EPA Deems Coal Ash Nonhazardous
Posted on Monday, September 21, 2015
Four and a half years
after it was proposed
and one year after a
federal judge demanded
a decision, a rule to
determine the disposal
fate of coal waste has
finally been published. In
a decision widely viewed
as a victory for the coal industry, the
US Environmental Protection Agency
has unveiled a final rule that classifies
coal combustion residuals (CCRs) as
solid—not hazardous—waste.
Furthermore, millions of tons of
coal ash that are beneficially reused
in concrete, wallboard, and other
products will continue indefinitely to
be exempt from regulation. But coal
disposal impoundments and landfills
are in for some changes and increased
oversight.
Those highlights mark the
EPA’s long-awaited 745-page
prepublication version of Disposal
of Coal Combustion Residuals from
Electric Utilities Final Rule, released in
December at the tail end of a courtordered
deadline set a year ago. The
final rule was published on April 17,
2015, and takes effect 6 months after
publication in the Federal Register.
Coal ash includes fly ash,
bottom ash, boiler slag, and flue gas
desulfurization material. Coal ash is
the second-largest source of industrial
waste, after mining waste, in the US.
The rule establishes the first national
regulations for the safe disposal of
coal ash from power plants. The
high-stakes decision
carries significant
implications for the
coatings, construction,
and abrasive blasting
industries, where CCRs
are widely used.
The final rule
establishes a
comprehensive set of requirements
for the disposal of CCRs under the
solid-waste provisions (Subtitle D)
of the Resource Conservation and
Recovery Act (RCRA). While the rule
sets standards for impoundments
and landfills and will likely close
some facilities that do not meet those
standards, the EPA maintained its
historical view that the 110 million
tons of coal waste generated in the
US each year by more than 470 power
plants are not hazardous.
The EPA’s new regulations
are designed to prevent another
catastrophic failure such as the one
that triggered the regulatory review:
the December 2008 spill at the
Tennessee Valley Authority Kingston
Fossil Plant, which dumped 5.4
million cubic yards of coal fly ash
slurry across more than 300 acres of
land and river. The cleanup from that
disaster is still not complete.
The new rule establishes
requirements for new and
existing CCR landfills and surface
impoundments, including lateral
expansion of any unit. More
information is available at www2.epa.gov/coalash/coal-ash-rule.