NASHVILLE — Eighteen states, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, national coal industry interests and more than a dozen other groups are urging an appeals court to overturn a coal ash cleanup order at a federal utility’s Tennessee plant, contending the decision will have wide-reaching, expensive consequences. Circuit Court of Appeals brief this week, the states argued that the order at the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Gallatin Fossil Plant would broadly expand federal oversight into groundwater pollution historically regulated by states. More citizen lawsuits will almost certainly be filed and they will require coal ash cleanups elsewhere, costing utility ratepayers tens of billions of dollars, attorneys for the states wrote. Tennessee environmental regulators say they are exploring the idea of digging up and dumping ash into a lined landfill onsite at the Gallatin plant. They have cited concerns that the coal ash pond is susceptible to sinkholes and currently leaking heavy metals into the groundwater.

Source: National Post February 08, 2018 19:52 UTC