More work needed on use of fly ash

STATE AND federal officials are taking a well-deserved new look at fly ash, the powdery substance that's a byproduct of burning coal for electricity.

For decades, regulators have been studying its risks to both human health and the environment. Even so, they've been allowing, and even encouraging, electric companies to dispose of fly ash in ways that increase the public's exposure to it.

Essentially, fly ash disposal faces fewer regulations when it's designated a so-called "beneficial use" than when it's placed in a landfill.

In Virginia, the 217-acre Battlefield Golf Club at Centerville, in Chesapeake, and a 15-acre project along the New River in Giles County are among two sites that use fly ash in such a way.

The golf course is sculpted from 1.5 million tons of fly ash, according to articles by The Pilot's Robert McCabe. Chesapeake officials have identified about 200 potable wells close to the golf course's boundaries.

There's a legitimate worry that the substance could be a perpetual threat to groundwater. It makes sense to mandate reasonable precautions - or to even limit the places where fly ash can be placed.

In years past, this stuff went up the smokestacks of power plants. Nowadays, fly ash is captured, stockpiled and regulated as a solid waste. It contains heavy metals such as arsenic that can leach into groundwater and contaminate wells.

This week, fly ash was the subject of a subcommittee hearing in the U.S. House of Representatives and by a panel of the state Department of Environmental Quality. The heightened attention should continue, especially because the Environmental Protection Agency advocates even more use of coal-combustion by-products in such applications.

That's OK only if fly ash is proven safe, and it can only be proven safe if more research is done and the regulatory bodies do a better job of protecting the public's safety.