by Sara Edgar
With over 80% of our power coming from coal (double the national average), Missouri has a coal problem - and thus, a coal ash problem. Coal ash, the waste product from burning coal, is the second largest waste stream in the US and contains toxic heavy metals such as arsenic, lead, and mercury – yet it has even weaker regulations than household garbage!
Here in Missouri, coal ash is typically disposed of in un-lined and unmonitored waste ponds in our floodplains. These sites are a major threat to our rivers, our drinking water and public health. Coal ash that is not disposed of is “recycled” into other forms –this is termed “beneficial reuse.” Recently in Ste Genevieve, Ameren and Mississippi Lime found one such “beneficial reuse” – dumping coal ash into abandoned lime mines. A few years back, the Department of Natural Resources themselves said that the mines were highly permeable and unstable due to the large number of sink holes and caves in the topography. Now residents throughout the area are coming forward with concerns about water contamination. One resident even brought in his gray sludgy tap water from his well to show off to county officials and said that testing found unusually high levels of arsenic in his water.
You might say, yes but surely coal ash must be safe! That is exactly what the toxicologist that Ameren hired claimed – so safe that a child could consume it every day! But then again, she is on the Executive Committee of the American Coal Ash Association – so she has a conflict of interest. Physicians for Responsibility and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) both have issued reports about the detrimental health impacts of coal ash. The EPA found that living within a one mile radius of a coal ash pond and drinking contaminated water, was worse for health than smoking a pack of cigarettes a day!
The outrageous claims from Ameren’s toxicologists are paving the way for the development of three new coal ash landfills in the St. Louis region. Since these Ameren executives seem to think coal ash is perfectly safe to consume, Sierra Club members from around these three sites came to Ameren’s headquarters last month and offer up a tasty coal ash inspired breakfast buffet and demand groundwater monitoring at these sites to make sure that communities are protected from contamination. We delivered over 1,000 petitions and the media loved it! If you want to help us as we work to protect our families from this toxic threat, please email sara.edgar@sierraclub.org.