Front Porch Blog

Who Cares About Coal Ash? “Have A Sip, Take a Dip, Eat Some Fish”

November 2, 2011 - posted by sandra


Yesterday, we wrote about a bluff containing coal ash pond breaking, allowing a football field chunk of debris into Lake Michigan. According to a We Energies spokesman “it is probable that some of the material that washed into the lake is coal ash”.

The dangers of coal ash have been made apparent through the coal ash disaster which spilled over a billion tons of coal ash into the Emory River in December 2008. This disaster prompted the EPA to study the issue. They found that there were several dozen high-hazard structurally-insufficient coal ash dam across the country, and initiated a rule-making on how to handle coal ash.

Coal ash is the toxic by-product of coal-burning, and there are hundreds of coal ash ponds littering the country. North Carolina tops the list of high-hazard dams, with 12 coal ash dams from the French Broad River in Western North Carolina to Cape Fear River in eastern North Carolina.

Rachel Maddow covers the coal ash pond wall break, as well as the U.S. House of Representatives’ vote on H.R. 2273, which would block the EPA’s efforts to protect communities from this danger.

Unfortunately what she failed to do is to mention that a virtually identical bill has been introduced in the Senate. After watching this video, please email your Senator and ask them to oppose S.1751 and stand up for our waterways and safety.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

TAGS: ,

One Response to “Who Cares About Coal Ash? “Have A Sip, Take a Dip, Eat Some Fish””

  1. sdwesley3 says:

    I believe we can help! We represent a bio source system, developed overseas, that has a world wide patent, and can eliminate fly ash / coal ash, even garbage, animal waste, sludge, and petroleum waste, while capturing Co2 and producing 3 renewable energy sources. Our technology can thermal chemically process, the fly ash, (or waste) and convert it to electricity, oxygen, and methanol and we have proven this since 2003. All this with ZERO CARBON EMISSIONS!

    Our first plant was erected in Serbia in 2003 to help the government there recover from the ravishes of war and NATO bombing. There, it was able to produce the three sources mentioned above, with the electricity funneled back into the grid, and the methanol used to fuel their stoves, heat their homes, and utilize for their automobiles and trucks.

    We have recently sold a system to Saudi Arabia for the use of petroleum waste and they have plans to build a 2 GW plant to produce millions and millions of gallons of methanol from the waste. A 20 MW system produces 24 million gallons of methanol on an 8 hour 5 day work week. Price of methanol currently is about $1.36 per gallon. Our thoughts are to have the methanol integrated with gasoline and chemically restructured to meet the oil demands of the future. Yet, our system also produces quite a bit of ELECTRICITY WHICH CAN BE FUNNELED INTO YOUR GRID, oxygen too.

    FYI ~ Our system is a prefab system that can be transported by train, or flat bed truck and it consists of 4 cells. These cells filter PMs, NOx, SOx, and Co2 and convert to methanol by filtering in steam to take the syngas and reform it to produce methanol.

    All in all, we can create jobs, eliminate fly ash ~ coal ash, lower or eliminate Co2 emissions, capture without burying in the ground the Co2 from your stacks and convert to three renewable energy sources. These sources will then produce tremendous revenue streams for the electric company! We will also provide scientific and engineering backup to our system and can demonstrate models in Europe or visit a proposed site in the USA, if your organization is interested in this wonderful concept. Also, please feel free to visit us on Facebook at :
    http://www.facebook.com/mpbiomass

    Scott Wesley
    Principal / MP BioMass

Leave a Reply

Facebook Twitter FlickR YouTube
Front Porch Bloggers Tags
Show/Hide list (-)

