Tr-Ash Talk: Calling On All Skeptics

Earthjustice criticizes the GOP-controlled House for targeting the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and supporting legislation (S. 1751) that would prevent the EPA from establishing disposal standards for coal ash, despite scientific evidence of its toxicity.

• The House Science, Space and Technology Subcommittee on Energy and Environment is investigating the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) use of science in its rulemaking process, which Earthjustice views as a political target for Republicans.
• Proposed legislation S. 1751, and identical legislation already passed by the House, would bar the EPA from establishing disposal standards for coal ash, which Earthjustice argues fails to protect drinking water or prevent disasters like the spill in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, and the TVA disaster.
• Coal ash contains toxic substances including mercury, arsenic, lead, and hexavalent chromium. Dr. Michael Kosnett reported that arsenic was found in groundwater at the majority of 137 sites with documented coal ash contamination, often at levels hundreds of times above federal drinking water standards.
• Dr. David Kosson of Vanderbilt University asserts that the outdated Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP) test is unreliable for predicting chemical leaching from coal ash. More accurate methods indicate that chemicals such as arsenic, selenium, thallium, cadmium, and chromium leach at levels hundreds to thousands of times above federal drinking water standards.

APA

Earthjustice (2011). Tr-Ash Talk: Calling On All Skeptics. https://earthjustice.org/article/tr-ash-talk-calling-on-all-skeptics

Chicago

Earthjustice. Tr-Ash Talk: Calling On All Skeptics. 2011. https://earthjustice.org/article/tr-ash-talk-calling-on-all-skeptics.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Earthjustice |title=Tr-Ash Talk: Calling On All Skeptics |date=15 November 2011 |url=https://earthjustice.org/article/tr-ash-talk-calling-on-all-skeptics |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{earthjustice2011trash, author = {{Earthjustice}}, title = {{Tr-Ash Talk: Calling On All Skeptics}}, publisher = {Earthjustice}, year = {2011}, month = nov, url = {https://earthjustice.org/article/tr-ash-talk-calling-on-all-skeptics}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }