The US Environmental Protection Agency has released a study naming the US power plants with the highest hazard potential. Yep. Indiana made the list.

According to the EPA, the agency made a concerted effort to identify and to assess the structural integrity of impoundments, dams, or other management units, within the electric power generating industry, holding wet-handled coal combustion residues or CCRs.

The agency has so far identified a total of 427 units managing slurried CCRs. Forty-four (44) of these units at 26 different locations have been assigned a high hazard potential rating, including the Tanner's Creek facility owned by American Electric in Lawrenceburg, Indiana.

In its study, the EPA says a high hazard potential rating indicates that a failure will probably cause loss of human life. The rating is not an indication of the structural integrity of the unit or the possibility that a failure will occur in the future; it merely allows dam safety and other officials to determine where significant damage or loss of life may occur if there is a structural failure of the unit.

According to the EPA, the 26 facilities that have units with high hazard potential ratings continues to be an Agency priority. “EPA has conducted on-site assessments, which are undergoing Agency review, at 11 of these facilities. The remaining 15 of these facilities have had state inspections within the past 12 months and EPA will be reviewing the reports from those inspections. EPA plans to make public the results of our assessments as soon as they are completed.”

CCRs consist of fly ash, bottom ash, coal slag, and flue gas desulfurization (FGD) residue. CCRs contain a broad range of metals, for example, arsenic, selenium, cadmium, lead, and mercury, but the concentrations of these are generally low. However, if not properly managed, (for example, in lined units), CCRs may cause a risk to human health and the environment and, in fact, EPA has documented cases of environmental damage.

You can find the full report on the EPA website at http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/nonhaz/industrial/special/fossil/ccrs-fs/ind...