Citizens from across the Midwest are urging the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate coal ash.
The EPA is considering regulating the disposal of ash from coal-fired plants. The public hearing today is one of several the EPA is holding nationwide on the issue.
Mary Parks is from Joliet and says she recently came under a toxic snowfall of ash at her home.
PARKS: If a foreign country, or Al-Qaeda put these chemicals in our water or dumped chemicals on us, it would be an act of war. And yet they’re allowing to do that. If somebody poisoned people with arsenic over a period of time it’s a crime but they’re allowed to do that, and that’s wrong.
Some farmers at the hearing called for the EPA to be careful about which wastes they classify as hazardous.
Green Peace and the Sierra Club were some of the groups that attended the hearing.
Originally reported by Chicago Public Radio. Read the original article here.