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Trump’s EPA shifts more environmental enforcement to states

By ELLEN KNICKMEYER, Associated Press
Published: May 20, 2019, 9:00am
4 Photos
In this April 8, 2019, photo, Tim Tanksley, who has been fighting for years trying to convince Oklahoma lawmakers to crack down on the coal ash dumping, stands outside a dump site in Bokoshe, Okla. President Donald Trump’s EPA has approved Oklahoma to be the first state to take over permitting and enforcement on coal-ash sites. “They’re going to do absolutely nothing,” Tanksley said.
In this April 8, 2019, photo, Tim Tanksley, who has been fighting for years trying to convince Oklahoma lawmakers to crack down on the coal ash dumping, stands outside a dump site in Bokoshe, Okla. President Donald Trump’s EPA has approved Oklahoma to be the first state to take over permitting and enforcement on coal-ash sites. “They’re going to do absolutely nothing,” Tanksley said. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki) Photo Gallery

BOKOSHE, Okla. — Susan Holmes’ home, corner store and roadside beef jerky stand are right off Oklahoma Highway 31, putting them in the path of trucks hauling ash and waste from a power plant that burns the high-sulfur coal mined near this small town.

For years, when Bokoshe residents were outside, the powdery ash blowing from the trucks and the ash dump on the edge of town would “kind of engulf you,” Holmes said.

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