You Want Something to Worry About?

Egged on by a lot of irresponsible reporting, many people in this country are being needlessly freaked out about the arrival of negligible amounts of radiation reaching the U.S. from the Fukushima Daiichi plant. There is, however, a source of radiation close to many of our homes that is more radioactive than nuclear waste, and that's coal ash, the inevitable byproduct of burning fossil rocks to supply half our energy. Kudos to ABC News for a well-done piece last night on the very real damage that a mountain of coal ash is doing to the Oklahoma town of Bokoshe:

 

Earlier this month the EPA put off ruling on the toxicity of coal ash, blaming the 450,000 public comments on the subject it had to work through. Said Lisa Evans, an attorney with the environmental law firm Earthjustice: ""Because 400,000 people cared enough to demand swift and effective action, EPA now has a reason to stall?""

--Paul Rauber