[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 64 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 64

  Recognizing the need for the Environmental Protection Agency to end 
  decades of delay and utilize existing authority under the Resource 
    Conservation and Recovery Act to comprehensively regulate coal 
combustion waste and the need for the Tennessee Valley Authority to be 
  a national leader in technological innovation, low-cost power, and 
                       environmental stewardship.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 4, 2009

    Mrs. Boxer (for herself and Mr. Carper) submitted the following 
  resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Environment and 
                              Public Works

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
  Recognizing the need for the Environmental Protection Agency to end 
  decades of delay and utilize existing authority under the Resource 
    Conservation and Recovery Act to comprehensively regulate coal 
combustion waste and the need for the Tennessee Valley Authority to be 
  a national leader in technological innovation, low-cost power, and 
                       environmental stewardship.

Whereas the burning of coal creates more than 130,000,000 tons of coal 
        combustion waste a year;
Whereas coal combustion waste is made up of various types of waste, including 
        fly ash, bottom ash, boiler slag, and flue gas emission control waste;
Whereas the National Academy of Sciences found that coal combustion waste 
        ``often contain a mixture of metals [including arsenic, lead, selenium, 
        mercury, cadmium, beryllium, chromium, thorium and uranium] and other 
        constituents in sufficient quantities that they may pose public health 
        and environmental concerns if improperly managed.'';
Whereas the 2 most common forms of disposal for coal combustion waste are 
        landfills and surface impoundments, with impoundments generally holding 
        a ``wet'' waste mixture of water and landfills holding a ``dry'' waste 
        that does not include intentionally added water, although other forms of 
        disposal also occur in other areas including mines;
Whereas a 1993 report prepared for the United States Department of Energy found 
        that over the preceding 50 years, roughly 500,000,000 tons of coal 
        combustion waste were disposed of at then-existing or operating waste 
        management units, and that about 1,000,000,000 tons of coal combustion 
        wastes had been disposed of at an estimated 759 closed units;
Whereas the United States Environmental Protection Agency reported to Congress 
        in 1999 that there were roughly 600 fossil fuel combustion waste 
        disposal units operating at approximately 450 coal-fired power plants;
Whereas the United States Department of Energy in 2006 found: ``The total number 
        of [coal combustion waste] disposal units permitted, built, or laterally 
        expanded between January 1, 1994 and December 31, 2004 (`new units') is 
        not known, as no industry organization or government agency tracks this 
        information,'';
Whereas on Monday, December 22, 2008, at 1:00 a.m. a wall constructed of coal 
        combustion waste and dirt failed on a 84-acre surface impoundment 
        holding coal combustion waste and water at the Kingston Fossil Plant in 
        Harriman, Tennessee, 40 miles west of Knoxville;
Whereas the spill from this ``wet storage'' impoundment at the Kingston plant 
        released 5,400,000 cubic yards of waste, equaling more than 
        1,000,000,000 gallons or an amount nearly 100 times greater than the 
        amount of oil spilled in the Exxon Valdez disaster, into the Emory River 
        and the surrounding valley and community;
Whereas the spill from the Kingston plant covered half of a square mile of land 
        and water with waste up to 12 feet deep, destroying roads, waterways, 
        wildlife, trees, railroad tracks, and impacting 42 properties, 40 homes, 
        and sections and coves of the Emory River used by businesses, community 
        members, families, and children;
Whereas the Kingston spill occurred around 1:00 a.m. in the morning in December, 
        but if it had occurred at midday during the summer, when businesses, 
        community members, families, and children regularly use the river and 
        coves, the already-extensive property damage could have been far greater 
        and the loss of life could have been catastrophic;
Whereas the United States Department of Energy has information demonstrating wet 
        storage impoundments present risks to public safety, health, and the 
        environment: ``[W]et impoundment systems require substantially greater 
        disposal site volumes than dry systems. . . . Also, the presence of free 
        liquid increases the possibility of leachate (i.e., a combination of ash 
        solids and water) creation and its potential for migration into 
        underlying soils and groundwater'';
Whereas in 2006 the United States Department of Energy reported inconsistent 
        coal combustion waste disposal standards, with some States weakening 
        safeguards and others improving protections;
Whereas the United States Environmental Protection Agency in 2000 produced a 
        draft regulatory determination that certain fossil fuel combustion 
        wastes, including coal ash, should be regulated as a hazardous waste 
        under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act; and
Whereas the United States Environmental Protection Agency has continued to issue 
        information on the adverse effects of coal combustion waste but the 
        agency has so far not required any consistent Federal regulatory 
        protections for coal combustion waste disposal practices despite their 
        clear authority to do so: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the Senate--
            (1) recognizes the need for the United States Environmental 
        Protection Agency to--
                    (A) immediately conduct and complete reviews, 
                including onsite confirmatory examinations, of all coal 
                combustion waste impoundments and landfills to ensure 
                the safety of people and the environment located in any 
                area that may be threatened by a spill or release from 
                an impoundment or landfill;
                    (B) report to the Senate Committee on Environment 
                and Public Works on the earliest date possible that the 
                Agency can regulate coal combustion waste using their 
                existing authority under the Resource Conservation and 
                Recovery Act;
                    (C) propose rules as quickly as possible to 
                regulate coal combustion waste under the Resource 
                Conservation and Recovery Act using the substantial 
                information currently available to the Agency; and
                    (D) issue final rules as quickly as possible on 
                regulating coal combustion waste under the Resource 
                Conservation and Recovery Act; and
            (2) recognizes the need for the Tennessee Valley Authority 
        to meet the intentions of Congress and be ``a national leader 
        in technological innovation, low-cost power, and environmental 
        stewardship''.
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