 14, 2010,
Holiday Inn Charlotte (Airport),
2707Little Rock Road
Charlotte, NC 28214
Phone: (704) 394–4301,
http://www.hicharlotteairport.com.

- Chicago, IL September 16, 2010,
Hilton Chicago, 720 South Michigan
Avenue, Chicago, IL 60605, Phone:
(312) 922–4400,
http://www.chicagohilton.com/hotels__hiltonchicago.aspx.

Take Action!

Army Corps sets public hearing over plan to use coal ash to shore up river levees
By Jim Suhr- ST. LOUIS (AP) - The Army Corps of Engineers wants to use ash cast off from coal-fired electrical generation to shore up dozens of miles of Mississippi River levees, drawing fire from environmentalists worried that heavy metals from the filler might make their way into the river.
The corps announced the plan last month, touting the injection of a slurry of water, coal ash and lime into 25 miles of slide-prone levees in 200-mile stretch of the river from Alton, Ill., near St. Louis to tiny Gale on southern Illinois’ tip as the cheapest, longest-lasting fix among several options it weighed.
A public hearing on the matter, scheduled Thursday in St. Louis, is certain to elicit questions from environmentalists who consider the use of coal ash — also known as fly ash — a bad idea despite corps assurances that it has been used trouble-free on levees near Memphis for more than a decade.
“This is an emotional issue with some people,” Alan Dooley, a spokesman for the Army Corps’ St. Louis district, said Tuesday. “But we are looking for a more permanent way of fixing the levees. We’re looking at public safety and best use of taxpayer dollars.”
Various studies have suggested the ash — a remnant of coal-fired power plants and long used in making roads and cement — contains arsenic, selenium, mercury and other substances defined as hazardous, and may be closely linked to cancer.
The corps has said clay used to build the levees more than a half-century ago wasn’t strong enough to last long-term, its significant shrinkage at low moisture levels allowing for the formation of cracks that fill with water from precipitation, weakening the embankment. Read entire article.

Army Corps considering coal ash to fix levees
ST. LOUIS - July 13, 2010- By JIM SUHR Associated Press Writer
The Army Corps of Engineers wants to use ash cast off from coal-fired electrical generation to shore up dozens of miles of Mississippi River levees, drawing fire from environmentalists worried that heavy metals from the filler might make their way into the river.
The corps announced the plan last month, touting the injection of a slurry of water, coal ash and lime into 25 miles of slide-prone levees in 200-mile stretch of the river from Alton, Ill., near St. Louis to tiny Gale on southern Illinois’ tip as the cheapest, longest-lasting fix among several options it weighed.
A public hearing on the matter, scheduled Thursday in St. Louis, is certain to elicit questions from environmentalists who consider the use of coal ash — also known as fly ash — a bad idea despite corps assurances that it has been used trouble-free on levees near Memphis for more than a decade.
“This is an emotional issue with some people,” Alan Dooley, a spokesman for the Army Corps’ St. Louis district, said Tuesday. “But we are looking for a more permanent way of fixing the levees. We’re looking at public safety and best use of taxpayer dollars.” Read entire article.

Mountaineers Say EPA Has Backtracked
07/13/2010- By Robert Browman- Daily Yonder
In April opponents of mountaintop removal coal mining believed the federal government was finally ready to outlaw such operations. But a new recommendation to permit yet another huge mine has Appalachian environmentalists baffled and angry.
In April, a turn in the Environmental Protection Agency bouyed Lorelei Scarbro with hope. After many trips to the nation’s capitol to oppose mountaintop removal mining, the 54 year old grandmother and coal miner’s widow thought the EPA was taking its first steps to abolish the radical coal extraction process that threatens her West Virginia home.
But two weeks ago, the EPA seemingly reversed course. It recommended approval of a major mountaintop removal mine in nearby Logan County, WV, an operation that would level 760 mountain acres, fill three valleys, and destroy more than two miles of streams.
“The most important thing to me is clean drinking water for my grandchildren,” Scarbro wrote to  Lisa Jackson of the EPA after the June decision. “I don’t believe that is possible if we continue to destroy and cover head water streams in Appalachia.  Once again, I have lost hope. Please don’t let this be the final word.”
Scarbro lives in fear that a coal mine like this one will bury her home in Raleigh County, West Virginia, taking with it the way of life she holds dear. Her house, built by her late husband, stands in the shadow of one of the last untouched mountains in the area, Coal River Mountain. Massey Energy is poised to blast it to smithereens. Read entire article.

