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A4 U.S. NEWS
Saturday 17 OctOber 2020
EPA letting some hazardous coal ash ponds stay open longer

By TRAVIS LOLLER The 2015 rule required the
Associated Press most dangerous ponds to
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — close by April 2019, but that
The Trump administration deadline has been repeat-
will let some leaking or oth- edly pushed back, Evans
erwise dangerous coal ash said. Her group sued over
storage ponds stay in op- the original rule, arguing
eration for years more and that it didn't go far enough.
some unlined ponds stay One of their victories came
open indefinitely under a in 2018 when the U.S. Court
rule change announced of Appeals for the District of
Friday. Columbia Circuit ruled that
The move by the Environ- all unlined ponds (called
mental Protection Agency "clay-lined" by the EPA)
is the administration's latest needed to close. The court
rollback of environmental stated simply, "Clay-lined
and public health regula- units are dangerous."
tions governing operators The revised rule tries to get
of coal-fired power plants, around the court order by
which are taking hits finan- letting utilities demonstrate
cially as cheaper natural that their unlined ponds
gas, solar and wind power "pose no reasonable prob-
make dirtier-burning coal ability of adverse effects
plants less competitive. In this Aug. 7, 2019, photo, the Kingston Fossil Plant stands near a waterway in Kingston, Tenn. on human health or the
Friday's move weakens an Associated Press environment." The agency
Obama-era rule in which lead and other hazardous tall dike on a massive coal mer coal lobbyist Andrew reasoned that all sites are
the EPA regulated the stor- heavy metals. U.S. coal ash pond at a Tennessee Wheeler to lead the EPA. different, and some unlined
age and disposal of toxic plants produce about 100 plant collapsed, releasing The latest rollbacks will al- ponds might be safe.
coal ash for the first time, million tons (90 million met- more than a billion gallons low some coal plants to But Evans said the pro-
including closing coal-ash ric tonnes) annually of ash of coal ash into the Swan keep their storage ponds cess for determining safety
dumping ponds that were and other waste. Pond community. It remains open for years longer than could keep ponds that
unstable or contaminating Data released by utilities the largest industrial spill envisioned in the 2015 rule. were scheduled to close
groundwater. in March 2018, after the in modern U.S. history and "The reason the utilities are open for many years lon-
The looser strictures an- Obama administration re- prompted the 2015 regu- arguing to keep the ponds ger.
nounced Friday are "impor- quired groundwater moni- lations that were intended is because they have put "The Trump EPA is flouting
tant to power-producing toring around coal ash to increase oversight of the in these unlined pits out the the court's decision," she
utilities that Americans in a storage sites, showed wide- industry. back door of the power said. "I've never seen any-
number of states rely on ev- spread evidence of con- But the change in adminis- plant that act as a catchall thing like this before."
ery day," EPA assistant ad- tamination at coal plants trations brought a change for their toxic waste," said All the changes together
ministrator Peter Wright said from Virginia to Alaska. in priorities, with President Lisa Evans, an attorney for are expected to save the
in a statement. For decades, utilities large- Donald Trump vowing to the environmental group industry between $41 mil-
Coal ash is a byproduct of ly disposed of coal ash by boost the struggling coal in- Earthjustice. "They don't lion and $138 million per
burning coal for power and sluicing it into huge open dustry by rolling back regu- want to get rid of them be- year, according to EPA es-
contains arsenic, mercury, pits. In 2008, the six-story- lations and appointing for- cause they are cheap." timates. q

GM to run robot cars in San Francisco without human backups

Thursday from California's a ride service, which would in the march toward prolif-
Department of Motor Ve- require further government eration of self-driving cars.
hicles to let the cars travel permission, he said. Progress toward autono-
on their own. Cruise will go neighbor- mous vehicles slowed
The move follows last hood-by-neighborhood in markedly after an Uber
week's announcement San Francisco and launch autonomous test SUV ran
from Waymo that it would the driverless vehicles slowly down a pedestrian in Tem-
open its autonomous ride- before spreading to the en- pe, Arizona, in 2018.
hailing service to the public tire city, he said. It will hold Steven Shladover, a re-
in the Phoenix area in vehi- neighborhood meetings to search engineer at the Uni-
cles without human drivers. answer people's questions, versity of California, Berke-
Waymo, a unit of Google he said. ley, who has studied auton-
parent Alphabet Inc., is "We understand that this omous driving for 40 years,
hoping to eventually ex- is a trust race as much as said the moves are the next
pand the service into Cali- it is a technology race," logical steps by both com-
In this Jan. 16, 2019, file photo, Cruise AV, General Motor's fornia, where it already has Wert said. "This is absolute- panies in a gradual pro-
autonomous electric Bolt EV is displayed in Detroit. a permit to run without hu- ly about making sure that gression.
Associated Press man backups. we're doing this with San "I don't see them as revo-
By TOM KRISHER ers from its vehicles in San Cruise has reached the Francisco." lutionary steps, but they're
AP Auto Writer Francisco by the end of the point where it's confident The moves by Waymo and part of this step-by-step
DETROIT (AP) — General year. that it can safely operate Cruise, which are consid- progress toward getting the
Motors' Cruise autonomous Cruise CEO Dan Ammann without humans in the cars, ered among the leaders in technology to be able to
vehicle unit says it will pull said in a statement that spokesman Ray Wert said. autonomous vehicle tech- work under a wider range
the human backup driv- the company got a permit There's no date for starting nology, are important steps of conditions," he said.q