Citizens for Recycling First

Citizens for Recycling First is a front group set up by the American Coal Ash Association that seeks to promote the idea that coal waste is safe and ought to be used as fill in domestic and industry products.

The American Coal Ash Association (ACAA) is an umbrella lobbying group for all coal ash interests that includes major coal burners Duke Energy, Southern Company and American Electric Power as well as dozens of other companies (see below). The group argues that the so-called "beneficial-use industry" would be eliminated if a "hazardous" designation was given for coal ash waste.

Criticism of coal opponents
On their website, Citizens for Recycling First write


 * "In their zeal to attack coal, environmental groups and the news media have begun falsely labeling coal ash as “toxic” — despite the fact that it is no more toxic than other common materials it replaces when used as a product."


 * "In an effort to assert federal jurisdiction over the disposal of coal ash, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has indicated that it is considering classifying coal ash as a “hazardous waste” when destined for disposal."

Federal Coal Combustion Products Partnership
ACAA helped set up the Coal Combustion Products Partnership (C2P2), a cooperative effort between the U.S. EPA, the American Coal Ash Association, the Utility Solid Waste Activities Group, the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Federal Highway Administration and the Electric Power Research Institute to "help promote the beneficial use of Coal Combustion Products (CCPs) and the environmental benefits that result from their use."

The C2P2 project was suspended after the EPA released a March 23, 2011 inspector general report stating that the federal government had promoted some uses of coal ash, including wallboard or filler in road embankments, without properly testing the environmental risks. The report said wallboard "may represent a large universe of inappropriate disposal applications with unknown potential for adverse environmental and human health impacts." Coal ash recyclers and manufacturers that use it have argued that tougher federal regulations would place a stigma on the substance and hinder efforts to reuse some of the 130 million tons produced at U.S. coal-fired power plants each year. The program was started in 2001 with a goal of increasing the recycling of coal ash for use in other applications.

Forged petition
In the fall of 2012, Citizens for Recycling First submitted a petition to the White House that they claimed was signed by 5,400 U.S. residents opposing tightened regulation of coal ash dumpsites. The petition was later found to included hundreds of fake Chinese signatures, according to a linguistic analysis commissioned by the non-profit Environmental Integrity Project (EIP).

ACAA Members

 * AES Corporation
 * Alliant Energy
 * Ameren Energy
 * American Electric Power
 * Basin Electric Power Cooperative
 * Colorado Springs Utilities
 * Colstrip Energy Partnership
 * Constellation Energy
 * Dairyland Power Cooperative
 * Detroit Edison
 * Dominion
 * Duke Energy
 * Dynegy
 * E.ON U.S.
 * Exelon
 * FirstEnergy
 * Great River Energy
 * Kansas City Power & Light
 * Lower Colorado River Authority
 * Midwest Generation
 * Mirant
 * MDU Resources Group
 * Muscatine Power & Water
 * Nebraska Public Power District
 * Platte River Power Authority
 * Progress Energy
 * PPL
 * Public Service Enterprise Group
 * Public Service Company of New Hampshire
 * RRI Energy
 * Santee Cooper
 * Seminole Electric Cooperative
 * South Carolina Electric & Gas
 * Southern Company
 * Southern Illinois Power Cooperative
 * Sunflower Electric Power Corporation
 * TECO Energy
 * Tennessee Valley Authority
 * TransAlta
 * We Energies
 * Wolverine Power Cooperative
 * Xcel Energy

Personnel

 * John N. Ward, Chairman. A biographical note states that he is "a consultant to the energy industry" and a "former board member and past president of the American Coal Council", and a "former chairman of the Government Relations Committee of the American Coal Ash Association and participates in numerous industry groups related to the manufacturing and use of construction materials."

Contact details
Citizens for Recycling First 600 17th Street, Suite 2800 South Denver, CO 80202-5428 Email: info@recyclingfirst.org Website: http://www.recyclingfirst.org/

Related SourceWatch articles

 * Front groups
 * Coal slurry impoundment
 * TVA Kingston Fossil Plant coal ash spill
 * TVA Widows Creek coal waste spill
 * Massey Energy
 * Federal coal subsidies
 * Estimating U.S. Government Subsidies to Energy Sources 2002-2008
 * State coal subsidies
 * Health effects of coal
 * Mercury and coal
 * Heavy metals and coal
 * Sulfur dioxide and coal
 * Environmental impacts of coal
 * Air pollution from coal-fired power plants
 * Coal sludge
 * Fly ash
 * United States and coal

External resources

 * The American Coal Ash Association