Activists Stage Creative Sit-In at EPA HQ

July 8, 2010-RAN

Blasting John Denver’s ‘Take me Home, Country Roads’ in the EPA HQ, activists said: “We’re sitting down so the EPA will stand up for Appalachia’s drinking water.”

Appalachia Residents and Environmentalists Disappointed at EPA’s Decision to Approve Large Coal Permit Under New Mountaintop Mining Guidelines

Hi-res photos at: http://rainforestactionnetwork.smugmug.com/Mountain-Top-Removal/epa-pine-creek-sit-in
Audio file playing inside the EPA can be heard here: http://ran.org.s3.amazonaws.com/cr.mp3
Follow @dirtyenergy for live twitter updates of today’s events
WASHINGTON— Today, activists with the Rainforest Action Network staged a sit-in at the EPA headquarters to demand stronger protection for Appalachia’s drinking water and an end to the devastating practice of mountaintop removal (MTR) coal mining.
After entering the EPA building, activists sat down in the center of the lobby, locked themselves together with metal ‘lock boxes,’ and began to play West Virginia’s adopted state song, John Denver’s ‘Take me Home, Country Roads,’ mixed with intermittent sounds of Appalachia’s mountains being blown apart by MTR explosives. An additional activist climbed to the top of the EPA front door on Constitution Ave and blocked the door with a banner reading: ‘Blowing up mountains for coal contaminates Appalachia’s water, Stop MTR.’  
“We’re sitting down inside the EPA to demand the EPA stand up to protect Appalachia’s precious drinking water, historic mountains and public health from the devastation of mountaintop removal,” said Scott Parkin of Rainforest Action Network, who participated in the sit-in. “At issue here is not whether mountaintop removal mining is bad for the environment or human health, because we know it is and the EPA has said it is. At issue is whether President Obama’s EPA will do something about it. So far, it seems it is easier to poison Appalachia’s drinking water than to defy King Coal.”
With the nation’s eyes on the BP disaster, the EPA, without publicly announcing the action, recently gave the green light for a major new mountaintop removal coal mining permit in Logan County, West Virginia. The permit would allow the destruction of nearly three miles of currently clean streams and 760 acres of forest, in a county where at least 13 percent of the land has already been permitted for surface coal mining. This is the first permit decision the EPA has issued under the new MTR guidelines, which came out last April and were anticipated to provide tougher oversight of the practice.
“This is a devastating first decision under guidelines that had offered so much hope for Appalachian residents who thought the EPA was standing up for their health and water quality in the face of a horrific mining practice,” said Amanda Starbuck of the Rainforest Action Network. “The grand words being spoken by Administrator Jackson in Washington are simply not being reflected in the EPA’s actions on-the-ground. Moving forward, it is clear that the EPA cannot end mountaintop removal coal mining pollution, as it has committed to, without abolishing mountaintop removal all together.”  
For decades, Appalachian residents have been decrying the impact of mountaintop removal coal mining—the practice of blowing up whole mountains (and dumping the toxic debris into nearby streams and valleys) to reach seams of coal. Environmentalists, leading scientists, congressional representatives and even late coal state Senator Byrd have all called for the end to this mining practice.
A paper released in January 2009 by a dozen leading scientists in the journal Science concluded that mountaintop coal mining is so destructive that the government should stop giving out new permits all together. “The science is so overwhelming that the only conclusion that one can reach is that mountaintop mining needs to be stopped,” said Margaret Palmer, a professor at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Sciences and the study’s lead author.
Since 1992, nearly 2,000 miles of Appalachian streams have been filled at a rate of 120 miles per year by surface mining practices.  A recent EPA study found elevated levels of highly toxic selenium in streams downstream from valley fills. These impairments are linked to contamination of surface water supplies and resulting health concerns, as well as widespread impacts to stream life in downstream rivers and streams.  Further, the estimated scale of deforestation from existing Appalachian surface mining operations is equivalent in size to the state of Delaware.  
The Pine Creek permit is currently awaiting approval from the Army Corps of Engineers.

