The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced the first national regulations to provide for the safe disposal of coal combustion residuals (coal ash) from coal-fired power plants. The new rules categorize coal ash as a nonhazardous waste.
The first federal requirements for impoundments and landfills include:
- The closure of surface impoundments and landfills that fail to meet engineering and structural standards and will no longer receive coal ash;
- Reducing the risk of catastrophic failure by requiring regular inspections of the structural safety of surface impoundments;
- Restrictions on the location of new surface impoundments and landfills so that they cannot be built in sensitive areas such as wetlands and earthquake zones;
- Protecting groundwater by requiring monitoring, immediate cleanup of contamination, and closure of unlined surface impoundments that are polluting groundwater;
- Protecting communities from fugitive dust controls to reduce windblown coal ash dust; and
- Requiring liner barriers for new units and proper closure of surface impoundments and landfills that will no longer receive CCRs.
In response to comments received on the proposal, the final rule makes a number of changes by providing greater clarity on technical requirements for coal ash landfills and surface impoundments under Subtitle D of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), the nation's primary law for regulating solid waste.
For more information:
http://www2.epa.gov/coalash
http://www2.epa.gov/coalash/coal-ash-rule