Comment submitted by Robert Mulford

Dear Madams and Sirs, I urge you to REJECT IN ITS ENTIRETY this proposed rule change to EPAs own science-based 2023 regulations, and to fully and immediately enforce the 2015 and 2024 federal coal ash rules. I have spent the lion’s share of my career working in the energy sector and related heavy industries, starting as an underground coal miner and retiring as an instrumentation and control systems engineer at Aurora Energy LLC’s coal fired power plant in Fairbanks, Alaska. In the intervening decades I have lost dozens of fellow workers, friends, and neighbors to the willful disobedience of industrial operators to follow laws and regulations regarding health and safety. Two of these deaths – local residents of the neighborhood living across the street from the afore mentioned power plant – can be traced to atmospheric emissions of coal ash by that plant. When I raised concerns about these emissions – both inside and outside the plant – I was threatened in front of plant employees by the company’s vice president, “You are endangering the jobs everyone who works in this plant.” A lesson I learned in the eighth grade is exemplary, my civics teacher, Miss Gill, had each one of us touch our nose. She then had us reach out and touch our neighbor’s fingertips. “That, young men and women, demonstrates the extent of your individual rights,” she said. Industrial operators Do Not have the right to reach out and touch our skin, digestive tracts, lungs, and DNA with their toxic air emissions, water discharges, and leachates. NO requirements established in the 2015 and 2024 federal coal ash rules should be eased or delayed. This includes the wastewater treatment and leachate standards for coal-fired power plants. Current EPA rules should be vigorously enforced, including taking action on the compliance assessments conducted in 2024. REJECT the proposed CCR Part A(f)(2) Extension Rule. I will make myself available to testify in these matters, including the afore mentioned power plant. Robert S. Mulford PO Box 83646 Fairbanks, Alaska 99708 907-687-6606