Coal Ash Used to De-Ice Roads Poses Contamination Concerns | EcoWatch

I learned something new, never knew where road cinders came from.

Coal ash—the residue from burning coal to generate electricity—is abundant and cheap. Often free for the taking, in fact. And it’s one way that at least some Midwestern communities provide traction on snowy and icy roads.

But what’s left behind in the nearby water and soil when this byproduct from coal-fired power plants is spread on roads?

Tom Adams, executive director of the American Coal Ash Association, dismisses the bottom ash used on roadways as mere “coal dirt.” And although it harbors varying amounts of toxic heavy metals including arsenic, lead, chromium and cadmium, Adams says the amounts are no higher than in the rock and dirt native to many areas of the country.

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Barb Gottlieb, director of environment and health for Physicians for Social Responsibility, isn’t so sure.

“This should be recognized as a problem,” Gottlieb said.

The heavy metals present in coal ash are, at sufficient concentrations, “some of the most dangerous substances in the world.” Chromium, for example, is a “very dangerous carcinogen,” especially when wet, Gottlieb noted.

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As far back as 1990, the EPA was questioning the best way to assess the true hazards posed by heavy metals and other potential toxic compounds. The EPA consulted its Science Advisory Board about the need for a suitable way to measure toxic leachate.

In a 1999 letter to then EPA Administrator Carol Browner, the committee wrote, that its “single most important recommendation is that EPA improve leach test procedures, validate them in the field and then implement them.”

Coal Ash Used to De-Ice Roads Poses Contamination Concerns | EcoWatch