EPA to Clarify Whether Coal Ash Rules Would Apply to Inactive Sites

Date: June 28, 2010

Source: News Room

US EPA officials said they are working to determine if the agency's proposal to issue a first-time hazardous waste rule for the disposal of coal ash would retroactively apply to coal waste surface impoundments that are no longer operating, potentially affecting hundreds of inactive sites. The agency says it will issue a clarification of intent about whether the proposal would capture inactive sites so that groups commenting on the agency's plan can adjust their comments accordingly.

Jim Roewer, executive director of the Utility Solid Waste Activities Group (USWAG), said that EPA's proposal to regulate ash as hazardous under subtitle C of the Resource Conservation & Recovery Act (RCRA) amounts to an "expansion of RCRA" because it would retroactively apply to inactive disposal sites. EPA is also taking comment on less-stringent regulation of coal ash as solid waste under subtitle D of RCRA. In this situation, the agency may also pursue separate financial assurance requirements for coal waste facilities under section 108 of the Superfund law, otherwise lacking under subtitle D. EPA published the proposal in the June 21 Federal Register, beginning a formal 90-day comment period.

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