Tenn. Coal-Ash Spill Fallout: Boxer's Hopes for a New Administration

Counting on New Administration

Boxer suggested that the lack of federal coal ash regulation is part of the problem. As far back as 2000, the Environmental Protection Agency considered adding coal ash to a list of hazardous materials but the coal industry successfully stopped this classification, arguing that the costs to meet such standards would be astronomical.

Individual states oversee coal ash regulation but, as Boxer pointed out, "This is a national problem. We have these kinds of holding facilities all over the country so why should the people in one state feel safer than the people in another state."

In addition, the TVA previously opted for less expensive fixes on the very ash pond that was breached. "So here's the point," Boxer said. "The TVA turned its nose up at the way to fix this, which would have cost $25 million and now we're facing multi-billion dollars in recovery."

So what can be done? Boxer says she hopes that the new administration will make headway.

"I'm going to ask Lisa Jackson, the new EPA administrator coming in, if she would ask for studies on all these facilities," she said. "And I must add that the EPA right here has the right, now, to regulate. They just have never done so and it's shocking to me ... I hope she'll move without legislation to do something."