EnCAP-IT is exhibiting at the Environmental Show of the South next week May 15 - 17, 2019. The Environmental Show of the South is the largest and most comprehensive environmental conference and tradeshow in the region. Being held at: Chattanooga Convention Center1 Carter Place,Chattanooga, TN Come by and see us! (Booth 308) [...]
K.I.S.S. Applies to Coal Ash Solutions Imagine a community facing the dual crisis of severely dwindling solid waste disposal capacity at the same time its electric utility has been ordered by a federal judge to excavate and move a hazardous legacy coal ash pond to a lined landfill. Unfortunately, this isn’t fantasy. Nashville, Tennessee, [...]
Life Beyond: Old Dumping Grounds are Ripe for Adaptive Reuse Communities with areas in decline have embraced the concept of adaptive reuse to restore historic buildings and reclaim their decaying or abandoned urban landscape. Such projects involve salvaging as much of the existing building material as possible and repurposing it in new ways to make [...]
Is a landfill an asset? The number of landfills in the U.S. is decreasing, resulting in dwindling airspace available to hold our waste. If you own a landfill, you must ask, “Is my landfill an asset or a liability?” Despite recycling and Zero Waste initiatives across the county, the volume of waste generated hasn’t [...]
Change is Coming – Solutions Must be Ready Earthquakes Floods Hurricanes Our planet, especially here in the southeastern and eastern U.S., is being subjected to an onslaught of extreme weather events, such as freak earthquakes, massive floods and devastating hurricanes. These events generate a steady flow of new concerns about the environment. Protection against [...]
Hey, Power Industry, Welcome to the Waste Industry! The unbreakable thread running through all arguments about CCR over the years is this: CCR is waste. Like any waste, it should adhere to a certain methodology that has been developed by the waste industry. The U.S. waste industry has structured its business model around the EPA’s [...]
The Only Problem with the Unencapsulated Beneficial Use Definition is the Word “Unencapsulated” In public debate over the best disposition of legacy coal ash (CCR), the phrase “uncapsulated beneficial use” is used. However, “uncapsulated” solutions, such as mixing loose CCR into soil or spreading large quantities as fill on construction sites without environmental safeguards, [...]
Slow Death of Cap-In-Place Over the years, methods to properly close legacy coal ash ponds (referred to “CCR units” by the EPA) have become a source of great debate. Most utilities have publicly stated that closure in place, commonly referred to “cap-in-place,” is a “safe and effective option” and it is being considered at a [...]
The 5 C’s of Legacy Coal Ash Beneficial Reuse When utilities are determining how to eliminate environmental hazards posed by legacy coal ash, the paramount goal should be to beneficially reuse much or all of it, if possible, with disposal being the last resort. We discussed methods of accomplishing this in Post 1: microencapsulation and [...]
Project Costs Matter When it comes to legacy CCR disposition (see Part 1), project costs need to be considered. The method deemed “most feasible” should not only reflect the science behind the decision, but also how project costs become a factor in the decision process. Whether a utility is regulated or not, costs passed on [...]
