EPA Considers Hybrid Regulatory Approach to Coal Ash

Date: March 27, 2009

Source: News Room

The EPA is considering a "hybrid" approach to the regulation of coal combustion waste (CCW) that combines hazardous and solid waste provisions of waste law. Speaking at a meeting of the Environmental Council of the States (ECOS) on March 22, Matt Hale, director of EPA's Office of Resource Conservation and Recovery, said it would be similar to the agency's 1999 proposal to regulate cement kiln dust as a "special" waste. Under that scheme, kiln dust was categorized as a RCRA subtitle D solid waste in the event that certain disposal guidelines were followed, including groundwater monitoring, closure and post-closure financial assurance and monitoring guarantees and other provisions. If those guidelines were not followed, the waste would be considered a RCRA subtitle C hazardous waste subject to more stringent disposal requirements. Regulating CCW in this way gives individual states more flexibility while also appealing to wider group of stakeholders both environmentalists and industry.

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