15th Anniversary 112th Congress 113th Congress A & G A & G Coal Corporation Acid Mine Drainage Across Appalachia Agriculture Air Pollution air quality Alabama ALEC Alexadra Cousteau Alliance for Appalachia Alpha Natural Resources American Chestnut american dream appalachia Appalachian Appalachian Culture Appalachian history Appalachian Identity Appalachian Legislators Appalachian politics Appalachian Regional Commission Appalachian State University Appalachian Streams Appalachian Transition Appalachian Treasures Appalachian Voices Appalachian Voices board of directors Appalachian Water Watch Appalachia Restoration Act Appalachia Water Watch Appalshop arch coal Arsenic Art Asheville Athens County Avian wildlife Bank of America bark Batson Creek Battle of Blair Mountain Bearwallow Mountain Beyond Coal campaign biodiversity black bears blair mountain blood mountain Blue Ridge Commons: Environmental Activism and Forest History in North Carolina Blue Ridge Escarpment Book Club Boone buffalo creek cancer carbon capture Carolina Mountain Land Conservancy Center for Appalachian Studies Central Appalachia Charlottesville Chattanooga Chimney Rock State Park China citizens united Clean Air Clean Air Act clean energy Clean Water Clean Water Act Clean Water Act 40th Anniversary Clean Water Protection Act Climate Climate Change climate change denial Coal Coal Ash coal ash health effects coal ash ponds coal decline coal electricity coal employment Coal generation Coal mining coal plants coal production Coal Report Coal Waste conductivity Congress Connestee Falls constellation Creation Care Cross-State Air Pollution Rule Cumberland Plateau Cypress creek d.c. Daniel Martin Moore David Brewer David McKinley Democracy dnc Documentaries Don Blankenship Downstream Strategies duke Duke Energy DuPont State Recreation Forest Earth Day EarthJustice Earth Ministry Eastern Band of Cherokee Economic Transition Economy editorial Education efficiency electricity Electric Utilities Elk Knob State Park Emory River Endangered species end mountaintop removal energy Energy Efficiency Energy Information Administration Energy Saving Energy Savings Environment environmental education Environmental Justice environmental literacy Environmental Protection Agency EPA Expedition Blue Planet extinction FArCES of Coal FERC Fish Kill Florence Nature Preserve fly ash Folktales Fontana Lake Foothills Trail forest Forestry Fox Squirrels fracking Frasure Creek Frasure Creek Mining and International Coal Group friends of smokies Gallatin game species gas gas emissions Georgia Georgia Power ghost stories globalization Golden-winged warbler Google Earth Gov. Steve Beshear grandfather mountain Great Smoky Mountains National Park green green-collar green building green economy green energy future GreenFaith and the Evangelical Environmental Network Greenhouse Gases Greenpeace Green River Preserve Hal Rogers Hampton Roads Hampton Roads Coal Plant HB 710 headquarters Health Heifer USA Hickory Nut Gorge Hidden Treasures High Falls hiking Hiking the Highlands hiking trails home improvement and remodeling Hooker Falls houses Hunting hydraulic fracking hydroelectricity ICG iLoveMountains Inside Appalachian Voices Interfaith Power & Light Interior Department Ison Rock Ridge Jay Rockefeller Jeff Goodell Jeff Goodell Jr. Jim Justice Jim Rogers jobs Joe Manchin Joseph Pizarchik Jr. Kathryn Newfont Kathy Mattea Kens Rock Kentuckians for the Commonwealth Kentucky Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet Kentucky Litigation Kentucky Riverkeeper Kudzu kudzu bug land Land Conservation Land management land protection LEAF lobbying local farming Marcellus Shale Massey Energy Matt Wasson membership spotlight Mercury Mercury and Air Toxics Standard mercury and air toxic standards Michael Johnathon mine Mine Safety and Health Administration Mining Jobs Molly McGinn mountains Mountaintop Removal Mountaintop removal permits MSHA Mussels N.C. Politics Nally & Hamilton Nantahala National Forest National Mining Association National Resources Defense Council Natural Gas Naturalist's Notebook nature New River Nick Rahall North Carolina NRDC nuclear ODEC Office of Surface Mining offshore wind Ohio Operation Medicine Cabinet opportunities Outdoor Recreation Patriot Coal Pennsylvania Photography Pine Mountain Park Pisgah Forest Politics pollution Possum Jenkins Powder River Basin Prescribed burns President Obama progress Progress Energy Property Rights public lands re-zoning recycling recycling building materials Red Red White and Water Religion in the Environment Renewable Energy Renewable Portfolio Standards Rick Boucher Riverkeeper Rivers Robert F. Kennedy Same Sun Here scenic vistas Scenic Vistas Protection Act Science and Nature science education SELC Selenium selenium pollution Senate settlement sewanee coal seam shale gas Sharyn McCrumb Shelley Moore Capito Sierra Club Silver Slip sludge sludge safety project Solar Solar Energy Solar Homestead Project South Carolina South Cumberland Plateau Southern Appalachian Mountains Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards Southern Environmental Law Center SouthWings spirituality Sportsman’s Heritage Act spruce pine state environmental policy Stone Mountain stop mountaintop removal Stream Buffer Zone Stream Protection Rule summer camps Sundance Power Systems surface mining Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act Surry Surry Coal Plant sustainability sustainable agriculture sustainable alternatives sustainable building sustainable farming tax credits and incentives Tennes Tennessee Tennessee Scenic Vistas Protection Act Tennessee State legislature The American Chestnut Foundation The American Legislative Exchange Council The Appalachian Voice the human cost The Voice This Green House Tom Cormons Tom Hansell Tom Kilgore TRAIN Act Transylvania County treasures Triple Falls TVA TVA Kingston coal ash spill U.S. Department of Energy U.S. Representatives from North Carolina U.S. Representatives from Tennessee U.S. Representatives from Virginia U.S. Representatives from West Virginia UMWA Uncle Falls United Mine Workers of America United Mountain Defense united states Upper Watuaga Riverkeeper uranium mining US Forest Service Viewpoint Virginia Virginia General Assembly Virginia ODEC virginia state parks Virginia Tech Wales War on Coal washington Washington DC Watauga Water Waterkeeper Waterkeeper Alliance Water Pollution Water quality weatherization Weed Patch Mountain Week in Washington West Virginia White Squirrel Hiking Challenge Wilderness Society Wildlife Williamson wind energy Wind Power wind turbine Wise County Wise Energy for Virginia Wise Energy for Virginia Coalition wvdep Youngs Mountain

Tags