EPA, USDA push farmers to use coal waste on fields
INDIANAPOLIS (The
> Associated Press) - Dec 21 - By RICK CALLAHAN Associated Press Writer
>
> The federal government is encouraging farmers to spread a chalky waste
> from coal-fired power plants on their fields to loosen and fertilize
> soil even as it considers regulating coal wastes for the first time.
>
> The material is produced by power plant "scrubbers" that remove acid
> rain causing sulfur dioxide from plant emissions. A synthetic form of
> the mineral gypsum, it also contains mercury, arsenic, lead and other
> heavy metals.
>
> The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says those toxic metals occur
> in only tiny amounts that pose no threat to crops, surface water or
> humans. But some environmentalists say too little is known about how
> the material affects crops, and ultimately human health, for the
> government to suggest that farmers use it on their land.
>
> "Basically this is a leap into the unknown," said Jeff Ruch, executive
> director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. "This
> stuff has materials in it that we're trying to prevent entering the
> environment from coal-fired power plants and then to turn around and
> smear it across ag lands raises some real questions."
>
> With coal wastes piling up around the coal-fired plants that produce
> half the nation's power, the EPA and U.S. Department of Agriculture
> began promoting what they call the wastes' "beneficial uses" during
> the Bush administration.
>
> Part of that push is to expand use of synthetic gypsum - a whitish,
> calcium-rich material known as flue gas desulfurization gypsum, or FGD
> gypsum.
>
> The Obama administration has continued promoting FGD gypsum's use in
> farming even as it drafts a coal waste rule in response to a spill
> from a coal ash pond near Knoxville, Tenn., one year ago Tuesday. Ash
> and water flooded 300 acres, damaging homes and killing fish in nearby
> rivers. The cleanup is expected to cost about $1 billion.
>
> The EPA is expected to announce its proposals for regulation early
> next year, setting the first federal standards for storage and
> disposal of coal wastes.
>
> EPA officials declined to talk about the agency's promotion of FGD
> gypsum before then and wouldn't say whether the draft rule would cover
> it.
>
> Instead, the agency released a statement saying the heavy metals in
> the material are far less than the amount considered a threat to human
> health.
> Field studies have shown that mercury, the main heavy metal of concern
> because it can damage development of the human nervous system, doesn't
> accumulate in crops or run off fields in surface water at
> "significant"
> levels, it said.
>
> "EPA believes that the use of FGD gypsum in agriculture is safe in
> appropriate soil and hydrogeologic conditions," the statement said.
>
> Eric Schaeffer, executive director of the Environmental Integrity
> Project, which advocates for more effective enforcement of
> environmental laws, said he's not overly worried about FGD gypsum's
> use on fields because research shows it contains only tiny amounts of
> heavy metals. But he said federal limits on the amounts of heavy
> metals in FGD gypsum sold to farmers would help allay concerns.
>
> "That would give them assurance that they've got clean FGD gypsum,"
> he said.
> "The farmers don't want to get a bad batch."
>
> Since the EPA/USDA partnership began in 2001, farmers' use of the
> material has more than tripled, from about 78,000 tons spread on
> fields in
> 2002 to
> nearly 279,000 tons last year, according to the American Coal Ash
> Association, a utility industry group.
>
> About half of the 17.7 million tons of FGD gypsum produced in the U.S.
> last year was used to make drywall, said Thomas Adams, the
> association's executive director. But he said it's important to find
> new uses for it and other coal wastes because the nation is likely to
> remain reliant on coal-fired power plants for decades to come.
>
> "If we can find safe ways to recycle those materials, we're a lot
> better off doing that then we are creating a whole bunch of new
> landfills,"
> Adams said.
>
> Darrell Norton, a USDA soil scientist, said a predecessor of FGD
> gypsum produced about 25 years ago often had high levels of heavy
> metals because it had been mixed with coal fly ash. But FGD gypsum has
> no fly ash and is "environmentally clean," he said.
>
> FGD gypsum is widely used in the South as a less expensive alternative
> to mined gypsum, said Glen Harris, a soil scientist at the University
> of Georgia in Tifton, Ga. Farmers in states such as Georgia, Alabama
> and the Carolinas have long spread mined gypsum on their fields, where
> its calcium spurs the growth of peanuts.
>
> Clay McDaniel, 47, who farms about 4,000 acres of peanuts and corn
> near the southern Georgia town of Newton, has used synthetic gypsum on
> his peanut fields for more than 20 years. He and other farmers call
> both FGD and mined gypsum "land plaster." He said he's never worried
> about the safety of the synthetic version.
>
> "If we buy a chemical that's toxic, it's got a skull and crossbones on
> it,"
> he said. "But this does not come with any such warning. It's just a
> calcium source."
