Coal Ash: One More Reason To Go Organic
Coal-fired power plants produce more than 100 million tons of the toxic-waste byproduct sulfur dioxide, the stuff that causes acid rain.
Called FGD gypsum, this synthetic powder is produced when coal plant “scrubbers” remove sulfur dioxide from plant emissions. 
Last year, a coal ash pond just outside of Knoxville, Tennessee, spilled and flooded about 300 acres of land with ash, killing many fish in the area. The spill damaged many homes as well, and cleanup costs are expected to be upwards of $1 billion. This catastrophe has prompted the EPA to draft regulations on how to handle toxic coal waste safely. Guess what they came up with?
In 2001, the USDA together with the EPA began to promote FGD gypsum use in agriculture. Since that time, the amount of coal ash used by farmers on their fields has tripled. According to the American Coal Ash Association (ACAA), nearly 280,000 tons of the byproduct was spread on fields last year.
FGD gypsum contains toxic heavy metals such as lead, mercury, and arsenic, but according to the EPA, “the mercury contained in FGD gypsum does not affect plants and runoff into water supplies at significant levels.” Guess they never heard of PHYTOREMEDIATION, a technology which uses plants to absorb heavy metals from the soil.
If the waste from coal plants is toxic and must be dealt with in a manner that keeps it contained, I’m just wondering why the EPA would promote the same waste for use on FOOD crops. Perhaps it’s just more cost-effective to sell toxic waste to farmers than to stop producing it in the first place.
Food that’s USDA-certified organic cannot be grown with coal ash. I’m sticking with organic for my family, and that includes my cats.
Nature’s Variety Raw Food Diets Organic Chicken Patties 6 lbs.
February 26th, 2010 3:08 am
Very interesting