Pretty interesting news from our friends at Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility:

For years U.S. Environmental Protection Agency publications and reports about uses and dangers of coal combustion waste have been edited by coal ash industry representatives, according to EPA documents released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). Not surprisingly, the coal ash industry watered down official reports, brochures and fact-sheets to remove references to potential dangers and play up “environmental benefits” of a wide range of applications for coal combustion wastes – the same materials that EPA is currently deciding whether to classify as hazardous wastes following the disastrous December 2008 coal ash spill in Tennessee.

PEER reports this week on documents it obtained under the federal Freedom of Information Act regarding the Bush administration EPA’s formal partnership with the coal industry, most prominently, the American Coal Ash Association, to promote coal combustion wastes for industrial, agricultural and consumer product uses.  They concluded:

This effort has helped grow a multi-billion dollar market which the industry worries would be crimped by a hazardous waste designation.

Among the disclosures:

— Removal of “cautionary language” about application of coal combustion wastes on agricultural lands in an EPA brochure to be replaced with “exclamation point ! language” “re-affirming the environmental benefits…that reinforces the idea that FGD [flue gas desulfurization] gypsum is a good thing” in the word of an American Coal Ash Association representative;

— A draft of EPA’s 2007 Report to Congress caused industry to lobby for insertion of language about the need for “industry and EPA [to] work together” to weaken or block “state regulations [that] are hindering progress” for greater use of the coal combustion wastes; and

— EPA fact-sheets and PowerPoint presentations were altered at industry urging to delete significant references to certain potential “high risk” uses of coal combustion wastes.

Jeff Ruch, PEER’s executive director, said:

For most of the past decade, it appears that every EPA publication on the subject was ghostwritten by the American Coal Ash Association. In this partnership it is clear that industry is EPA’s senior partner.

PEER reported that the EPA-industry collaboration was not limited to publications. EPA staff also forewarned industry about conference calls and other intra-agency deliberations, such as growing concerns about “increased leaching of arsenic” from “increased use of fly ash” in order to let industry know where to target its lobbying efforts. The working relationship is so close that a coal ash industry representative joked to EPA staff in an October 27, 2008 e-mail, referring to a news article about mercury contamination from coal ash:

We are in bed with the EPA again, it looks, at least according to this article. The advocacy groups are well organized and have the ready ear of the press.

Ruch said:

It is no joke – the terms of the coal ash partnership tucks EPA snugly into bed with industry for the purpose of marketing coal combustion wastes as a product. EPA is supposed to be an objective regulatory agency dedicated to protecting the public instead of protecting a gigantic subsidy for a powerful industry.

UPDATED:

Adora Andy, a spokeswoman for Obama EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, issued this statement in response to the PEER report:

The American people deserve to know their EPA is protecting them and their children, not the interests of industry lobbyists. When Administrator Jackson took office she ordered an immediate review of the health and environmental concerns raised by coal ash, including “beneficial use.” The Agency will issue a proposed rule to address those concerns shortly. EPA is also considering whether the C2P2 partnership should be continued. We will review all documents and emails in question to determine whether this process served the American people.