ABC just ran this item on an OK community and its problem with coal ash.

[Skidmore]

Thought you might be interested.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/oklahoma-town-fears-cancer-asthma-linked-dump-site/story?id=13240312

Snip

Oklahoma Town Fears Cancer, Asthma May Be Linked to Dump Site
EPA Proposed Declaring Coal Ash Hazardous Waste, Considering More Lenient Standards

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By JIM SCIUTTO
March 29, 2011


Many residents of Bokoshe, Okla., have a common fear: a coal ash dump site.
Doug Suttles discusses BP's meeting with the EPA and current cleanup tactics.

"It's real distressing to have something like this in your backyard and not be sure if you're safe, if your kids are safe," Dub Tolbert said.

The mound of coal ash at the MMHF -- Making Money Having Fun -- dump site reaches six stories high; residents count 80 truckloads a day. The dump site has been in the town since 2001.

Residents say the toxic mix -- coal ash contains arsenic, mercury and lead -- contaminates the air they breathe and water they drink.

"It would be a cloud of dust that would engulf you," said Susan Holmes. "It would just choke you so you couldn't breath...

Snip

[Ilsa]

1. Golly, gee, ya think? (thanks for the post)

I'm amazed by how many people the EPA makes up their numbers. They won't believe it until the toxic shit is in their backyard.

[Tesha]

2. Who'd they vote for? Which party is on the warpath against environmentall regualtion.

An awful lot of people in this country have an
awful lot to earn and the lessons are going to be
*VERY PAINFUL OR EVEN DEADLY* for some of them.

Tesha

[hatrack]

5. Yes, as we all know, regulation is bad, and unrestrained free markets are good

Seems to me they should be reveling in their freedom.

Of course, they could always seek redress of grievances from Sen. Coburn or Sen. Inhofe, I'm sure . . .

[BlueJazz]

3. I wonder if swimming in a pool filled with Sulfuric Acid would be dangerous??

[Uncle Joe]

4. We had a catastrophe with that here in Tennessee.

On a thread by SoCalDem

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x8526256

Months after ash spill, Tennessee town still choking

Thanks for the headsup, Skidmore.

[SoCalDem]

6. Ok-la-ho-maaaaaaa , where the wind......oops..

and yet many fail to see the connection to the way they keep voting scumbag republican into office:cry:

[Skidmore]

7. That and the fact that the EPA has weakened its regulations in this area.

Really disheartening.

[SoCalDem]

11. Weakened or "voluntary" regulations are the cornerstone of republican corporatism

...They hate regulations most of all..

If you look back to when the Rust belt started in a big way, it was largely due to the fact that all those ancient manufacturing businesses there that had been making very nice profits for a century, started to realize that they would literally have to "clean up their act".. Instead they pulled up stakes & skedaddled to the southern states who were more than willing to let them pollute to their heart's content, in exchange for the lives of some poor people those states didn't give a crap about to start with..

They left behind mammoth skeletons of toxic old facilities & the poisoned ground & ground water , and millions of unemploy(ed)-(able) people who would never again have their American Dream, and left communities, cities, states who would now have to rely on the generosity of the federal government's vicissitudes..

Decades of desperation have made these areas ripe for the republican takeovers we now see happening..

[Cronus Protagonist]

8. NO problem, just use it to coat roads & bridges!

http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-03-ash-coal-billions-bridges-roads.html

Coating concrete destined to rebuild America's crumbling bridges and roadways with some of the millions of tons of ash left over from burning coal could extend the life of those structures by decades, saving billions of dollars of taxpayer money, scientists reported here today at the 241st National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society. They reported on a new coating material for concrete made from flyash that is hundreds of times more durable than existing coatings and costs only half as much.

Study leader Charles Carraher, Ph.D., explained that the more than 450 coal-burning electric power plants in the United States produce about 130 million tons of "flyash" each year. Before air pollution laws, those fine particles of soot and dust flew up smokestacks and into the air. Power plants now collect the ash.

"Flyash poses enormous waste disposal problems," Carraher said. "Some of it does get recycled and reused. But almost 70 percent winds up in landfills every year, where space is increasingly scarce and expensive. Our research indicates that this waste could become a valuable resource as a shield-like coating to keep concrete from deteriorating and crumbling as it ages."

[texastoast]

9. All I can say is

Ya think, Okies? You guys are about as bright as those dumb Texans in Andrews County who allowed it to become the nation's nuclear waste dump.

I mean with all the proven research on the toxicity of all things coal?

It's like we are in a time machine, back to the days of pre Silent Spring and all the progress we made is just hope and smarts dashed.

:banghead:

[TahitiNut]

10. I'll bet they're glad it ain't nuclear waste, huh?

:hide: