VINACHEM

Coal ash from power plants is safefor use in cement and wallboard, the U.S. EnvironmentalProtection Agency said today in a long-delayed decision that mayboost recycling of a major source of industrial waste.

The determination and an EPA court filing last monthindicating it may not regulate ash as a hazardous waste willboost utilities and companies such as Headwaters Inc. (HW) that usethe product. The EPA acted as Duke Energy Corp. (DUK) deals with aspill at a North Carolina coal-ash disposal pond that sent toxicarsenic, chromium and lead into a river. Recycling can help curbthe number and use of coal-ash ponds, proponents say.

“We now finally seem to be heading down a path where wewill have some certainty,” said John Ward, head of governmentaffairs for the American Coal Ash Association, which representscompanies using the material. “They are once again re-affirmingtheir support for recycling.”

Ward’s group, representing companies such as powerproducers XCel Energ (XEL) and cement-maker Holcim Ltd. (HOLN), said asurvey of utilities found that in 2012 at least 39 million tonsof waste from burning coal were recycled. Products in the EPA’shealth analysis included fly ash pulled from the exhaust of coalplants by scrubbers or baghouses, according to the agency.

“The protective reuse of coal ash advances sustainabilityby saving valuable resources, reducing costs, and lesseningenvironmental impacts,” Mathy Stanislaus, assistantadministrator for EPA’s Office of Solid Waste, said in astatement.

Hazardous Label

In a proposal for regulating coal ash in 2010, the agencysuggested two approaches, including labeling it as hazardous,which would add stricter standards for plant owners. Republicansin Congress and groups lobbying for companies such as Headwaterspressed the EPA to abandon the approach, saying it would killoff recycling.

EPA in a series of decisions since then has signaled thatit intends to do so. Those rules are set to be completed by theend of the year.

Environmental groups have increased pressure on the agencyto fulfill a pledge to regulate disposal of the waste, and theysay EPA could still maintain the stricter approach.

“They could look at the Duke spill and say something moreneeds to be done,” said Abigail Dillen, a lawyer forenvironmentalists that pushed the agency to issue its rules.“As we’re watching this disaster play out in North Carolina, itpoints out why a state” system isn’t good enough, she said.

The spill at the Duke plant leaked an estimated 27 milliongallons of water and 82,000 tons of ash into the Dan River sinceFeb. 2.

Dillen, who praised the recycling decision, said the agencymust now develop limits on the use of coal ash for otherpurposes, such as salting roads in the winter or filling upberms or old coal mines.

“They call it a beneficial use, which exempts it fromregulation,” she said.