THE MORNING SHOW
with
Patrick Timpone
Mary Anne Hitt
Director of Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign
Coal ash, the toxic sludge left over when power plants burn coal, contains arsenic, lead, mercury and selenium, as well as aluminum, barium, boron, and chlorine.
These toxins can cause cancer, heart damage, lung disease, respiratory distress, kidney disease, reproductive problems, gastrointestinal illness, birth defects, and impaired bone growth in children.
A new report from Sierra Club and Earth Justice finds that Americans are not adequately protected from this pollution. Amazingly, there are no national regulations. This year, the EPA will be finalizing new, nationwide standards for coal ash. The recent “clean power plan†by the EPA placed on industrial carbon pollution is critically needed to protect America’s communities and public health from the worst impacts of coal ash.
Show Highlights:
-Coal is the second largest solid waste we have next to garbage
-What happened in North Carolina with the recent coal ash spill which was the 3rd largest spill in the nation’s history?
-Why coal ash needs to be put into lined landfills with monitoring
-What is happening regarding coal ash safeguards and potential or actual disasters
-Why coal-fired power plants are one of America’s biggest water polluters.
-What’s to be done with the nation’s annual 140 million tons of coal ash pollution
-Highlights and more urgent information from the report: Dangerous Waters: America’s Coal Ash Crisis
-The mercury air toxin standards, which were implemented in 2012, has been a huge accomplishment
-Who do we address at the EPA?
-What else can we do to reduce air pollution?
-How has solar and wind technology become more affordable?
-How do fish become so toxic with mercury which fish store the most?
and so much more!
Mary Anne Hitt is director of the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign, which is working to eliminate coal’s contribution to global warming and repower the nation with clean energy.
Learn more about Beyond Coal
mary anne hitt on coal ash and mercury issues, june 30, 2014
https://soundcloud.com/oneradionetwork/063014_hitt_mary_coal_ash
'Mary Anne Hitt – Going Beyond Coal, An Outdated, Backward, and Dirty 19th-Century Technology – June 30, 2014' has 1 comment
July 7, 2014 @ 6:58 pm Lucretia
Why does this woman not talk about the fact that alternative energy like solar and wind will raise energy prices 2 to 4 fold? And, why does she not talk about how toxic nuclear energy is with all the nuclear power plants now releasing radiation? And why does she not talk about how America is paying to open up fully polluting, no filter carbon plants in China?
We know zero point is real but not allowed by those in control. I don’t like dirty coal or the by products but get real. The alternatives are more deadly. Raising prices will KILL millions. Why does this women not also speak about how deadly nuclear is and how alternative energy is being suppressed?