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4 Potential Impacts from Placement of CCRs in Coal Mines
Pages 81-104

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From page 81...
... This chapter examines known cases of damage that have occurred from disposing of CCRs in a variety of environmental settings to understand what conditions pose the greatest risk to human health and the environment. The review of these cases assists the assessment of the potential impacts of CCR placement in coal mines.
From page 82...
... Similarly, this National Resource Council (NRC) committee received public testimony on numerous sites where it was alleged that CCR placement in coal mines has been implicated in the degradation of ground- or surface-water quality.
From page 83...
... . A variety of studies have shown environmental impacts attributable to CCR placement in non-coal mines (e.g., sand and gravel)
From page 84...
... Thus, understanding the situations in which CCR landfills fail can be useful for inferring the types of mine environments that may be least preferable for CCR placement. The EPA currently recognizes a variety of potential and proven ecological damage cases attributable to landfilling CCRs.
From page 85...
... CCR placement in sand and gravel mines has resulted in environmental impacts at CCR landfills in several localities including Wisconsin, Virginia, and Massachusetts. The EPA concluded that at each of these sites the permeable nature of the underlying substrate allowed CCR constituents to leach into ground- and surface waters.
From page 86...
... . The final characteristic that is commonly cited by the EPA as contributing to environmental impacts is the proximity of a CCR placement site to drinking water supplies and/or aquatic habitats.
From page 87...
... According to the Department of Energy Energy Information Administration, 25 percent of CCRs produced in 1996 were placed in surface impoundments compared to only SIDEBAR 4.3 Belews Lake, North Carolina The Belews Lake story is the most widely recognized and cited damage case associated with CCR disposal and offers an example of the adverse environmental consequences that can occur when CCRs leach trace elements into surficial sys tems. In 1974, Duke Power began discharging surface water from fly ash settling basins into Belews Lake, a large reservoir that provided cooling water for a coal fired power plant.
From page 88...
... . Bioaccumulation and CCR as a Stressor As a consequence of CCR disposal in surface impoundments, contaminants have been found to accumulate in the tissues of organisms utilizing the impoundments or downstream habitats.
From page 89...
... Changes in zooplankton and benthic invertebrate community composition have been observed in waters receiving CCR effluent from surface impoundments (Spencer et al., 1983; Bamber, 1984; Specht
From page 90...
... . Applicability of Landfills and Surface Impoundments to Coal Mine Settings As noted above nearly all of the damage cases cited and discussed in this chapter reflect CCR disposal in sites other than coal mines.
From page 91...
... Each of these mechanisms is discussed briefly in an effort to identify high-risk situations for CCR placement in mine settings. Surface waters are most likely to be impacted by CCR placement in mines when connected groundwater sources are contaminated.
From page 92...
... The second primary mechanism for CCR contamination of surface environments in mine settings is direct exposure to CCRs. However, exposure to CCR constituents can most likely be prevented at minefills by placing CCRs at appropriate depths and covering them with overburden and topsoil that was removed as overburden during coal mining.
From page 93...
... . In conclusion, given the increasing quantities of CCRs likely to be placed in mines, the potentially toxic constituents of CCRs, the conditions in some mine sites that may favor leaching of these constituents, and the inadequacies in our understanding of the potential environmental impacts of CCR placement in mines, the committee concluded that additional research is needed.
From page 94...
... . In general, water quality criteria designed to protect aquatic life are often lower than drinking water standards in part because aquatic biota spend their entire life in the water and, hence, are constantly exposed, whereas drinking water consti tutes only a portion, sometimes a small portion, of the exposure of humans.
From page 95...
... The section then describes the tools available to further evaluate the potential for adverse human health effects due to CCR placement in active or abandoned coal mines. This section is not intended to provide a comprehensive examination of potential health risks attributable to CCRs.
From page 96...
... . Also, in the EPA's review of monitoring data and damage cases, various drinking water standards were identified not to have been met, usually from wells on-site, downgradient off-site, or from nearby surface waters impacted by surface impoundments or landfills containing CCR.
From page 97...
... . Tools for Evaluating Health Effects This section examines the tools available to further evaluate the potential for adverse human health effects from exposure to contaminated water supplies such as could occur from improperly managed CCR disposal.
From page 98...
... 98 of eye. not adverse risks is tooth (decay)
From page 99...
... 99 the in Studies many as health. may can since fingers is in the to .
From page 100...
... However, monitoring data at CCR placement sites may provide information on the types of contaminants to which the public could be exposed. Additionally, prior studies have developed relationships between dose and response for these contaminants that could help in the risk assessment process.
From page 101...
... In other landfills and surface impoundments, contamination of surface waters has resulted in considerable environmental impacts; in the most extreme cases, multiple species have experienced local extinctions. The waste management in these impoundments and landfills often involved older, unlined units, and most landfill impacts involved CCR placement in sand and gravel mines that are
From page 102...
... In assessing potential adverse health and environmental risks from CCR placement in coal mines, the committee was faced with a lack of peer-reviewed research reports and data with specific reference to CCRs in coal mines. The EPA has not identified any cases in which water quality standards that had not been met could be attributed directly to CCR mine placement.
From page 103...
... Studies should also assess whether there is the potential for human exposure to drinking water impacts from CCR placement.


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