USDA and EPA pushing coal ash for growing crops

I think it's really great that we have some actual studies put up on the subject. So I read through some of them and it looks like the idea is not entirely stupid. But again, we need to process it correctly. In fact, I'd wager we do the same thing for bottled water...in fact they have to adhere to it by law.

I learned some amazing stuff from the academic studies that were posted. A lot of coal ash has another name--Charcoal. Well having grown up in farm country [I live in a huge city now] I know that humans have been using that in farming for years. That goes all the way back to the Romans. But, and again, you must monitor the amount of any substance going into the ground, right?

I don't understand what the ash contributes. There may be some chemicals in the ash that could provide some benefit to the soil, but it seems likely that more harm than good is probable. Does the ash just act as a filler an provide no useful nutrients? It seems like a very odd test to be performing on our food supply.

This has been going on years and years, EPA just turned the other cheek. The communities that live anywhere near this coal ash depositories can't even touch their tap water, instead they have to go way out of their way to get safe water to just brush their damn teeth. There was a good "60 minutes" on this. The doc ends with the EPA admitting it knows about the problem an that they won't do anything about it.

Title:Soil properties and turf growth on a sandy soil amended with fly ash.
Sept 2003
"When irrigated daily, soil water content increased progressively with increasing rates of fly ash and leachate volumes were decreased by 17–52% for lysimeters containing fly ash amended soil...Total dry mass (root plus shoot) decreased when fertiliser application rates were reduced by 25%, irrespective of fly ash treatment. In `bare' lysimeters containing fly ash amended soil, cumulative leaching of NO3-, NH4+and P were 0.32–0.88 of the values in non-amended soil. When planted with turf, leaching of those nutrients was minimal (equivalent to 3% of total N applied) and leaching loses did not differ among fly ash rates. Extractable soil P levels were increased 2.5–4.5-fold in the fly ash amended zone, compared with non-amended soil. Root mass in the top 100 mm was 1.2–1.5-fold larger for turf in fly ash amended soil, compared to non-amended soil. The Se concentrations were higher in leaf tissue grown in fly ash amended soil (being at most 0.63 μg g-1), but there was no effect of fly ash amended soil on As, Ba, B, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Pb, Hg, Mn, Ni, Ag or Zn in leaf tissues. Thus, fly ash amendment may be a suitable management option for turf culture on sandy soils, since fly ash improved soil water holding capacity and root growth in the amended zone."

When you're done with that, read this....
http://www.flyash.info/2003/28mit.pdf

I'll just call your attention to a few parts of the link above...

"As per the available safe limit values given in the Prevention of Food
Adulteration Act (1997) for certain elements viz. Zn, Cu, As and Cd are to the extent of 100, 50,
5, and 1.5 ppm respectively, the concentration of these elements in the present investigation
remained within the safe range."

"The analysis of radioactivity (Bq kg ) of fly ash and soil treated with fly ash @ 40t ha
that higher radioactivity of 226Ra, 228Ac and 40K was recorded in the latter than the
former whereas, the activity of 137Cs was reverse. The radioactivity due to addition of fly ash was
subjected to dilution effect in soil. However, these marginal variations remained within the safe
limit. "

A common theme of the studies I've read so far has been the positive effect on acid lateritic soil.

I am not denying the presence of heavy metals in the fly ash. Actually there are heavy metals in woodash, farm manure, human waste, azomite, and the list goes on. I am just saying that there have been many studies that shows that it is within safe limits and there are procedures to ensure safety.

I just wonder how people without a PhD can doubt people with PhDs, without even consulting the research. The posts I put down were from Australia, India, Canada, and the US, so has the coal industry bought them all out? Give me a break.

Has anyone consulted any academic journals on this topic? I suggest it. I'll share just a FEW of what I've found when searching for SOIL TOXICITY, FLY ASH, and COAL ASH in EBSCOHOST.

Title: Utilization of fly ash for stabilization/solidification of heavy metal contaminated soils.
Key Phrases: "Addition of quicklime and fly ash to the contaminated soils effectively reduced heavy metal leachability well below the nonhazardous regulatory limits."
http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=11042092&am...

Title: Fly ash effect on improving soil properties and rice productivity in Korean paddy soils.
Key Phrases: "The application of fly ash increased Si, P and K uptake by the rice plants, but did not result in an excessive uptake of heavy metals in the submerged paddy soil. In conclusion, fly ash could be a good supplement to other inorganic soil amendments to improve the nutrient balance in paddy soils. "
http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=20959651&am...

Title: Characterization and environmental evaluation of Atikokan coal fly ash for environmental applications.
Key Phrases: "Chemical analysis of the generalized acid neutralization leaching test indicated that the heavy metals from both fresh and landfilled fly ash samples were below the leachate criteria set by the Ontario Government. Despite variations in acid neutralization capacity and physical and geochemical behaviors between fresh and landfilled coal fly ash materials, the overall results of this study suggest both materials have favorable engineering and environmental properties that make them suitable for various environmental applications"

http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=34148561&am...

Title : "Alkaline coal fly ash amendments are recommended for improving rice-peanut crops."
Key Phrases: "The residual effect of both lime and fly ash applications combined with direct application of chemical fertilizer increased peanut yields by 30% and 24%, respectively, compared to chemical fertilizer alone. Treatments with fly ash or lime increased P and K uptake in both the crops and oil content in peanut kernel compared to those without the amendments. Alkaline coal fly ash proved to be a better amendment than lime for improving productivity of an acid lateritic soil and enriching the soil with P and K. "
http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=26705745&am...

