A US Geological Survey report offers a perspective on the global situation and an assessment of known US deposits. There may be about 13 million metric tons available in 14 states — with the sites generally posing the usual environmental challenges associated with mining and refining.
Heavy metal-laden coal ash currently can escape EPA regulation if it goes to some "beneficial use." But residents of LaBelle, Pa., are finding that what may be beneficial for utility and mining companies may be harmful to the townspeople's health and environment.
In California, recyclers are sending the discarded electronic devices they can not profitably reclaim toxic materials from to foreign countries -- where workers pick them apart by hand and are exposed to harmful substances.
"If there is one policy left over from the Corzine administration that has been fully and enthusiastically embraced by Gov. Chris Christie, it is a program privatizing the cleanup of the tens of thousands of contaminated waste sites in New Jersey."
"The Department of Energy and Washington State Department of Ecology have reached agreement on a consent decree that sets new court-enforced deadlines for emptying Hanford tanks of radioactive waste and treating the waste."
"Fed up with sending their kids' dirty diapers to the local landfill, three Bay Area families launched a business two years ago aimed at turning soiled diapers into compost for farms, golf courses and plant nurseries."
"The contamination of many First Nations by unregulated landfills and dumps is a dirty story that has yet to be fully told. Aside from the mess you can see – and smell – the risk of groundwater pollution is probably the most severe environmental impact from these waste sites. Add an improperly engineered garbage dump and the results are more than toxic."
"The problem is old electronics, or e-waste -- computers, cellphones and other gadgets that people toss because they've found something newer and shinier."
"Hundreds of people packed a public hearing Wednesday in Dallas to sound off on a federal proposal to label the ash from coal-burning power plants a hazardous waste."
Three environmental groups have issued a report detailing some 39 cases across the U.S. where pollution from the ash left from coal-burning electric power plants has cause pollution that often threatens human health. Now as EPA moves to close the electric utilities' longtime exemption from hazardous waste laws, industry lobbyists may have quietly put the fix in at the White House Office of Management and Budget.
Advertisement 
