III 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. RES. 64 

Recognizing the need for the Environmental Protection Agency to end decades 

of delay and utilize existing authority under the Resource Conservation 

and Recovery Act to comprehensively regulate coal combustion waste 

and the need for the Tennessee Valley Authority to be a national leader 

in technological innovation, low-cost power, and environmental stewardship. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 4, 2009 

Mrs. BOXER (for herself and Mr. CARPER) submitted the following resolution; 

which was referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works 

RESOLUTION 

Recognizing the need for the Environmental Protection Agency to end decades of delay and utilize existing authority 

under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act to 

comprehensively regulate coal combustion waste and the 

need for the Tennessee Valley Authority to be a national 

leader in technological innovation, low-cost power, and 

environmental stewardship. 

Whereas the burning of coal creates more than 130,000,000 

tons of coal combustion waste a year; 

Whereas coal combustion waste is made up of various types 

of waste, including fly ash, bottom ash, boiler slag, and 

flue gas emission control waste; 


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•SRES 64 IS 

Whereas the National Academy of Sciences found that coal 

combustion waste ‘‘often contain a mixture of metals [including arsenic, lead, selenium, mercury, cadmium, beryllium, chromium, thorium and uranium] and other constituents in sufficient quantities that they may pose public health and environmental concerns if improperly managed.’’; 

Whereas the 2 most common forms of disposal for coal combustion waste are landfills and surface impoundments, 

with impoundments generally holding a ‘‘wet’’ waste mixture of water and landfills holding a ‘‘dry’’ waste that 

does not include intentionally added water, although 

other forms of disposal also occur in other areas including mines; 

Whereas a 1993 report prepared for the United States Department of Energy found that over the preceding 50 

years, roughly 500,000,000 tons of coal combustion 

waste were disposed of at then-existing or operating 

waste management units, and that about 1,000,000,000 

tons of coal combustion wastes had been disposed of at 

an estimated 759 closed units; 

Whereas the United States Environmental Protection Agency 

reported to Congress in 1999 that there were roughly 

600 fossil fuel combustion waste disposal units operating 

at approximately 450 coal-fired power plants; 

Whereas the United States Department of Energy in 2006 

found: ‘‘The total number of [coal combustion waste] disposal units permitted, built, or laterally expanded between January 1, 1994 and December 31, 2004 (‘new 

units’) is not known, as no industry organization or government agency tracks this information,’’; 


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Whereas on Monday, December 22, 2008, at 1:00 a.m. a wall 

constructed of coal combustion waste and dirt failed on 

a 84-acre surface impoundment holding coal combustion 

waste and water at the Kingston Fossil Plant in Harriman, Tennessee, 40 miles west of Knoxville; 

Whereas the spill from this ‘‘wet storage’’ impoundment at 

the Kingston plant released 5,400,000 cubic yards of 

waste, equaling more than 1,000,000,000 gallons or an 

amount nearly 100 times greater than the amount of oil 

spilled in the Exxon Valdez disaster, into the Emory 

River and the surrounding valley and community; 

Whereas the spill from the Kingston plant covered half of a 

square mile of land and water with waste up to 12 feet 

deep, destroying roads, waterways, wildlife, trees, railroad 

tracks, and impacting 42 properties, 40 homes, and sections and coves of the Emory River used by businesses, 

community members, families, and children; 

Whereas the Kingston spill occurred around 1:00 a.m. in the 

morning in December, but if it had occurred at midday 

during the summer, when businesses, community members, families, and children regularly use the river and 

coves, the already-extensive property damage could have 

been far greater and the loss of life could have been catastrophic; 

Whereas the United States Department of Energy has information demonstrating wet storage impoundments present 

risks to public safety, health, and the environment: 

‘‘[W]et impoundment systems require substantially greater disposal site volumes than dry systems.... Also, the 

presence of free liquid increases the possibility of leachate 

(i.e., a combination of ash solids and water) creation and 


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its potential for migration into underlying soils and 

groundwater’’; 

Whereas in 2006 the United States Department of Energy 

reported inconsistent coal combustion waste disposal 

standards, with some States weakening safeguards and 

others improving protections; 

Whereas the United States Environmental Protection Agency 

in 2000 produced a draft regulatory determination that 

certain fossil fuel combustion wastes, including coal ash, 

should be regulated as a hazardous waste under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act; and 

Whereas the United States Environmental Protection Agency 

has continued to issue information on the adverse effects 

of coal combustion waste but the agency has so far not 

required any consistent Federal regulatory protections for 

coal combustion waste disposal practices despite their 

clear authority to do so: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the Senate— 

2 (1) recognizes the need for the United States 

3 Environmental Protection Agency to— 

4 (A) immediately conduct and complete re5 views, including onsite confirmatory examina6 tions, of all coal combustion waste impound7 ments and landfills to ensure the safety of peo8 ple and the environment located in any area 

9 that may be threatened by a spill or release 

10 from an impoundment or landfill; 


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1 (B) report to the Senate Committee on 

2 Environment and Public Works on the earliest 

3 date possible that the Agency can regulate coal 

4 combustion waste using their existing authority 

5 under the Resource Conservation and Recovery 

6 Act; 

7 (C) propose rules as quickly as possible to 

8 regulate coal combustion waste under the Re9 source Conservation and Recovery Act using the 

10 substantial information currently available to 

11 the Agency; and 

12 (D) issue final rules as quickly as possible 

13 on regulating coal combustion waste under the 

14 Resource Conservation and Recovery Act; and 

15 (2) recognizes the need for the Tennessee Val16 ley Authority to meet the intentions of Congress and 

17 be ‘‘a national leader in technological innovation, 

18 low-cost power, and environmental stewardship’’. 

Æ 


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