U.S. Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (MO-9) voted for legislation that would protect jobs and prevent high energy costs by ensuring the continued beneficial use and management of recycled coal ash materials widely used in the construction industry to make buildings and roads sturdier. The legislation rejects attempts by the Obama administration to classify the ash as hazardous waste, a move that has been considered and subsequently denied by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) no fewer than 4 times over the last 20 years.

“We all want appropriate precautions to be taken and for the public health and welfare to be protected, but slapping a hazardous label on coal residuals would impose serious hardships on small businesses employing tens of thousands of people throughout the United States,” Luetkemeyer said. “This issue has been debated on the national level several times, and each time the EPA has decided that coal combustion byproducts are not a hazardous material and should be monitored and managed by state governments.” 

The Coal Residuals Reuse and Management Act of 2011 would prevent the EPA from regulating coal or fly ash, a function currently under the jurisdiction of individual states. Approximately 45 percent of coal and fly ash product are currently recycled into byproducts that provide environmentally safe and durable alternatives to traditional materials. From 1999 to 2009, American industries successfully recycled 519 million tons of coal ash, leading to a decrease in harmful emissions by more than 138 million tons. In the past, the EPA has recognized and strongly promoted the beneficial use of coal combustion byproducts (CCBs) through the recently-terminated C2P2 program.

A hazardous waste designation by the EPA would eventually impact every industry and government sector that uses coal as a fuel source, including but not limited to the electric utility, agriculture and mining industries; universities; manufacturers; and pulp and paper producers. It would supersede existing state regulatory authority, impose stringent federal regulations, and threaten the beneficial use of coal combustion residuals going forward.

“Slapping a hazardous label on coal ash and other CCBs will eliminate the ability of small businesses to reuse and recycle these byproducts. Businesses will not use something that has been classified as a hazardous material in their products. My concern is that, in reality, such a designation would worsen the situation by hindering recycling efforts and increasing the amount of CCBs that would have to be stored in the ground,” Luetkemeyer said.

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