[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 158 (Thursday, October 20, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6876-S6877]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. HOEVEN (for himself, Mr. Conrad, Mr. Enzi, Ms. Landrieu, 
        Mr. Bozman, Mr. Nelson of Nebraska, Mr. Portman, Mr. Manchin, 
        Mr. Thune, and Mr. Rockefeller):
  S. 1751. A bill to amend subtitle D of the Solid Waste Disposal Act 
to facilitate recovery and beneficial use, and provide for the proper 
management and disposal, of materials generated by the combustion of 
coal and other fossil fuels; to the Committee on Environment and Public 
Works.
  Mr. HOEVEN. Mr. President, I rise to speak on the issue of job 
creation as well, specifically in regard to legislation I will be 
introducing that seeks to not only create jobs but also to truly reduce 
the cost of electricity to Americans throughout this country.
  In North Dakota, we have a powerplant north of our State capitol, the 
city of Bismarck. It is about 1,100 megawatts. It consists of two 
separate plants, each of them 550 megawatts, so the complex provides 
1,100 megawatts of electricity, power that fuels our State, as well as 
sending power to Minnesota and other places as well. This plant uses 
the latest in emission control technology. It is state of the art.
  We also have an ethanol plant attached to the powerplant, so the 
waste steam that comes off the powerplant is used to power the ethanol 
plant to make low-cost transportation fuel as well.
  In addition to those things, another innovation at this plant is that 
after they produce the electricity, they take hundreds of thousands of 
tons of coal ash and, rather than landfilling it, they actually reuse 
it, and they use it to make concrete--they call it FlexCrete--for 
highways, they use it in building materials, and they even use it in 
products such as the shingles we use on our roofs.
  Formerly, this plant paid about $4 million a year to landfill that 
coal ash. Now they sell it for all these products and generate around 
$12 million a year in revenue. If you take the $4 million they used to 
expend to landfill the material, figure in the $12 million they now 
make selling the product, that is a $16 million revenue benefit to the 
plant. That means a $16 million reduction in the cost of electricity to 
their customers throughout North Dakota and Minnesota.
  At the same time, because they have partnered with a company out of 
Utah called Headwaters, right there at the complex they also have a 
facility that manufactures these building products, FlexCrete, and 
creates good-paying jobs as well.
  Today I rise to introduce commonsense, bipartisan legislation--a jobs 
bill, if you will--the Coal Residuals Reuse and Management Act. In 
fact, this legislation has already passed the House of Representatives 
with a large bipartisan majority.
  In a true example of American ingenuity and innovation, entrepreneurs 
around the country are recycling coal ash. Millions of Americans now 
work in buildings that are either partially constructed from coal ash-
strengthened building materials or they drive home from work on roads 
and over bridges that are made of coal ash concrete or, as I said, they 
live under roofs that are shingled, and those shingles are made out of 
this coal residuals material. In fact, in my home State of North 
Dakota, we have both our Heritage Center, which is under construction 
now, and also the National Energy Center of Excellence that were 
constructed with these materials.
  First, this National Energy Center of Excellence, this is the 
Bismarck State College. They specialize in energy programs. This 
facility overlooks the Missouri River and it is about a $20-plus 
million facility. It is absolutely beautiful, and it is made with the 
coal residual building materials.
  On this other slide, right now this facility is under construction. 
This will be a more than $50 million facility, which is, in essence, a 
museum and a heritage center for the State of North Dakota. The 
building materials in this state-of-art facility will have both static 
and interactive displays and is being built with what is called coal 
ash--but coal residual materials. These are materials coming out of 
powerplants that were formerly simply landfill, and now we are using 
them for all these purposes. The important point is, we need to be able 
to continue to do that. That is exactly why I am introducing this 
legislation.
  It turns out that using this natural byproduct of coal combustion not 
only makes our buildings and infrastructure stronger, it makes homes, 
businesses, and highways more affordable to build. It also creates 
hundreds of thousands of jobs in the process, while using this cost-
effective material.
