60 Minutes report questions safety of coal ash byproducts
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.