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A Growing Market for Coal Ash

Coal – one of the largest producers of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States – also supplies more than half the power needs in this country. In the process, it leaves behind millions of tons of ash, which clogs our landfills and may leach dangerous chemicals into the soil and ground water.

Progress in reducing carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired power plants has been slow. But efforts to reduce the amount of coal ash piling up in landfills have been picking up speed in recent years, as industry has discovered more lucrative uses for this unwanted byproduct.

Fly ash can be used to make wall board, carpet backing, mortar, shingles and fake rock.  More than 40 percent of the 120 million tons of it created each year in the United States is now used to create new products, especially cement. That figure could rise even higher, if efforts by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to partner with utilities succeed. The EPA hopes to push the figure to 50 percent by 2011.

Some utilities, such as Wisconsin Energy, are happy to get on board, since they can make millions of dollars a year selling old ash and save tens of millions in landfill costs. States such as California are also helping advance the trend, by requiring the use of fly ash in state-funded roads.

It may take a while to reduce the nation’s dependence on coal-fired power plants. But in the meantime, public and private efforts are helping to clean up the mess coal leaves behind.

For more information about this story, please read the article in the Wall Street Journal.

To read more about this and other environmental health issues, go to: www.environmentalhealthnews.org, www.ourstolenfuture.org, or www.healthandenvironment.org