  Meanwhile, by using coal ash in such an innovative manner, it is 
estimated the overall energy consumption in this country can be reduced 
by 162 trillion Btu's, British thermal units, and that water usage is 
reduced annually by 32 billion gallons a year. That is the equivalent 
of the amount of energy used by 1.7 million homes a year and the amount 
of water--actually one-third of the amount of water used in the entire 
State of California each year. So we can see from a conservation 
standpoint what an incredible impact using these materials has.
  Unfortunately, the EPA is now considering whether to overturn 30 
years of precedent and regulate coal ash as a hazardous material, 
despite findings from the Department of Energy, the Federal Highway 
Administration, and State regulatory agencies throughout the country, 
as well as EPA itself. EPA's own studies show the toxicity level in 
coal ash is well below the criteria that requires any type of hazardous 
waste designation.
  In fact, the EPA's May 2000 regulatory determination--in that 
determination they concluded that coal ash does not warrant regulation 
as hazardous waste and that doing so would be environmentally 
counterproductive. However, new regulations first proposed in June of 
2010 would create a stigma for coal ash recycling and expose it to 
frivolous lawsuits that could undermine the industry, cost thousands of 
jobs, and take billions of dollars out of our economy at a time when 
working families can least afford it. But the damage to American's 
pocketbooks would not just stop with the undermining of this recycling 
industry.
  It is estimated that meeting the regulatory disposal requirements 
under the EPA's subtitle C proposal would cost between $250 and $450 
per ton, as opposed to about $100 per ton under the current system. 
That could mean up to another $50 billion in costs, a burden on our 
electricity generators that use coal and, most important, customers--
American families, businesses, and farmers--again, Americans throughout 
this great country.
  It is also estimated this regulation by EPA, this proposal, could 
mean the loss of more than 300,000 American jobs. That is why I have at 
the desk the Coal Residuals Reuse and Management Act, which I am 
introducing today, along with Senator Kent Conrad, Senator Michael 
Enzi, Senator Mary Landrieu, Senator Rob Portman, Senator Ben Nelson, 
Senator Joe Manchin, and also Senator John Boozman; four Republicans 
and four Democrats. This is truly a bipartisan piece of legislation.
  As I said, it is a companion to H. Res. 2273 that passed the U.S. 
House of Representatives last Friday with strong--and I emphasize 
strong--bipartisan support. It takes a commonsense approach to ensuring 
we can continue

[[Page S6877]]

this vital industry and, in fact, build it, save millions of dollars 
for American consumers and create hundreds of thousands of jobs.
  This bill not only preserves coal ash recycling by preventing the 
byproducts from being treated as hazardous, it establishes Federal 
standards for coal ash disposal. Under this legislation, States can set 
up their own permitting programs for the management and disposal of 
coal ash. These programs would be required to be based on existing EPA 
regulations to protect human health and the environment. If a State 
does not implement an acceptable permit program, then the EPA regulates 
the program for that State.
  Importantly, States will know where they stand under this bill since 
the benchmark for what constitutes a successful State program is set in 
statute. EPA can say: Yes, the State does meet these standards or, no, 
it doesn't. But EPA cannot move the goalposts. This is a State's first 
approach that provides regulatory certainty. What is certain is, under 
this bill, coal ash disposal sites will be required to meet established 
standards. These include groundwater detection and monitoring, liners, 
corrective action when environmental damage occurs, structural 
stability criteria and financial assurance and the recordkeeping needed 
to protect the public.
  The Coal Residual Reuse and Management Act is legislation needed to 
protect jobs and help reduce the cost of home and road construction and 
electric bills.
  I wish to thank both the Republicans and the Democrats who have taken 
a leadership role and are joining me in cosponsoring this legislation. 
I particularly wish to thank my fellow Senator from North Dakota, Mr. 
Kent Conrad. I urge our colleagues to join us and support this 
important measure.
                                 ______