W hen it comes to landfill expansions, landfill owners should consider project costs and are paramount to the decision process. The most prudent strategy should not only reflect the science behind the decision, but also how project costs factor in the decision process. At times because of the contentious landfill expansion market or the [...]
The new coal ash rules were announced in tandem with three other regulations designed to reduce pollution from power plants. While it could take years to see how the other three rules will ultimately play out and how utilities will respond, the coal ash cleanup in this country has shifted into a higher gear. EnCAP-IT [...]
R egulatory certainty is here, at least for Legacy CCR Surface Impoundments or CCR Management Units. The EPA has defined “Legacy CCR Surface Impoundment”, the term “liquids”, the distinction “contains both CCR and liquids” and a “CCR Management Unit” to close loopholes and confusion, providing regulatory certainty. NOW is the time for facility owners to [...]
O ver the past several years, increased pressure from communities, environmental groups, politicians, and regulators has changed the environmental service game. In most cases, it is no longer good enough to deal with environmental challenges by applying traditional approaches – Forcing project owners to look for alternatives, like more collaborative approaches. Albert Einstein is widely [...]
T he energy industry is steadily evolving beyond fossil fuels and shifting to more renewable and sustainable sources. This is fantastic news for the planet, but before this transformation can be complete, we must address the fossil fuel legacy of nearly 2 billion tons of coal ash stored in inefficient and environmentally perilous ways [...]
I n all discussions of coal ash disposition — either through beneficial reuse or keeping it intact but contained — the overriding concern is safety. The cap-in-place solution has been solidly debunked from a safety standpoint. The market for beneficiation of coal ash in building products still lags far behind the over-abundance of legacy CCR. [...]
T he 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?” - The answer is “yes, it is an asset”. Like any asset local landfill owners need to protect, improve and [...]
i t is hard to imagine, with such little progress over the past fifteen years, that we are on the verge of solving the coal ash dilemma. But the simple fact remains that to eliminate carbon pollution from the electricity sector in a reasonable timeframe requires a “mass clean-up” of inadequate coal ash storage across [...]
For many years a variety of industries performed and developed activities with little regard for the environmental impact. These operations were carried out at a time where laws and regulations were either non-existent or not comprehensive enough, which led to the development of contaminated sites. Environmental remediation is a process that is used to [...]
Based on the wide-spread reaction of our last post, we thought that is would be good to further explain “the choices” that could be available to all stakeholders (utilities, EPA, politicians, state regulators, environmental groups, and local communities) dealing with excavated legacy coal ash. Before any choices are revealed, all the stakeholders must decide [...]
