Coal Ash Bill Clears House Committee

First-time Congressman Dave McKinley has been busy.  He has been a vocal supporter of recent House action to limit the EPA's ability to change or interpret state water quality standards, and he has also sponsored legislation to prohibit  treating coal ash as a hazardous waste.  Vicki Smith of Bloomberg Business Week reports that:

The Coal Residuals Reuse and Management Act is the first bill from West Virginia's freshman Republican, Rep. David McKinley. It passed out of the Energy and Commerce Committee on a vote of 35-12 Wednesday night [June 21], with support from six Democrats.

Coal ash is a  byproduct of coal burning that is used in structural fills and concrete production, among other things.  Treating it as a hazardous waste, would effectively eliminate its reuse, and treating it as a special Subtitle D waste would also impose onerous restrictions on use of coal ash.

This bill has a good chance of appproval by the House, but faces an uphill climb in the Senate, and probable veto by President Obama. It is an attempt to force EPA's hand on coal ash regulation, as EPA is still trying to decide whether to regulate coal ash as a hazardous waste.  Pam Casey of the State Journal explains how the bill would prevent regulation of coal ash as a hazardous waste or a special waste.