PA House environmental committee examines costs and environmental impacts of burning waste coal in PA
Rep. Greg Vitali August 11, 2025 | 1:56 PM
HARRISBURG, Aug. 11 – The state House Environmental & Natural Resource Protection Committee held a public hearing today at the state Capitol to receive testimony on remediation of waste coal piles, the environmental and climate impacts of burning waste coal, and the energy costs associated with cogeneration.
Waste coal piles are a legacy of the state’s notable place in the history of coal mining, and the physical scars left behind when the industry abandoned those communities. The remaining piles can leach pollutants into waterways, creating acid mine drainage and damaging ecosystems.
Modern cogeneration plants can balance out the lower energy efficiency of burning waste coal; however, with current energy trends, it is becoming more costly. A 2024 report from the PUC and DEP on the state’s Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards showed a continued spike in energy credit prices for certain resources, including waste coal resulting in higher costs for ratepayers. The cost of credits is forecast to increase until hitting the cap in the next couple of years.
Committee Chair Rep. Greg Vitali, D-Delaware, said that Pennsylvania has a complicated legacy with the coal industry and today’s hearing was intended to highlight the continued problems associated with waste coal, including environmental impacts and the rising costs affecting energy standards.
“Pennsylvania is among the top states with abandoned mine lands, which can pose serious health and environmental threats,” Vitali said. “Our ability to burn waste coal in a cogeneration facility has not been an overly effective method of reducing waste coal piles and generates energy with slightly higher toxic emissions than coal itself. It’s also no longer cost efficient as energy prices rise.
“Today’s testimony highlighted the effects on climate change caused by burning coal refuse and the need for our state’s energy portfolio to adapt to utilizing clean and efficient energy sources, while encouraging waste coal pile remediation by other methods.”
“Despite not wanting to ‘pick winners and losers’, the legislature has effectively decided that burning waste coal and moving the pollution from the land to the air is the only acceptable solution,” Rob Altenburg from PennFuture said. “With as much as $388 million being paid in subsidies for a handful of small waste coal facilities, we are already seeing increases in electricity bills and people’s tax payments being diverted from other priorities. There is no sign that this situation will get better. On the contrary, there are indications that the efficiency of these plants has been declining. This could result from plants resorting to even lower-quality fuel or the degrading infrastructure at plants that are already exceeding their typical lifespan. The Commonwealth has a fiduciary duty to conserve and maintain public natural resources for the benefit of all the people. In keeping with that duty, it’s time we take a hard look at this spending on waste coal and ask if it’s justified.”
“[Waste coal power plants] do not contribute a meaningful share of our electric generation mix but do receive a meaningful share of state subsidies with a fuel source that has a higher carbon intensity than burning traditional coal and that, pound-for-pound, emits more mercury and metal-containing particulate matter,” Robert Routh from the Natural Resources Defense Council said. “These pollutants pose significant health risks to Pennsylvania families and communities. Pennsylvanians will be confronting higher energy costs as a result of recent federal policy decisions, unprecedented load growth, and hurdles caused both by PJM and at the local permitting level to timely interconnect new, clean electricity to the grid. Under these circumstances, we must diligently use taxpayer and ratepayer dollars in a manner that effectively reduces costs and improves quality-of-life. There is a balance to be struck in approaching the unique challenge of remediating waste coal piles in Pennsylvania.”
The hearing can be viewed online at youtube.com/live/vNtXEo1Y0KQ.