Massey Energy Foremen Slapped With Criminal Charges For 2006 Fire, Mine Worker Dies In Accident At Another Mine

Posted: 07- 2-10- Huffington Post
While state and federal investigations into the worst mining disaster in decades continue, mine owner Massey Energy was hit with more bad news this week.

Early Thursday morning, a 60-year-old mine employee, died in an accident at Massey’s White Buck Coal Co.’s underground Pocahontas Mine. Leslie Fitzwater, spokeswoman for the West Virginia Office of Miners’ Health, Safety and Training, said the electrician from Charmco was struck by a shuttle car, reports the Register-Herald.

Prior to this accident, the Mine Safety and Health Administration had already issued that mine more than 160 safety violations in this year alone, one-third of which were in the “serious violation” category. Read entire article.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

July 7, 2010- 10:22 AM          
CONTACT: Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER)

Kirsten Stade (202) 265-7337

EPA Suspends Coal Ash Promotion Program

Abrupt Removal of Own Website While Ash Re-Use Effort Is “Re-Evaluated”

WASHINGTON - July 7 - Without public announcement, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has yanked its own website promoting the re-use of coal ash while this highly-touted partnership with the coal industry “is being re-evaluated,” according to the lonely disclaimer on now-blank agency web pages. Today, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) wrote to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson urging her agency to rethink the full range of risks in putting highly toxic coal combustion wastes into an array of consumer, agricultural and commercial products - which is the object of the suspended EPA/coal industry joint venture called the Coal Combustion Products Partnership or C2P2.

Coal ash and other combustion wastes represent the second biggest waste stream in the nation, second only to wastes generated by coal mining itself. Re-use of coal ash has, with active support of EPA, turned into a multi-billion dollar business that provides a huge subsidy to coal-fired power-plants. Following the disastrous Kentucky coal sludge spill in December 2008, EPA has belatedly undertaken an effort to possibly regulate coal ash as a hazardous waste. The main industry concern about regulating coal sludge ponds as hazardous is the “stigmatizing effect” that would have on the growing coal ash market.

The C2P2 program put EPA in an awkward position of promoting what it is supposed to be regulating. Earlier this year, PEER revealed that EPA officials routinely allow coal industry executives to edit agency reports and fact sheets to downplay risks of coal ash. C2P2 product endorsements have drawn criticism from EPA’s Inspector General. Last week, PEER filed an administrative complaint charging EPA with falsely touting, via C2P2 publications, greenhouse gas reductions from coal combustion waste reuse.

Last month, as it unveiled its final proposals for regulating coal sludge, EPA quietly posted a notice that C2P2 was temporarily suspended because it “was deemed appropriate to foster dialogue on the proposal evenhandedly with all interested parties through the public comment process.” This week in an unusual move, EPA went further by suddenly taking down all the C2P2 postings and leaving only this statement:

 “The Coal Combustion Products Partnerships (C2P2) program Web pages have been removed while the program is being re-evaluated.”

 “We suggest that EPA use this opportunity to honestly review the entire range of potential public health and environmental effects of injecting millions of tons of unquestionably hazardous materials into the stream of commerce,” stated PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch, noting that EPA has used industry research as the underpinnings of the C2P2 findings. “With so many unknowns, EPA should cease being promotional and try being precautionary about coal ash.”

 If EPA is genuinely reconsidering its previous posture that virtually all re-use of coal ash was “beneficial” and thus beyond regulation, it would be a huge shift with profound implications for the economics of coal-generated power. “If coal plants had to properly dispose of all their combustion wastes this power source would not be such a bargain anymore,” Ruch added.

Samuel E. Flenner III

Outreach Associate

Environmental Integrity Project

www.environmentalintegrity.org

samf.environmentalintegrity@gmail.com

317.352.2339  c-317.850.0436

EPA Okays First Mountaintop Removal Mining Project Under New Guidelines

Decision made quietly disappoints opponents, skirts science

by Matthew Berger - Jul 7th, 2010

The EPA has given tentative – and quiet – approval to a new mountaintop removal mine in West Virginia. It is the agency’s first decision under the new guidelines it issued April 1 which promised to prevent “significant and irreversible damage to Appalachian watersheds at risk from mining activity.”

