Conservation Action: Protest Weaker Coal Ash Standards Today
The Trump Administration wants to weaken critical coal ash pollution safeguards. Today is our deadline for fighting back.
In 2015, President Obama’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) adopted the national Coal Combustion Residuals Rule (CCR) to toughen water pollution protections against the toxics leaking out of wet sludge coal ash pits, and to help force long-overdue cleanups. Now the Trump EPA wants to let its friends in the power companies off the hook for coal ash pollution. Its new CCR rulemaking proposal would weaken groundwater standards, monitoring, and restrictions on where new ash storage facilities are located. It would even allow today’s leaking coal ash pits to continue operating and polluting our surface water and groundwater.
“Trump’s EPA is getting ready to roll back common-sense standards that keep toxic coal waste out of our drinking water. Their plan would make it even easier for Duke Energy to pollute our rivers. It even goes so far as allowing Duke to decide if they want to clean up their messes at all,” said NCLCV Director of Governmental Relations Dan Crawford. “Gutting these standards puts all of our families at risk. The coal ash rule was the first-ever federal protection to keep our communities free from toxic coal ash. North Carolinians from Murphy to Manteo know Duke Energy won’t do that on their own. By passing the regulatory reins to industry, Trump and Pruitt are putting their polluter pals’ profits above the protection of our people.”
TODAY (Monday, April 30) is the last day for submission of comments to EPA’s public record on this terrible proposal by the Trump EPA. You can help fight back by submitting an online comment today, working with other conservation advocates to build the record of public outcry in opposition.
NCLCV encourages all citizens concerned about the impacts of coal ash pollution to make their voices heard today!
