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This is the WFHB Local News for Tuesday, January 18th, 2022.
Later in the program, we have a Few Minutes with the Mayor – a biweekly segment where we ask Bloomington Mayor John Hamilton about community issues. More in today’s feature report.
Also coming up in the next half hour, the EPA recently announced that it will enforce pollution regulations onto Indiana’s coal fired power plants in order to stop groundwater contamination. WFHB’s Nathaniel Weinzapfel has more in the bottom half of our show.
Monroe County Stormwater Management Board
At the Monroe County Stormwater Management Board meeting on January 12th, MS4 Coordinator Kelsey Thetonia introduced the 2022 Memorandum of Understanding between the Monroe County Stormwater Management Board and the Monroe County Soil and Water Conservation District.
Soil and Water Conservation District Manager, Martha Miller shared the work they have been doing that the MOU helps support.
Board member Trohn Enright-Randolph suggested that the application form for the grants could be more efficient in the future and noted that the program has really improved over the years.
The next Monroe County Stormwater Management Board meeting will be on February 9th.
Monroe County Commissioners
During public comment at the Monroe County Commissioners meeting on January 12th, county resident Margaret Elements thanked the commissioners for listening to their constituents about the annexation of county lands into the city of Bloomington.
The commissioners heard from Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative Coordinator, Christine McAfee about a grant the Probation Department received.
Commissioner Penny Githens supported the work the grant would help fulfill.
The next county commissioners meeting will be held on January 19th.
Indiana’s Toxic Ash Ponds
Nathaniel Weinzapfel
The EPA recently announced that it will enforce pollution regulations onto Indiana’s coal fired power plants in order to stop groundwater contamination. WFHB Environmental News Correspondent Nathaniel Weinzapfel discusses what this means for both the environment and Indiana residents.
Last week, the United States Environmental Protection Agency announced that coal-fired power plants throughout the country must clean the coal-ash waste that is a byproduct of the burning of coal. According to the Agency, there are roughly 500 unprotected coal-ash ponds across the country that have the potential to leak dangerous chemicals into the groundwater, including chemicals such as arsenic and mercury. This includes the Indiana-Kentucky Electric Corporation’s Clifty Creek power plant in Madison, Indiana and Duke Energy’s Gallagher Generating Station in New Albany. This announcement represents a change in policy, as the EPA of the Biden Administration is once again emphasizing regulations that were not as strongly pushed under the previous administration. This move is likely to make the water in Indiana, specifically along the state’s many rivers and streams, safer and cleaner, for both humans and the environment.
According to the Indianapolis Star, there are a total of 18 coal-fired power plants around the state that have a combined amount of 80 coal ash ponds. More than half of all the electricity generation in the state comes from these power plants. In the process of generating electricity through the burning of coal, coal ash is produced. The ash is collected from both the smaller particles that get captured by pollution control devices at the top of smokestacks and the heavier particles that remain after the coal is combusted. Coal ash is particularly dangerous due to the toxic chemicals that make up the substance. Based on research from the Physicians for Social Responsibility, the chemicals in coal ash include dangerous heavy metals such as mercury, lead, and chlorine just to name a few, with the amount of each chemical differing based on the region of the country that the coal was mined from. These pollutants have the potential to cause serious harm in both humans and natural environments. Exposure to these pollutants, whether through digesting or breathing, have the potential to cause cancer, heart damage, lung disease, reproductive issues, and other hazardous ailments.
Under perfect circumstances, while dangerous, the pollutants pose no harm to humans due to the coal ash ponds. Ideally, the coal-ash residues are stored in safe and secure ponds that keep the pollutants from entering the environment as they are lined with a barrier that contains the water. However, many power plants have coal-ash ponds that are unlined, meaning that the contaminated water can move through the soil and enter the local groundwater. Once in the groundwater, the local water sources often become dangerous to drink and often poison the nearby wildlife ecosystems. In fact, according to the Physicians of Social Responsibility, if a Hoosier is living near one of the plants that has an unlined wet ash pond and they drink well water, they have a 1 in 50 chance of developing cancer. Based on research by the Indy Star, leakage from these ponds have rendered the groundwater under 14 of the state’s 18 power plants to be unsafe for human consumption.
Despite this devastating news, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is offering new hope for Indiana residents. As mentioned prior, the agency is once again enforcing an Obama Administration set of regulations that required power plants that had unsafe coal-ash ponds to clean them and move the coal-ash to safer storage locations. While the Trump Administration weakened the regulations, the Biden Administration’s EPA Administrator Micheal Regan has announced that he is determined to enforce the previous regulations and hold the power plants accountable for their pollution.
In the process of acting on their promises, the EPA denied new permits to operate coal ash ponds to the Indiana-Kentucky Electric Corporation’s Clifty Creek power plant in Madison, which will now have to clean up the pollution. Many environmentalists have supported this action and similar one’s as it represents a step forward in the prevention of pollution and putting a halt to industrial companies who seek to circumvent the consequences of their negative environmental actions.
Hopefully soon, Indiana residents will once again be ensured that their drinking water, and the environment around them, will be safe enough to allow them to live long and healthy lives.
Feature Report:
Up next, we have a Few Minutes with the Mayor – a biweekly segment where WFHB Assistant News Director Noelle Herhusky Schneider asks Bloomington Mayor John Hamilton about community issues.
Herhusky-Schneider speaks with the mayor about landlord and tenant incentives and annexation. We turn to Herhusky-Schneider for more.
Credits:
You’ve been listening to the WFHB Local News,
Today’s headlines were written by Noelle Herhusky-Schneider and Nathaniel Weinzapfel, in partnership with Cats – Community Access Television Services.
Our feature was produced by Noelle Herhusky-Schneider.
Our theme music is provided by Mark Bingham and the Social Climbers.
Engineer and Executive producer is Kade Young.