Environmental groups say the approval, which was indicated in a letter last week, shows the agency is not serious about sticking to those stricter new regulations and the science behind them.               

In mountaintop removal mining, coal mining companies strip away forests then blast the bare mountaintops to cut through hundreds of feet of rock and reach the coal seams buried below. The dynamited rock, soil and unearthed heavy metals, collectively called “spoil” or “overburden,” are dumped into adjacent valleys, often burying streams that wildlife and area residents depend on. Toxins from those mine sites that make it into the water and air have been blamed for health problems including birth defects and chronic heart and lung diseases. Read entire article.

Village Of Webster, PA Plagued By Water Main Breaks
by Mary Robb Jackson WEBSTER (KDKA)- 6/11/2010  ―  The people who live along Railroad Street in Webster say they have seen about 20 water main breaks in the past three years.

KDKA

A local community is fed up after the latest water main break in their neighborhood.

Last night neighbors along Railroad Street in the village of Webster, Westmoreland County, heard the familiar telltale rumbling underground.

Another water main break was about to blow and not for the first time. The old patching along the street says it all.

People are really frustrated.

“This is just constant,” Jack Cheesbrough said. “First it’s all winter long, now it’s all summer long.”

“We’re not rich down here but everybody tries to take care of their property real good,” Barry Couser said.

Railroad Street might be better dubbed “Water Street.”

“This is No. 20 in three years in this two-block stretch here,” Kathi Swann said.

Three of those breaks occurred in just over the past month.

“It’s just not fair to the people down here and everybody is tired of it,” Cheesbrough added.

On Memorial Day, a geyser sprayed slimy mud and water all over the place. In an earlier break, a newspaper delivery lady was swallowed up to her axles when the street collapsed.

“It’s just an ongoing hassle,” Cheesbrough said. Read entire article.

EPA False Claims of Greenhouse Gas Savings from Coal Ash

Complaint Filed to Delete Inaccurate Statements from EPA Website and Publications

WASHINGTON - July 1 - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency routinely makes the false claim that putting coal combustion wastes into consumer and commercial products actually reduces generation of greenhouse gases associated with climate change. Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) today filed a complaint against the agency demanding that numerous inaccurate statements touting the greenhouse gas benefits of coal ash be removed from the EPA website and publications.

EPA has a formal promotional partnership with the coal industry to expand use of coal ash and other coal combustion wastes in products such as cement, wallboard, carpet backing and consumer products such as kitchen counters and even cosmetics and toothpaste. As part of this campaign, EPA repeatedly represents that using coal ash reduces greenhouse gas emissions because it substitutes for virgin materials.

One huge fallacy is that EPA claims generally omit any mention of the massive amounts of greenhouse gases emitted in mining and burning the coal to produce the ash. Many of the EPA assertions are made without reference sources, methodology or qualification. Occasionally the agency inserts a footnote that it makes the highly questionable assumption that coal ash is carbon neutral for purposes of its claims.

“Coal is our biggest source of greenhouse gases. It is the height of absurdity to contend that the toxic wastes produced by coal combustion help our atmosphere,” stated PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch, noting that EPA recently suspended the coal ash promotion campaign (called the Coal Combustion Product Partnership or C2P2) while it considers whether to regulate coal ash as a hazardous waste.

The PEER complaint is filed under the Data Quality Act which requires that materials distributed or relied upon by federal agencies be accurate, complete and unbiased. In addition to the central flaw mentioned above, the PEER complaint cites the fact that EPA’s coal ash claims -

• Violate its own guidelines published for calculating lifecycle emissions;
• Bury its own conclusion that coal ash use “may not be an efficient method for reducing overall emissions” of greenhouse gases and may in fact be a net detriment; and
• Are internally inconsistent and usually are un-sourced.

EPA has 90 days to respond to the complaint. If it rejects the complaint, PEER may file an administrative appeal forcing the formation of a three-member executive panel to review the matter. The decision by that review panel is final.

“EPA is guilty of false advertising. Using taxpayer dollars to mislead the public adds insult to the injury,” added Ruch. “EPA should purge this nonsense from its website now.”