There is a new Climate Files podcast, with news headlines, information on the recent EPA Townhall meeting, and the energy-related portion of Obama’s business speech.   I asked a question at the EPA townhall but no one was willing to address the Enbridge oil sands pipeline in Minnesota that I asked about.   It’s currently under construction, and there have already been oil spills.  Even with the new publicly-declared willingness of the EPA to answer our questions, there are still uncomfortable things they would rather not discuss.

One of the stories mentioned in the podcast is about coal ash waste, something that plagues the U.S.  even more than nuclear waste because there’s so much more of it.  Thirty-one sites have been newly identified as being very dangerous to public health.   “Arsenic, a potent human carcinogen, has been found at 19 of 31 sites at extremely high levels.” Did you know the use of coal can cause cancer?  Coal plants and their toxic waste are more prevalent than nuclear plants in the U.S. too.

“Two environmental groups today identified 31 sites in 14 states contaminated with coal-ash waste containing arsenic, cadmium, lead, selenium, and other toxic metals that can cause cancer and neurological damage to humans and poison fish and wildlife.

The report from the Environmental Integrity Project and Earthjustice released today relies on facts compiled from monitoring data and other information in the files of state agencies. The groups say these facts demand immediate federal regulation of coal combustion waste disposal, which is currently unregulated.

The newly identified coal combustion waste sites are in addition to the 70 sites identified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in the wake of the disastrous Tennessee Valley Authority coal ash spill at the Kingston power plant in December 2008 – bringing the total to 101.

“The 100 some damage cases that are now well documented are just the tip of the iceberg,” said J. Russell Boulding, principal, Boulding Soil-Water Consulting, Bloomington, Indiana, who contributed to the report.

“Our experience in compiling these damage cases is that if there are data available on surface and groundwater quality in the vicinity of a CCW disposal area, you will find contamination. How many hundreds more damaged sites are out there waiting to be identified?” Boulding asked.

The 31 sites are located in: Delaware (1); Florida (3); Illinois (1); Indiana (2); Maryland (1); Michigan (1); Montana (1); Nevada (1); New Mexico (1); North Carolina (6); Pennsylvania (6); South Carolina (3); Tennessee (2); and West Virginia (2).

Active coal combustion waste disposal is still occurring at 25 out of the 31 sites.

Read more here. Waste from coal plants should not be tolerated any more than nuclear waste is accepted, but it seems like it is.