"BHP downplays toxics rating: Coal mine operator says disposed ash not harmful; environmental group disagrees"

Farmington Daily Times
By Cornelia de Bruin

WATERFLOW –BHP Billiton New Mexico supplies coal to the two big power plants west of Farmington, Four Corners Power Plant in Upper Fruitland and San Juan Generating Station in Waterflow.

The company also takes back the ash that’s left behind after tons of coal is burned to generate power for more than 1 million customers in the western United States. Because it is the repository for the material, BHP Billiton is listed among other locals on the Environmental Protection Agency’s latest Toxics Releases Inventory.

The list tracks 2006 data. BHP Billiton’s Senior Counsel, Charles E. Roybal, said the company’s Navajo Coal Mine is listed by EPA as No. 4 for total ash disposal in San Juan County. BHP’s San Juan Mine is listed as No. 1 for disposal in the county.

Four Corners Power Plant has told Billiton it will no longer bring its ash for disposal.

BHP Billiton claims its acceptance of the ash –2.78 million tons of it—is not harmful, and downplays the importance of being included in the inventory.

“It goes back into where it came from, then we cover it with at least 10 feet of dirt and a layer of topsoil,” Roybal said. “It helps us restore the land to its original contours.”

The TRI report is a data-base containing detailed information on nearly 650 chemicals and chemical categories that 22,880 industrial and federal facilities manage through disposal or other releases, recycling, energy recovery, or treatment. Both local power plants are required to file reports with the EPA for mercury, sulfur dioxide and other emissions.

EPA lists BHP Billiton as “responsible for a large-quantity release to the environment,” according to Roybal.

He explained that Billiton simply uses the ash burned by the Four Corners and San Juan plants as material to fill the holes where the coal that became the ash was mined.

New Mexico’s Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department awarded BHP Billiton its Excellence in Reclamation Award on Sept. 25 for its work to restore areas affected by its San Juan Coal Company.

BHP Billiton supplies more than 15 million tons of coal to the plants each year.

Roybal pointed out an EPA ruling that does not consider coal ash to be hazardous or a toxic waste.

San Juan Citizens’ Alliance see it differently

Opposing views come from Mike Eisenfeld, spokesman for San Juan Citizens’ Alliance.

“We believe the coal ash is full of toxic materials, and that using it for fill is an inappropriate use of waste material,” he said, “It is a timebomb of toxicity. It becomes a problem in that it’s getting into the water.”

Eisenfeld noted that BHP Billiton has a reclamation permit, but that it has never ever furnished sufficient hydrological studies under the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act and the National Environmental Policy Act that could prove, or disprove the effect of its ash on local aquifers.

Coal combustion by-products and their use are issues that are being fought at the federal level, Eisenfeld said.

“Industry pushes this line that the ash is a by-product,” he said. “It is not a by-product, it is clearly a waste, a hazardous material that contains high sulfates, arsenic, barium and other elements.”

Using it as fill exposes the material to the elements, creating “fugitive dust” local residents inhale and the ash gets into the well water that they drink, Eisenfeld added.

“We’re calling them on it,” he said.

Countered Roybal, the TRI program provides information on various chemicals used for routine purposes or released in accidents or one-time event, tracking how they are managed, not whether they do harm.

“BHP Billiton mines in New Mexico are classified as among the safest in the United States, and operate under strict adherence with laws and regulations for minimizing environmental disturbances and for exceeding the laws where necessary to protect the environment,” Roybal said.

Cornelia de Bruin:
cdebruin@daily-times.com

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2006 RESULTS
According to the Environmental Protection Administration, the Toxics Release Inventory tracked how 24.4 billion pounds of production-related waste was managed during 2006:
- 36 percent (8.84 billion pounds) was recycled on- and off- site.
- 33 percent (7.97 billion pounds) was treated on- and off- site.
- 18 percent (4.40 billion pounds) was the quantity disposed of or otherwise released on- and off- site.
- 13 percent (3.15 billion pounds) was combusted for energy recovery on- and off- site.
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