On Tuesday, March 29, 2011 10:41:54 PM UTC-7, Lew Hodgett wrote:
"dpb" wrote:

Look at the poor *******s who have the fly ash pits in their back
yards in TN and OK for starters.

It is simply indicative of the total arrogance of the utility
industry.
....
IMHO, based on 50+ years of on and off dealings with the utility
industry, their approach seems to be the bottom line at any price.

Well, yes, that is a natural consequence of electric utilities operating
as regulated monopolies; they are required by law not to spend
any 'extra' money and call it expenses, because their prices are
set as cost-plus-a-few-percent.

In many areas, fly ash isn't 'dumped', but becomes a component
of cement mix (where it doesn't hurt the final product, and
is a benefit to the cement plant because they don't have to
pay to get this part of their raw material shipped in).
Cinderblock used to be a way to recycle clinker from ironworks...