The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced on January 25 action to protect communities and hold facilities accountable for controlling and cleaning up contamination created by coal ash disposal.
The agency issued six proposed determinations to deny the requests of facilities to continue disposing of coal combustion residuals (CCR or coal ash) into unlined surface impoundments.
A comment periods begins on February 8, 2023, when the proposed determinations are posted in the dockets on Regulations.gov and commenters will have 30 days to submit their comments. Access to prepublication copies of the proposed determinations are below:
Coal ash is a byproduct of burning coal in coal-fired power plants that, without proper management, can pollute waterways, groundwater, drinking water, and the air. Coal ash contains contaminants that may include mercury, cadmium, chromium, and arsenic associated with cancer and various other serious health effects.
This action also delivers protections for underserved communities that often rely on groundwater for their water supply.
Specifically, the EPA is proposing to deny these applications due to:
- Inadequate groundwater monitoring networks
- The failure to prove groundwater is monitored to detect and characterize any elevated levels of contaminants coming from the coal ash surface impoundment
- Evidence of potential releases from the impoundments and insufficient information to support claims that the contamination is from sources other than the impoundments
- Inadequate documentation for the design and performance of the impoundment liners
- Failure to meet all location restrictions.
If the EPA finalizes these denials, the facilities will have to stop sending waste to these unlined impoundments or submit applications to the EPA for extensions to the deadline for unlined coal ash surface impoundments to stop receiving waste.
In the significant interest of maintaining grid reliability, the agency is also proposing a process for these facilities to seek additional time, if needed, to address demonstrated grid reliability issues.
Get more information from the EPA on coal ash and the six proposed determinations.