I'll keep looking and posting more.

Yes, many natural organic compounds and cover crops have carbon in them. We don't need to spread poison coal ash on our crops. This is just a way for companies like the TVA in collusion with coal companies to have a place to ship the coal ash that spills from their negligence. Why should they get away with destroying this environment, and then get an out that they can then use disingenuously to tout that they 'care' about the environment all the while making profit from their negligence? It's all BS and I'm calling the EPA and the USDA on it. They have allowed companies like Monsanto, Dow, etc. to foul up this planet enough. Enough of the cronyism.

Well...this stuff also has massive amounts of carbon in it. What people don't realize is that carbon is stripped because of industrial farming processes...let alone organic farming process as well. What do you think soil is made of. Coal has one of the highest concentrations of carbon in the world...so it looks like the Obama Administration is trying to make lemonade from lemons.

So if you have a compound that will put more carbon back in the soil then you would have better soil to grow food in.

Just some food for thought.

Unbefuckinglievable....

this news makes me feel weak, yet another area where evil has hold. here on the west coast there is no coal and evil is manifest differently. "if my chest were a cannon, i would fire my heart upon it", to badly paraphrase moby dick.
this is a call to action, gentle reader search your heart, this is a cause worthy of a life's work. do you want to make a difference, or get by? the agents of evil are feeding children food grown in this filth.
right now i'm doing what i can, from my wheelchair, i am a warrior for peace and i battle by non participation in anything that supports the military industrial complex. no car, no tv., i devote my time to getting young men sober and teaching them to live with truth in this moment.

Really bad idea, not just for the crops and people who eat the crops, but consider the run-off downstream too. We already know about the dead zones caused by chemical fertilizers. Just think of the disaster coal ash would do to the oceans.

I'm beginning to wonder if this is how they will market "biochar" thus also giving coal companies a way to get bogus carbon credits by claiming it sequesters carbon in the soil. I wouldn't put it past them.
And hunzedog, thank you. I think alot of us could do a better job.

i wish JanforGore was in charge of our country's farming future.....nobody works harder at any price !

that shits bad. its full of surfactants and chemicals they add. im no scientist but that black shit thats killing kids in the appalachians is probably bad.! we dont need coal anymore.......coal companies need us to let them rape the planet.......big coal is a dirty lie ! but i have heard to put coal on plants after a barbque. so im just talking shit ! so how about just getting water to some plants this year before we starve to death ! the gubment could mess up a bowl of soup !

Well, there's arsenic, mercury, lead, etc. in fly ash. And there are more organic composts and cover crops that can do the same. So if I were a farmer I know what I would use, and it wouldn't be this.

Excerpt:

Fly ash is a fine powder recovered from gases created by the burning of coal. It is the largest component of coal combustion waste, totaling around 70 million tons annually in the United States.

Adding moderate amounts increases crop yields and stabilizes soils while reducing the need to throw huge quantities in landfills or holding ponds, said Yuncong Li, University of Florida professor of soil and water sciences.

However, fly ash contains various amounts of toxic metals. And studies have shown that food crops grown in large amounts can soak up hazardous concentrations of arsenic.

Because it is not classified as hazardous waste under Environmental Protection Agency standards, there is no federal supervision of its use in agriculture. Some states regulate it but their guidelines vary and often require no monitoring of how it is used, said Jeffrey Stant, director of the Coal Combustion Waste Initiative for the Environmental Integrity Project.

“For soil amendment, most cases are left to the industry itself to monitor where they put fly ash and how much they use of it,” said Stant.

For more than a decade, companies have mixed fly ash with other waste to produce soil and compost. About 50,000 tons are used annually for agriculture nationwide.

One example is N-Viro, an international corporation that specializes in turning waste material into products. The company uses 250 tons of fly ash per day to mix with bio-solids, said Raymond Mayo, Florida N-Viro plant manager. The mixture is then heated to kill bacteria and monitored before it is distributed to farms, added Mayo.

The volume of fly ash created by power plants is increasing, due to more coal burning coupled with more stringent air pollution rules.

“Currently the U.S. produces 130 million tons of coal combustion waste every year. In another 10 years it will be 150 million,” said Stant.

As a result, researchers are studying whether larger amounts can be used safely in agriculture.

Fly ash mixtures provide phosphorus, calcium and other nutrients that crops need to grow while increasing soils’ capacity to hold water, said Li.

“The material is practically free and coal companies will pay people to dispose of it,” he said.

But arsenic, lead and mercury in fly ash pose concerns about cancer or neurological damage.

Crops grown in quantities of fly ash ranging from 5 to 20 percent of soil weight absorbed toxic metals, according to a study by Indiana State University researchers.

When the amount of fly ash increased, the crops absorbed higher concentrations of arsenic and titanium. Basil and zucchini contained potentially toxic amounts of arsenic exceeding 6 parts per million. Concentrations of greater than 2 ppm had severe effects on vegetables, damaging the plants and decreasing production, wrote the scientists in a 2004 paper published in Environmental Geology.

Although the potential human health effects are unknown, fly ash fertilization can lead to possible toxic accumulation in crops if not monitored properly, concluded the scientists.

Any Scientists here? How toxic is this?

"This coal ash re-use campaign is really just a multi-billion dollar backdoor subsidy to the coal industry to relieve it of the true costs of handling its toxic wastes."

BINGO.