Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality’s Toxic Coal Ash Plan Threatens Public Health

(Oklahoma City) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is holding a public hearing tomorrow on a federal proposal put forth in conjunction with the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality (ODEQ) regarding the handling of coal ash pollution in Oklahoma. For decades, companies have dumped coal ash and waste that is left over from coal-burning power plants into ponds and landfills. These coal ash ponds and landfills often lack liners to prevent contaminants from leaking out, and also are often sited near waterways. Coal ash contains toxic substances known to cause human health risks, including arsenic, cadmium, lead, mercury, selenium, thallium, and hexavalent chromium. The hearing will be held on Tuesday, Feb. 13, beginning at 9 am (CST) at the ODEQ building located at 707 N. Robinson Ave., Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

In Response, Johnson Bridgwater, Director of the Oklahoma Sierra Club Chapter, released the following statement:

 “The EPA adopted national regulations for the operation and design of coal ash dumps in 2015. In 2016, Congress passed a law allowing states to adopt their own rules for coal ash dumps as long as those rules were “at least as protective” as the EPA’s federal standards. Oklahoma coal ash sites are already concerning, and ODEQ’s proposed takeover of coal ash oversight in our state would only make the current problem worse. When utilities store and dispose of coal ash without proper safeguards, these hazardous chemicals can enter the air, groundwater, surface water and soil, harming nearby communities and waterways. In Oklahoma, we’ve seen first-hand the harms that coal ash causes. We know that the ash piles in Bokoshe in Le Flore County from the AES coal plant blow all around, leaving a community harmed by cancer and asthma. Ash dumps at the GRDA and PSO coal plants have contaminated land and groundwater, leaving behind huge concerns about clean up costs.”