In the current year, there have been a lot of calls to reduce the carbon footprint of the planet and most notably the amount of coal burned to produce electricity.

Yet in recent times, the US federal government is encouraging farmers to spread coal ash from coal-fired power plants onto their fields.  It is said to loosen the soil and provide some fertilizer value.

In light of the recent coal ash spill into Tennessee's Emory River by the Kingston TVA Coal Plant, it is reported that this same coal ash sludge could potentially contaminate the water supply of millions of people living downstream from the plant.  Then, why is the EPA and USDA encouraging the farmer to put a similar ash on their farmland?

They are being told that the heavy metals present in the coal ash are in trace amounts and not significant and that the beneficial uses of the coal ash will be helpful to the farmer.  Now those trace amounts of heavy metals include mercury, arsenic, lead and others.  So, environmentalists in the US were shocked that the government would gamble with farmer's crops and the nation's food supply.  Again, there was such an uproar when there were traces of lead and other toxic chemicals found in products from China.

"Basically this is a leap into the unknown," said Jeff Ruch, executive director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. "This stuff has materials in it that we're trying to prevent entering the environment from coal-fired power plants and then to turn around and smear it across ag lands raises some real questions."  And yet, in the last 8 years, the amount used of this ash has tripled to 280,000 tons per year.

The EPA is expected to announce its proposals for regulation early next year, setting the first federal standards for storage and disposal of coal wastes.

So what happens in Saskatchewan?  Firstly, most of the coal-fired power plants are in or near Estevan.  Secondly, the ash from the plants needs to be divided into two categories, fly ash which goes up the stack and bottom ash which stays in the plant.  The bottom ash is most likely stored in pits near the plant.  The potential impacts of the fly ash end point depends on the wind directions, the end method of ingestion and how much is actually going up the stack.  Another factor with Saskatchewan is that there is uranium in the coal being burned so that is another potential heavy metal in the mix to consider in reviewing this point.

A call has gone into Sask Power to get some more facts on the emissions and mitigation actions being taken to deal with the coal ash coming from their power plants.

Comments

Written by pelliott on 2010-01-04 16:09:02 Why does covering the earth with ash just seem plain wrong? (And I haven't even seen 'The Road' yet.)

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