Comment submitted by Ed Light

I'm a retired environmental scientist currently residing in the coal fields of southeast Ohio. Coal mining was the primary focus of my work during the 1970's. This included the assessment and control of water and air pollution, reclamation practices, and mitigating issues impacting communities adjacent to mining operations. During that period of time, I was technical advisor to several conservation and public interest organizations, staff coordinator for the National Coal Policy Project (co-sponsored by the industry and environmentalists), and worked in cooperation with the U.S. EPA, West Virginia State Agencies and the Legislature on implementing practices allowing coal to be produced in a manner consistent with protection of both the environment and local communities. Substantial progress was made in this regard at a time when coal production was maintained at high levels. Implementation of these new regulations resulted in significant reductions in the discharge of water pollutants, emission of air pollutants, and stabilization of mining and disposal sites. Although overall progress was made, a minority of recalcitrant operators refused to comply, enabling them to reduce business costs relative the industry in general which chose to produce coal in compliance with the new environmental standards. Current efforts to relax environmental standards for coal mining, such the current proposal to revise coal ash disposal requirements, are advocated by EPA to promote coal production. However, this is unfair to companies who have already taken steps to improve coal ash disposal, who would now be at a competitive disadvantage with respect to less responsible companies who continue to avoid compliance. Failure to dispose of coal ash consistent with good engineering practice can have extremely serious and sometimes, deadly, consequences. It is for those reasons I oppose, and ask EPA to reconsider, the proposed regulation. The potential costs of relaxing coal ash disposal regulations clearly outweigh the benefit of improved profitability to companies who choose not to pay for basic safeguards needed to mine coal responsibly. EPA's discussion of the proposed rule in the Code of Federal Regulations states that it is needed to develop facilities for extracting and purifying rare earths and other minerals associated with coal seams. These are critical to manufacture products such as electronics. Although interesting, this technology is still experimental, and it has potential to cause major environmental problems. Although an appropriate issue for basic research, constructing a large-scale plant in the coal fields would be premature and dangerous.