Cord Byrd: “I am very interested in the need to provide funding through the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for the National…”

“I am very interested in the need to provide funding through the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for the National Research Council to study whether the use of coal combustion wastes, otherwise known as coal fly ash, poses health and/or safety threats to the public or to the environment when used for reclamation purposes in both active and abandoned coal mines. For more than twenty years, the EPA has been grappling with the issue of whether and how the use of these power plant combustion wastes should be regulated and the manner in which they should be regulated, if at all, under the Resources Conservation and Recovery Act or the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act. With this amendment, the National Research Council will be able to provide much-needed research assistance to the EPA as the agency continues to consider the development of national regulations in this area. This study serves an important purpose and will help answer important questions about the impact of disposing coal combustion wastes in coal mines. Further, this study would offer timely information to EPA policy makers as these experts continue to assess the need for regulations governing this practice. In summary, there is a great need for this study. It could be funded within existing resources and under existing authorizations. I hope that my colleagues will be able to consider this important request during the VA/HUD conference. I thank them for their consideration of this issue.”