Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles, P.C.

Lesley Stahl, a reporter for the CBS news program 60 Minutes, pressed a power industry lobbyist about whether coal ash byproducts are being used safely during a report on coal ash recycling practices Sunday. His answer was anything but straight. It’s no surprise. The byproducts from coal-burning utilities, coal ash and fly ash, are recycled and used as filler for numerous products in kitchen counters and carpeting in schools, to name a few. Coal ash has not considered a hazardous material, and thus coal-burning plants have not fallen under federal regulations. But since the country’s largest spill of coal ash occurred last December, people are beginning to question just how safe coal ash – and the products made from it – are.

Improvements in coal-burning filtering systems have made the smoke that passes into the air from smokestacks far less toxic than in years past. Meaning, the toxins that once escaped into the air we breathe now settles into the ash that is left behind. That ash is stored in wet or dry landfills at hundreds of facilities across the country. Much of that waste is recycled and used as filler in other products.

But tests have shown that coal ash contains a variety of dangerous materials, such as arsenic, lead, chromium, manganese and barium – products which have been associated with serious health concerns such as cancer, liver damage and neurological complications. Which has made many question whether the byproducts widely used in homes, schools, golf courses and even produce farms, can be harmful to humans.

As long as utilities continue to burn fossil fuels and reap profits from the sale of byproducts, the answer may continue to elude public knowledge.

View a clip from the 60 Minutes investigative report.

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