A Hannibal businessman testified at the request of U.S. Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (MO-9) about the impact on small businesses of potential EPA regulations of coal ash byproducts.  Jeff Bross testified today before the House Small Business Subcommittee on Rural Development, Entrepreneurship and Trade, of which Luetkemeyer is Ranking Member.

Bross, president of Mark Twain Redi-Mix, discussed the company’s use of coal ash as an additive in ready mix concrete to lower the cost to the consumer for projects ranging from driveways to highways. Bross and his family also own and operate Chester Bross Construction. The lower costs allow Chester Bross Construction to invest resources in their employees, updated equipment and an expanded work force. 

The hearing, titled “Coal Combustion Byproducts: Potential Impact of a Hazardous Waste Designation on Small Businesses in the Recycling Industry,” focuses on a decision to be made soon by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on how to best regulate coal combustion byproducts (CCBs).  Some CCBs have industrial uses, while others are essentially waste products.  One of the most useful CCBs is coal fly ash, which is a fine, powdery CCB produced by coal-fired electricity generators.  Coal fly ash is incorporated into concrete.  It is possible that EPA will seek to classify CCBs as hazardous waste, which would likely increase the regulatory burden on the construction industry and small businesses that recycle CCBs.  According to EPA’s own analysis, approximately 13.4 million tons of coal ash are used in concrete or cement production annually.   

“We all want appropriate precautions to be taken and for the public health and welfare to be protected.  However, slapping a hazardous label on fly ash and other CCBs without sound scientific evidence almost surely will eliminate their ability to be used in a beneficial manner by industry.  Such a designation also will impose severe financial hardship on an industry dominated by small businesses employing tens of thousands of people throughout the United States, including my home state of Missouri,” Luetkemeyer said.

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