Tag: coal combustion residuals

Simultaneous EPA Proposals Look to Cut Costs for Coal-Fired Power

The Trump administration is relying heavily on its environmental authority to try to reverse the declining role of coal in energy generation. Under both the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) and the Clean Water Act (CWA), the Agency has the power to regulate how much the coal-fired electricity sector must do and how much […]

Coal Plant

EPA Says Power Companies Don’t Need Financial Responsibility Rule

The EPA is proposing not to use its authority under Section 108(b) of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA or Superfund) to impose financial responsibility requirements on facilities in the electric power generation, transmission, and distribution sector.

Coal burning

CCR Amendments Include Waiver of Groundwater Monitoring

In 2018, the EPA issued the first of two sets of amendments to the Agency’s 2015 regulations (April 17, 2015, Federal Register (FR)) governing the disposal of coal combustion residuals (CCR) generated by electric power plants. Among other things, the 2015 rule directed that the owners and operators (O/O) of CCR units (i.e., landfills and […]

Coal burning

EPA Must Rework Rule on Coal Combustion Residuals

The EPA will be searching for ways to bounce back from a resounding defeat in which the D.C. Circuit vacated industry-friendly provisions of the Agency’s 2015 final rule governing the disposal of coal combustion residuals (CCRs) generated by electric power plants.

Coal burning

2015 CCR Rule Deregulated by EPA

In a final rule, the EPA has promulgated amendments to its 2015 requirements for the disposal of coal combustion residuals (CCRs) generated by electric utilities (April 17, 2015, Federal Register (FR)). The final amendments, which were included in a package of revisions the Agency proposed in early 2018 (March 15, 2018, FR), loosen the stringency […]

Senate and House Agree on Coal Combustion Legislation

A major environmental provision in the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation (WIIN) Act (S. 612) would give states the authority to establish, implement, and enforce their own permitting programs for the management and disposal of coal combustion residuals (CCRs) from electric power plants. Lawmakers from both the House and the Senate recently reached a […]

Exemption for Closed CCR Landfills… Canceled!

In response to an order from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, the EPA has issued a direct final rule amending its regulations (April 17, 2015, FR) governing the disposal of coal combustion residuals (CCRs) as solid waste under Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) Subtitle D. In the CCR rule, the […]