What Do EPA’s new Coal Ash Disposal Rule and New York State Fracking Ban Have in Common?

By Lynn Thorp, National Campaigns Director - Follow Lynn on Twitter (@LTCWA) Two big things happened in the world of energy policy this week. I don’t think most people connected them. EPA finalized a long overdue framework to regulate our country’s second largest waste stream after household trash – toxic ash from coal plants. New York banned high volume hydraulic fracturing, basically ruling out drilling for Marcellus Shale gas in that state. Two important similarities here. Fossil Fuels are Dirty: Until the infamous Tennessee coal ash spill in 2008, people didn’t realize the mess we leave behind when we burn coal for electricity. As EPA began working on this regulation, we learned that coal plants produce millions of tons of toxic waste every year. And we learned how powerful a polluting industry that doesn’t want to change can be. Even the February 2014 spill into the Dan River in North Carolina, which threatened drinking water sources in North Caroline and Virginia, wasn’t enough to strengthen EPA’s proposal. The regulation published Friday is a timid response to a mighty problem, and that’s what we said in our press release. Coal pollution is on the table again next year, when EPA will finalize also long-overdue Clean Water Act limits on the water pollution from coal plants – which are the LARGEST toxic discharger to water in the United States. From pulling it out of the ground with mountaintop removal coal mining to coal ash waste disposal let’s face it, coal is dirty. Oil and gas are dirty too, and we finally started learning this when unconventional drilling practices like hydraulic fracturing got going full swing. New York State has responded to the science – much of which didn’t even exist when the New York controversy got started – and decided it wasn’t worth the risk to let this messy business go forward. Fossil fuels really are dirty, as people in Pennsylvania remind us. We Can Make a Difference: Coal ash waste was piling up and polluting for decades, but dedicated organizing, policy and legal work pushed the federal government to finally do something about it. True, they didn’t step up and do as good a job as they should have but this rule is better than no federal recognition of the problem. And people impacted by coal ash aren’t going to stop. We have – and will continue to – make progress on coal burning waste. That goes for oil and gas activity too. This is the richest industry on the planet and they have polluted our communities while enjoying billions in taxpayer subsidies for over a hundred years. Yet they got told no in New York State and every day individuals and organizations are putting their organizing, policy and legal skills to work to address the mess that oil and gas make. When we work smart and we work together, we can make a difference to protect our communities from fossil fuels and our planet from the climate change they cause.