Consortium of Coal-Powered Utilities Adopt Standards for Combustion

Date: October 19, 2006

Source: USWAG

A consortium of coal-burning electric utilities, the Utility Solid Waste Activities Group (USWAG), has agreed to new voluntary standards aimed at reducing the environmental risk posed by fly ash, heavy metals and other combustion wastes sent to landfills and impoundment structures. By encouraging widespread implementation of voluntary standards, USWAG hopes to dissuade the EPA from implementing sweeping new regulations for coal combustion products (CCPs), possibly under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act or the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act. CCP landfills and impoundment sites have long been regulated by state agencies, and have generally not been subject to federal oversight. However, U.S. EPA in 2000 identified several concerns with CCP structures -- including a lack of on-site groundwater monitoring systems and the placement of wastes in sand or gravel pits without appropriate engineering controls. EPA also has documented numerous cases over the years where large CCP containment structures were compromised by drainage problems, faulty design, or construction on unstable ground. It announced it planned to develop new regulations for such sites but asked industry to try to find a solution first.

For more information, visit: www.uswag.org.

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