> Associated Press) - Dec 21 - By RICK CALLAHAN Associated Press Writer
>
> The federal government is encouraging farmers to spread a chalky waste
> from coal-fired power plants on their fields to loosen and fertilize
> soil even as it considers regulating coal wastes for the first time.
>
> The material is produced by power plant "scrubbers" that remove acid
> rain causing sulfur dioxide from plant emissions. A synthetic form of
> the mineral gypsum, it also contains mercury, arsenic, lead and other
> heavy metals.
>
> The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says those toxic metals occur
> in only tiny amounts that pose no threat to crops, surface water or
> humans. But some environmentalists say too little is known about how
> the material affects crops, and ultimately human health, for the
> government to suggest that farmers use it on their land.
>
> "Basically this is a leap into the unknown," said Jeff Ruch, executive
> director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. "This
> stuff has materials in it that we're trying to prevent entering the
> environment from coal-fired power plants and then to turn around and
> smear it across ag lands raises some real questions."
>
> With coal wastes piling up around the coal-fired plants that produce
> half the nation's power, the EPA and U.S. Department of Agriculture
> began promoting what they call the wastes' "beneficial uses" during
> the Bush administration.
>
> Part of that push is to expand use of synthetic gypsum - a whitish,
> calcium-rich material known as flue gas desulfurization gypsum, or FGD
> gypsum.
>
> The Obama administration has continued promoting FGD gypsum's use in
> farming even as it drafts a coal waste rule in response to a spill
> from a coal ash pond near Knoxville, Tenn., one year ago Tuesday. Ash
> and water flooded 300 acres, damaging homes and killing fish in nearby
> rivers. The cleanup is expected to cost about $1 billion.
>
> The EPA is expected to announce its proposals for regulation early
> next year, setting the first federal standards for storage and
> disposal of coal wastes.
>
> EPA officials declined to talk about the agency's promotion of FGD
> gypsum before then and wouldn't say whether the draft rule would cover
> it.
>
> Instead, the agency released a statement saying the heavy metals in
> the material are far less than the amount considered a threat to human
> health.
> Field studies have shown that mercury, the main heavy metal of concern
> because it can damage development of the human nervous system, doesn't
> accumulate in crops or run off fields in surface water at
> "significant"
> levels, it said.
>
> "EPA believes that the use of FGD gypsum in agriculture is safe in
> appropriate soil and hydrogeologic conditions," the statement said.
>
> Eric Schaeffer, executive director of the Environmental Integrity
> Project, which advocates for more effective enforcement of
> environmental laws, said he's not overly worried about FGD gypsum's
> use on fields because research shows it contains only tiny amounts of
> heavy metals. But he said federal limits on the amounts of heavy
> metals in FGD gypsum sold to farmers would help allay concerns.
>
> "That would give them assurance that they've got clean FGD gypsum,"
> he said.
> "The farmers don't want to get a bad batch."
>
> Since the EPA/USDA partnership began in 2001, farmers' use of the
> material has more than tripled, from about 78,000 tons spread on
> fields in
> 2002 to
> nearly 279,000 tons last year, according to the American Coal Ash
> Association, a utility industry group.
>
> About half of the 17.7 million tons of FGD gypsum produced in the U.S.
> last year was used to make drywall, said Thomas Adams, the
> association's executive director. But he said it's important to find
> new uses for it and other coal wastes because the nation is likely to
> remain reliant on coal-fired power plants for decades to come.
>
> "If we can find safe ways to recycle those materials, we're a lot
> better off doing that then we are creating a whole bunch of new
> landfills,"
> Adams said.
>
> Darrell Norton, a USDA soil scientist, said a predecessor of FGD
> gypsum produced about 25 years ago often had high levels of heavy
> metals because it had been mixed with coal fly ash. But FGD gypsum has
> no fly ash and is "environmentally clean," he said.
>
> FGD gypsum is widely used in the South as a less expensive alternative
> to mined gypsum, said Glen Harris, a soil scientist at the University
> of Georgia in Tifton, Ga. Farmers in states such as Georgia, Alabama
> and the Carolinas have long spread mined gypsum on their fields, where
> its calcium spurs the growth of peanuts.
>
> Clay McDaniel, 47, who farms about 4,000 acres of peanuts and corn
> near the southern Georgia town of Newton, has used synthetic gypsum on
> his peanut fields for more than 20 years. He and other farmers call
> both FGD and mined gypsum "land plaster." He said he's never worried
> about the safety of the synthetic version.
>
> "If we buy a chemical that's toxic, it's got a skull and crossbones on
> it,"
> he said. "But this does not come with any such warning. It's just a
> calcium source."