A massive North Carolina coal waste spill into a major river is increasing pressure on the Obama administration to start policing the more than 1,000 such waste storage sites across the nation.
The federal government doesn’t regulate the disposal of “coal ash,” the dustlike material that’s left over when pulverized coal is burned to fuel electrical power plants. Pennsylvania leads the nation in coal ash production, followed by Texas, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky.
Coal ash can contain toxic materials such as arsenic and selenium, but the Environmental Protection Agency has left it to the states to decide what rules to put in place. The result has been an inconsistent patchwork of regulations that the EPA acknowledges is full of gaps.
The agency promises to come out with long-delayed rules by the end of the year, but it’s likely to leave the enforcement in the hands of the states.
The US Senate rejected an effort on Wednesday to halt a contentious US Fish and Wildlife...
Melissa intensified into a hurricane on Saturday, Oct. 25, as it continued its slow slog across...
As Hurricane Melissa crept closer to Jamaica on Monday, Oct. 27, the island nation braced for...
The Trump administration has approved more oil and gas drilling across Alaska’s Arctic national wildlife refuge...
