Comment on FR Doc # 2012-23521

PA-161-FOR; Docket ID: OSM-2012-0009 Please do not allow states to go it alone! Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PA DEP) agency’s Chapter 290 regulations for the “beneficial” use of coal ash in active and abandoned mine land sites in Pennsylvania is not adequate! It provides some additional safeguards but not enough especially for citizens living near coal ash disposal sites. If the Keystone State is a national leader on the issue of coal ash, then the nation is in trouble! Please follow the 2006 National Academy of Sciences (NAS) recommendations. Establish federal standards for the disposal of coal ash. Federal standards will ensure that the states have adequate safeguards that will better protect the citizens of each state and the environment. Pa DEP has proven to be too cozy with industry and not interested in enforcing and therefore protecting citizens and the environment. In November 2011, DEP Secretary Michael Krancer made this very apparent when he sent a letter to Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) asking him to stop EPA’s designation of coal ash as hazardous. Coal ash, if labeled hazardous would, in Krancer’s opinion, put an end to a practice of ash placement for acid mine drainage and abandoned mine-reclamation projects. These are two practices which Pa DEP loves to call beneficial use. We citizens of Pennsylvania are still trying to see the benefits of ash placed near our homes and water supplies. I am sure industry sees the benefit of getting rid of their toxic waste stream though. I live within one mile of the largest waste coal pile east of the Mississippi River. If the owner and the Pa DEP have their way they will turn this pile into the largest coal ash pile in the nation. Yes the Pa DEP wants this too. So much for protecting the environment. Pa DEP wants only to please the coal industry. At least, that has been my experience with them in Southwestern Pa, Region 3. ....to be continued