美國數個聯合環保團體6月19日正式向三個聯邦機構提出要求，公佈全國44個環保署列為「高度危險」煤灰處置場的清單。
由於上週環保署拒絕披露全國數百個煤灰場中，到底那幾個對附近社區居民的安全構成高度威脅，因此「山巒協會」、「地球正義」、「環境正義計劃」、「自然資源保護委員會」，就「資訊自由法案」（Freedom of Information Act）共同提交了這項要求。
環保署在美國「國土安全部」的指示下，拒絕公佈這44個蓄煤灰壩的位置。煤灰是發電用煤的副產品。
據説拒絕公開訊息的原因為基於國家安全考量，即便其他同屬於危險地點如核電廠的位置卻是對外公開的。
加州參議員，也是參議院「環境暨公共工程委員會」的主席博克瑟（Barbara Boxer），上週五在一個新聞發布會中表示，她已被下令禁止對外公開透露這44個煤灰場的位置。而她卻堅持保持資訊透明度的立場，並允諾對此議題舉行委員聽證會。
自去年12月田納西河谷管理局經營的金士頓燃煤發電廠，10多億加侖的含煤灰污泥廢棄物外洩風波後，環保署即對全國燃煤廢灰處理場進行視察，並在各地發現了幾百處的煤灰丘。其中包括了足以構成「高度危險」的44個站點。
博克瑟說「管制燃煤廢灰的法律非常有限。事實上，全國對預防一般家庭垃圾危害的措施比煤灰更嚴。」
煤灰中的含毒成分包括：砷，鈹，硼，鎘，鉻，六價鉻，鈷，鉛，錳，汞，鉬，硒，鍶，鉈及釩，以及二噁英和多環芳香烴化合物。
該環保組織警告說「這些有毒物質很可能慢慢釋出污染飲用水源。或者一旦擋土牆破裂，大量流入附近社區導致泛濫，如同當初金士頓發電廠事故一般。」
「自然資源保護理事會」的水利專家迪瓦恩（Jon Devine）說：「處理廢煤灰最好的方法為制訂和執行責任歸屬的條令。詳列處置辦法，而不是向附近居民隱藏其風險。」我們希望政府用開放和透明的方式來回應此議題，如此一來我們才能擔當起清除這些污染場址的負責。
A coalition of environmental groups today formally asked three federal agencies to make public the list of 44 coal ash disposal sites across the country that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has classed as "high hazard."
The Freedom of Information Act request was submitted by the Sierra Club, Earthjustice, the Environmental Integrity Project, and Natural Resources Defense Council after the EPA last week refused to disclose which of the hundreds of coal ash sites across the country pose a high hazard threat to nearby communities.
The EPA was instructed by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security not to release information about the location of these 44 impoundment dams containing coal ash, a byproduct of using coal to generate electricity.
Unspecified national security concerns were cited as the reason for withholding this information from the public, although the locations of other hazardous sites, such as nuclear power plants, are publicly available.
Last Friday at a news conference U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer of California, who chairs the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, said she has been prohibited from telling the nation about the location of these 44 sites. Senator Boxer has demanded transparency and promised to hold committee hearings on the issue.
In the aftermath of last December's spill of more than a billion gallons of coal ash waste at the Tennessee Valley Authority's Kingston coal-fired power plant, the U.S. EPA conducted inspections of the nation's coal combustion waste sites. Agency inspectors identified several hundred coal ash piles across the country including 44 sites that pose a "high hazard."
"Coal combustion waste is subject to very limited regulation," Boxer said. "In fact, there are stronger protections for household garbage than for coal ash across the country."
Toxic constituents of coal ash include: arsenic, beryllium, boron, cadmium, chromium, chromium VI, cobalt, lead, manganese, mercury, molybdenum, selenium, strontium, thallium, and vanadium, along with dioxins and PAH compounds.
The environmental groups warn that these toxics can leach out, slowly contaminating drinking water sources, or if retaining walls give way, they can flood nearby communities as happened at the TVA's Kingston power plant.
"The best way to deal with coal waste is to develop and enforce responsible rules about how it can be disposed, not hide its dangers from the people who live nearby," said Jon Devine, water expert at the Natural Resources Defense Council. "We expect the government to respond in an open and transparent way, so we can account for and clean up these toxic sites."
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