EPA Promises Case-by-Case Oversight of Coal Ash Reporting

Date: November 17, 2010

Source: News Room

The EPA says that it will conduct "case-by-case" oversight of power plants and other generators of coal combustion ash and residuals (CCRs) to verify that they report waste releases to the agency's Toxics Release Inventory (TRI), despite not having determined whether to regulate the waste as hazardous. Moreover, the agency does not even have a regulatory definition of waste that is subject to TRI reporting. Earlier this year, EPA proposed two options for regulating CCR, either as a "special waste" subject to subtitle C handling and disposal requirements under the Resource Conservation & Recovery Act (RCRA) or to less stringent "solid waste" rules under subtitle D. The official comment period closed on Nov. 19. Under section 313 of the Emergency Planning & Community Right to Know Act (EPCRA), EPA generally requires coal ash destined for roadfill, landfill, or mining reclamation to be reportable. However, some facilities which distribute coal ash for use in concrete manufacturing, are exempt from TRI reporting as a processing activity under the statute's de minimis exemption, though coal ash as a raw material for a product, such as cement manufacturing, is currently reported.

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