Tpo41Burning coal in power plants produces a waste product called coal ash a material that contains small amounts of potentially harmful chemicals Environmentalists in the United States are concerned about the damage such harmful chemicals may be doing

The new, stricter regulations for handling and storing coal ash is the focus of both the writer and the professor. In the writing, three reasons why it is unnecessary to implement the new regulations, regulation exists, concerns about recycling coal ash, and increased cost, have been elaborated. The professor, however, claims that it is necessary to conduct the stricter regulations.

As opposed to the writer's idea that the existing regulations have already played a responsible role of handling and storing the coal ash, the professor states that the existing regulations are not sufficient. She advances the theory by saying that the existing regulations only applied to new-built ponds or landfills, while the old ones are still damage the environment for not using liner. For example, there are some old sites has leaking problem and polluted the groundwater and drinking water. So there must be new rules implemented on both new and old sites.

The professor continued to discredit the writer's assertion that customers may have concerns about recycling coal ash products even though they are not dangerous, by examining the fact that customers will not be afraid to buy the products. In detail, she points out that there is another kind of dangerous material which confined with strict rules, its recycling product sold well in the past 15 years, and the customers showed no concern about the product at all.

For the writer's third opinion that the new regulation would cost a significant increase of power companies' expense and finally would lead to a price increase in public electricity, the professor agrees that although there will be an increased cost, the price of electricity won't increase too much. To be specific, the professor claims that it is worthy to spend a little more money on the environment and after the implementation, the price of household electricity will only increase 1 percent, and it is definitely worthy for a cleaner environment.