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.