Representative David McKinley (R-WV) sponsored H.R. 2218, the Coal Residuals Reuse and Management Act of 2013, which would block Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) safeguards designed to protect public health and the environment from toxic coal ash. Every year more than 140 million tons of coal ash—the toxic byproduct of burning coal that’s laden with arsenic, lead, and other heavy metals—is created and stored in more than 1,300 impoundments across the country, many of which have leached dangerous chemicals into water Americans count on. These toxic impoundments have also been known to fail catastrophically, as exemplified by the dam failure at a Tennessee Valley Authority site in December 2008 that spilled more than one billion gallons of ash across 300 acres. For years, the EPA has worked to develop a rule to protect the public, but H.R. 2218 would strip the EPA’s authority to finalize the current rule or to promulgate any future regulation of this toxic waste. On July 25, the House approved H.R. 2218 by a vote of 265-155 (House roll call vote 418). NO IS THE PRO-ENVIRONMENT VOTE. The Senate took no action on this bill.