WV Senators Rockefeller and Manchin Support Coal Ash Reuse

Coal Residuals Reuse and Management Act (S. 1751) - GovTrack.us

Since there has been a recent flurry of what we will politely and generously label as "editorial comment", concerning statements attributed to West Virginia's senior US Senator, Jay Rockefeller, about the issues surrounding the disposition of our Coal Combustion Byproducts, i.e., Coal Ash, and a recent Transportation Bill, appearing in the Coal Country press, and even in a trade publication or two we would have hoped would have been more up to genuine speed on the issue, we attempt herein to insert some objective facts into the so far subjective, and, from our perspective, under-informed, public discussion.

And, we do confess that we here aren't all that sophisticated in our understanding of government doings. It seems a dang shame, though, that we are the only ones, apparently, willing to make the effort to track down the pertinent information and at least take a stab at parsing it all out. Forgive us any misinterpretations.
First, to toot our own horns a bit, as a search of the West Virginia Coal Association's Research and Development files on their web site will reveal - simply enter the word "Ash" in their search engine - there is ample, documented proof that Coal Ash is a valuable raw material resource; one which can be used in various ways, not only as a source of other products and compounds, but, also as a direct replacement for basic mineral raw materials which would otherwise, at great expenditure of energy, and with attendant environmental disruption, have to be mined, quarried or dredged.

Coal Combustion Byproducts, in sum and simply put, would be valuable things to have if we could just muster the energy to get off our dead cans, educate ourselves about their value, and go start knocking on a few doors.

It wouldn't hurt if the Coal Country Press got off their dead cans, as well, and started publishing at least a little bit about the truth of the matter.

We've acknowledged the public gnashing of teeth and rending of garments concerning the fact that an amendment proposed by WV Congressman David McKinley, concerning the classification and reuse of Coal Ash, was dropped from a recent transportation bill, as that bill began making it's slow transit through both houses of our Congress; as in the full text of our post:

West Virginia Coal Association | The Use fo Coal Ash in Recycled Plastic | Research & Development; which concerned, primarily, the report: "Use of Coal Ash in Recycled Plastics and Composite Materials; 1995;

Research Organization: North Dakota University; Energy and Environmental Research Center; For: U.S. Department of Energy; Office of Fossil Energy; Morgantown Energy Technology Center, Morgantown, West Virginia."

Our humble view has been, and remains, that the productive use of Coal Ash has such obviously-valuable potentials that a bill promoting such reuse should be a stand-alone issue; one worthy of independent consideration, and passage, all by itself.

We stand by that assertion; but, perhaps missing from the public discussion, certainly missed by our isolated and disabled selves in our lonely outpost here, was the fact that the attempt to modify the recent transportation bill might have been just the latest in a series of efforts to gain some public notice for the issue of Coal Utilization Byproducts; which, as we've just recently learned, is an issue that had already been raised by West Virginia's elected representatives in another, and perhaps more appropriate, venue.  

As can apparently only be learned, since we have been unable so far to find mention of it anywhere in the Coal Country press, via:

Coal Residuals Reuse and Management Act (H.R. 2273) - GovTrack.us;

the "House Resolution 2273: Coal Residuals Reuse and Management Act", was actually introduced, with absolutely no fanfare we could discover, to the 112th Congress, by West Virginia's Representative David McKinley on June 22 of last year, 2011, in a different and seemingly more-fitting bill:

i.e., as an amendment to "subtitle D of the Solid Waste Disposal Act", the purpose of HR 2273 being "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".

It passed the House on October 14, 2011.

And, there is, as well, a United States Senate companion piece, which was introduced less than one week after HR 2273 passed the 112th Congress, as explained via excerpts from the initial link in this dispatch to:

"S1751; Coal Residuals Reuse and Management Act

Summary: 10/20/2011--Introduced.Coal Residuals Reuse and Management Act - Amends the Solid Waste Disposal Act to authorize states to implement coal combustion residuals permit programs. Requires each state governor to notify the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) within six months about whether such state will implement such a program."

Now, truth to tell there is a whole lot in the Senate bill S1751 about the "Management" of "Coal Residuals", but precious little, virtually nothing as it appears to us, about their "Reuse".

However, there is one very, very important codicil, stated thusly:

""Prohibits this Act from being construed to alter the EPA's regulatory determination, entitled "Notice of Regulatory Determination on Wastes from the Combustion of Fossil Fuels," that "the fossil fuel combustion wastes addressed in that determination do not warrant regulation under such Act.""

If that seems too obtuse, it is. But, if passed and signed into law, it just might do one very important thing:

It would affirm the US EPA's earlier finding, about which we long ago reported, that Coal Ash does "not warrant" being classified or regulated as some sort of hazardous waste, which classification or regulation would effectively prevent the apparently-desired "Reuse" of our "Coal Residuals".

And, in case it's of interest, although S1751 was officially introduced and officially sponsored by Senator John Hoeven, of North Dakota, it had 12 co-sponsors; among them:

Senator Joe Manchin, D-WV, and Senator Jay Rockefeller, D-WV.

There is also another link to information concerning S1751, where a little more can be learned:

S.1751: Coal Residuals Reuse and Management Act - U.S. Congress - OpenCongress .

And, sadly what can be learned via that link is that fully 84 organizations have officially registered themselves as being opposed to, and intending to lobby against, "S1751; Coal Residuals Reuse and Management Act", including a few usual suspects such as "Earthjustice", and a bunch of others, like the "Alabama Rivers Alliance", which, we are certain, neither you, nor anyone else with a real life, have ever heard of.

More sadly, only 21 groups, such as the American Coal Council, have registered themselves as official supporters.

And, you know, what seems even sadder to us is, that, based on our ongoing, several-year monitoring of public online news concerning Coal issues, we would be willing to bet that you couldn't scrape together, in the entire Coal State of West Virginia, 84, maybe not even 21, individual rank and file Coal Miners, people whose livelihoods might ultimately depend upon the outcome of such legislative transactions, who had been informed, or just been made aware by their public news outlets, of either "HR 2273: Coal Residuals Reuse and Management Act" or  "S1751; Coal Residuals Reuse and Management Act".

It's far, far past time the regular folk in US Coal Country were made aware of them, and fully informed of their current status; and, encouraged to make known their support, and their thanks, and their encouragement, to US Senators Jay Rockefeller and Joe Manchin; and, to US Congressman David McKinley, and to some of HR 2273's co-sponsors: Reps. Charles Dent and Joseph Pitts from PA; and, from where the heart is: Reps. Shelley Capito and Nick Rahall, WV.