60 Minutes Leslie Stahl asked Lisa Jackson if the EPA, which Jackson heads, was performing any studies on coal ash and it's use in school room carpeting and agriculture. She avoids responsibility by saying the material isn't regulated by the federal government. Well, if you study it, you can make the case to regulate it can't you Ms. Jackson? She makes Bush's appointees look like brain surgeons. Note the deer after the headlights ran over her look when Leslie nails her. The exaggerated sigh. The nervous or condescending laugh when she falsely explains why coal ash isn't regulated.
See the full segment here.
It is my belief that crap like this is why the Corporotocracy doesn't want a singular government health plan. All of the information from the entire nation could be crunched more efficiently and pull the threads out of a lot of toxic sweaters, like coal ash, swine and chicken farms etc...
June 2009-
Just how bad hasthe coal ash situation gotten in the United States? So bad that the Department of Homeland Security has told Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) that her committee can't publicly disclose the location of coal ash dumps across the country.
The pollution is so toxic, so dangerous, that an enemy of the United States -- or a storm or some other disrupting event -- could easily cause them to spill out and lay waste to any area nearby.
There are 44 sites deemed by the Environmental Protection Agency to be high hazard, but Boxer said she isn't allowed to talk about them other than to senators in the states affected. "There is a huge muzzle on me and my staff," she said.
Sept 2009
The toxic leftoversfrom burning coal for power are sitting in nearly 600 sites in 35 states, according to a federal survey released Tuesday. Spills have occurred at 34 of those sites over the last decade.
The EPA said Tuesday that to date it had not received any information or detected any issues at the 584 coal ash storage sites identified that required immediate action.
So, in June the EPA considers 44 sites so High Hazard, that they're top secret. In September no immediate action is required. I guess since you haven't done the legwork to regulate them, that keeps you from having to do anything.
Studies were done by the Reagan/Bush/Clinton Administrations to designate it a hazardous material, but Clinton let the clock run out on coal ash.
The history ofregulation of coal ash is not pretty. After looking into the problem for two decades, EPA was finally set to designate coal ash as a hazardous pollutant in March 2000 [pdf], until the Clinton administration reversed course and decided not to - ostensibly because of cost concerns (see here and here). The Center for Public Integrity suggests that industry pressure played a role as well. (Shoring up storage methods costs money.)
Instead of a hazardous pollutant designation under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, which would have kicked in strict pollution control measures, the Clinton administration proposed that EPA would develop standards for coal ash under the non-hazardous designation. Before the Clintonites could get to it, their time in the White House expired, and, surprise, surprise, the Bush administration never got to it.
So the legwork was done, but Clinton sold out. Lisa Jackson, assistant to Clinton's EPA chief has done exactly what?
She's sent out a survey to the utility companies and is getting their input. How scientific is that?