Last December, EPA announced its final rule regarding the management of coal combustion residuals ("CCR" a/k/a "coal ash"). This came several years after initial alternative proposals were offered for public comment, and the Agency's subsequent review of over 450,000 written comments. The announcement reflected a decision to regulate CCR as a non-hazardous waste under Subtitle D of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act ("RCRA"). Such a classification had been supported by the power industry and industry groups and businesses that use coal ash in manufacturing and ...
December 19, 2014 marked the deadline for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to announce its final decision regarding a new regulatory scheme for coal ash disposal (Coal Combustion Residuals or CCR). The new regulations are to focus on the disposal of coal ash. The pressure for new regulations began mounting after the rupture of a Tennessee power plant in 2008 which sent over 1 billion gallons of coal ash into nearby Tennessee rivers. Subsequently, on February 2, 2014, a Duke Energy plant released approximately 39,000 tons of coal ash into the Dan River in North Carolina. During ...
We have periodically updated the status of EPA's long-running effort to decide whether and how to regulate coal ash generated primarily from electric power generation. Recent events have put EPA on a course to make a final decision and may also signal the substance of that decision. As noted previously, in 2010 EPA sought public comment on alternative proposals to regulate coal ash, one being regulation as a hazardous waste under Subtitle C of the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act ("RCRA") and the other would regulate the material as a solid, but not hazardous, waste under ...
Updating an ongoing issue related to options for new ash regulations, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Coal Residuals Reuse and Management Act (H.R. 2218) on July 25, 2013. The legislation would regulate the ash from coal-fired power plants by classifying it as a solid waste under Subtitle D of the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. The prospect of some form of enhanced regulation of coal ash has been a contentious issue for several years. Following a 2008 breach of a coal ash impoundment operated by TVA in Kingston, Tennessee, the Environmental Protection ...
The Subcommittee on Environment and the Economy of the Energy and Commerce Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives approved legislation on June 6, to direct the regulation and management of coal combustion ash residuals. As previously noted here, the issue of the proper regulation of residuals from the combustion of coal for the generation of electric power has perplexed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for several years. The Agency is currently evaluating over 450,000 public comments received in response to competing regulatory proposals it initially proposed ...
Previously, we referenced an article in Bloomberg BNA reporting on an interview with an EPA representative who indicated that the Agency could not provide a definitive timeline for promulgating final regulations on the management of coal ash generated by power plants. EPA has now more formally confirmed this uncertainty. Recently, in announcing projected publication dates for a wide range of rules in various stages of development, EPA effectively acknowledged that there is no target date for the final rule. This is also reflected on EPA's web page which tracks the history of the ...
A recent article in Bloomberg BNA reports that the U.S. EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) is currently unable to provide a definitive timeline for promulgating final regulations on the management of coal ash generated by power plants. This continues a protracted rulemaking process, which has prompted an extraordinary number of public comments, approval of legislation by the House of Representatives to limit EPA's options, and litigation to force a final decision. The rulemaking history to date has been a mix of complexity, indecision, and contentiousness. It has its origin ...
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