CLAREMORE — (Editor’s note: This is part two in a two-part series dealing with an ongoing controversy surrounding coal combustion waste and the possible contamination of drinking water.)

A ruling by the Environmental Protection Agency in coming months could impact the Public Service Company of Oklahoma power plant at Oologah, but should not affect local cement plant Lafarge North America.

The EPA has scheduled five public hearings across the nation to address whether coal ash should be considered special waste. The results of those hearings could affect coal combustion power generation plants such as that operated by PSO in Oologah.

Coal combustion residuals or coal ash are currently considered exempt wastes. Residues from the combustion of coal in power plants are captured by pollution control devices such as scrubbers, but environmental concerns surrounding coal ash remain. These concerns pertain to potential pollution leaching from landfills into ground water.

Also problematic are potential structural failures at impoundments such as occurred at the Tennessee Valley Authority’s plant in Kingston which flooded over 300 acres of land.

Now, the EPA is proposing to regulate coal ash to better address risks from the waste disposal generated by electric utilities and independent power producers.

“The EPA has two proposals,” said Stan Whiteford, PSO spokes person.

Both options under consideration by the EPA fall under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act.

In the first proposal, EPA would list residuals as special waste subject to regulation when destined for disposal in landfills or surface impoundments.

Under the second proposal, EPA would regulate coal ash as a non-hazardous waste.

“The Agency considers each proposal to have its advantages and disadvantages, and includes benefits which should be considered in the public comment period,” according to public information posted on the EPA web site at www.epa.gov.

During the public comment period, five hearings will be held across the nation, including hearing in Dallas on Sept. 8.

Speakers will have three minutes to present their views and should preregister. Each hearing will have a morning, afternoon and evening session, starting at 10 a.m. and ending at 9 p.m. or later depending on the number of speakers. 

PSO has been working with the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality for the past two years to monitor the groundwater at Northeastern Station, the power plant in Oologah, said Whiteford.

“We have been working with PSO to determine the nature and extent of contamination,” said Skylar McElhaney, ODEQ spokes person.

McElhaney said while there are elevated levels of heavy metals in PSO test wells, no contamination has been found off-site in public drinking water.

Whiteford said the Oologah power plant has a dry landfill and that some of the ash is sold for beneficial reuse by Lafarge, a local cement plant.

“We attempt to sell as much of it as possible and that is dependent on the economy and what construction is doing,” said Whiteford. “What doesn’t get sold gets landfilled on site at the south end of the Northeastern Station Property. There is no evidence of any contaminants going off site. The report (by environmentalists) that was issued last week would lead people to believe they are at some kind of risk from the water. That’s not true.”

Depending on how much coal ash PSO is able to sell, the landfill could be operative for another five to 15 years. PSO may retrofit the 1978 coal ash landfill to increase safety standards, said Whiteford.

“We have plans that are being developed right now with DEQ to look at different ways to prevent rain water from seeping down through the landfill and taking the contaminants with it,” said Whiteford. “We’re looking at different fixes for that, such as putting an intermediate liner in to prevent water seeping through the landfill. This is the original fly ash landfill. When it was constructed in the 1970’s, it was constructed with a natural clay liner and that met all of the permitting requirements of that time.”

“Now days, if you were constructing a landfill you would have to build a synthetic liner, so there have been changes,” he said.

If the EPA decides to regulate coal as special waste PSO would still be able to sell that waste product to Lafarge for beneficial reuse, said Lisa Widawsky, Environmental Integrity Project attorney.

“All beneficial reuse is exempted under this regulation. That includes reuse by cement companies,” said Widawsky.

Storage might mean trucking the coal ash off-site to a special waste landfill regulated by the federal government and operated by a governmental agency.

PSO acknowledges that heavy metal contaminants, including arsenic, are at elevated levels in test wells on site at the PSO property.

No contamination has been found in public drinking water sources, but the report issued last week by the Environmental Integrity Project, Earthjustice, and Sierra Club examined documentation from 35 sites with groundwater monitoring wells. That report drew conclusions about the possible contamination of drinking water in several states including Oklahoma.

“They (the EIP) didn’t go out and do any independent sampling,” said Whiteford. “They included that information with this large report on 21 states. They draw some conclusions that we don’t agree with.”

Whether the Oologah plant is retrofitted with a synthetic liner or changes are made in waste disposal declared as special, there will be a price tag for electric consumers.

How much we are willing to pay in the short run could determine how much we pay in the long run with our health and our lives, say environmentalists.