( - promoted by Karl-Thomas Musselman)
There are about 100 coal ash dumps through the United States that are a risk for the same type of environmental disaster that took place in Tennessee.
According to an article in the New York Times Texas is one of the states in which coal ash is not well regulated.
State requirements for the handling of coal ash vary widely. Some states, like Alabama, do not regulate it at all, except by means of federally required water discharge permits. In Texas, the vast majority of coal ash is not considered a solid waste, according to a review of state regulations by environmental groups. There are no groundwater monitoring or engineering requirements for utilities that dump the ash on site, as most utilities do, the analysis says.
According to a report by the Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club Texas is the highest user of coal and produces more coal waste than all but one state.
Texas ranks Number One for burning more coal and lignite than any other state in the nation. Next to Kentucky, Texas is Number Two in hazardous coal-combustion waste generated at 12,943,000 tons per year.
The only legislation that deals with coal in any way is HB 469 which was pre-filed by Representative Phil King (R-61). King has an appalling record on environmental issues with an average voting record rating of 20% from different Texas environmental organizations. In 2007 King received ratings from Environment Texas, Lone Star Sierra Club, and the Texas League of Conservation Voters of 17%, 18%, and 32%. This legislation would introduce tax incentives for "clean coal" in Texas:
Incentives by this state for the implementation of certain projects to capture and sequester in geological formations carbon dioxide that would otherwise be emitted into the atmosphere.
The coal industry is spending millions advertising "clean" coal, but not a single "clean" coal power plant exists in the U.S. today. For more information on the myth of clean coal visit ThisIsReality.org.
Political and social thought...
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