Kingston and Coal Lobby's Grip on the EPA

In March of 2000, during the last days of the Clinton administration, the EPA decided coal ash was a hazardous waste. Then, two months later, it flipped. If the EPA had stuck to its guns, the Kingston Coal Ash disaster in Tennessee might have been averted. Now, momentum is building to federally regulate coal ash. Will the EPA make the same mistake twice?

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Barack Obama
• Carol Browner
• clean coal
• coal ash
• EPA
• federal regulation
• hazardous waste
• Kingston
• Kingston disaster
• regulation

[justin0741]

No, bad reporting. No health experts, no environmental scientists, and most importantly, industry opinion is not offered. Just industry bashing with no discussion of the costs of regulation.

[OaktownBman]

Great reporting. Thanks for this.

[iwilker]

Terrific piece of work!

[rodmehin]

self regulation = self interest.

[falcoperegrinus82]

We are living with the consequences of deregulation right now. A corporation's only goal is the maximization of profit; they are always looking for ways to cut corners. Corporations, especially those in resource extraction need to be strictly monitored. Like you said, they must operate profitably; if that means throwing environmental stewarsdhip to the wind, they will do just that if left to their own devices. We always need checks and balances.

[prayfortruejustice]

continued... That does not mean that they don't want to protect the environment, but when the politicians keep changing the rules IOUs never know the most effective way to use their capital and how plan to stay in conformance with the ever changing laws.  Many utilities over compensate and are pro-active without regulation. Finally, Remember that TVA is a pseudo-government utility.

[prayfortruejustice]

The vast majority of power utilities are decent stewards of the environment -- that is as good as they can be while living up to the incredible number of REGULATIONS and RESPONSIBILITIES for delivering un-interuptable power and keeping the grid stable.  The biggest problems for Investor Owned Utilities (IOU) is (like all corporations) they must operate profitably.