EPA Proposes to Gut Federal Coal Ash Cleanup Requirements and Health Protections

EPA Proposes to Gut Federal Coal Ash Cleanup Requirements and Health Protections

Earthjustice will sue to stop the EPA from rewriting the rules for coal power companies' toxic sludge

Contacts

[email protected]

Today the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a proposed rule to gut the regulations that protect communities from the dangers of coal ash - the toxic sludge left after burning coal to produce electricity. The proposed rule would dismantle coal ash protections for both operating and former coal power plants sites; exempt hundreds of coal ash dumps from any regulation at all; and permit the owners of coal power plant sites to minimize, delay, or entirely avoid cleanup of contamination at their facilities.

"The Trump administration just took a sledgehammer to the health protections in place for toxic coal pollution. This is yet another handout to the coal power industry at the expense of our health, water, and wallets," said Lisa Evans, senior counsel at Earthjustice. "The Trump administration jeopardizes people's health by letting the coal industry continue to pollute our communities rather than pay for effective safeguards. Ultimately, if this rule is finalized, human health will suffer and taxpayers will be left with the cost of cleaning up their rivers and drinking water."

For decades, utilities disposed of coal ash by dumping it in unlined ponds, landfills, and mines. Coal ash - a mix of hazardous pollutants, metals, carcinogens, and neurotoxins - is contaminating water at nearly every current and former coal plant site in the U.S. According to the industry's own data, at least 91% of coal plants are contaminating groundwater above federal safety standards, threatening nearby water supplies. Coal ash was designated a national enforcement priority for the EPA in 2024 because of this rampant contamination. See a map of 450 U.S. facilities with coal ash dump sites.

EPA established the first federal coal ash rule in 2015 to require closure of dangerous ash dumps and cleanup of leaking toxic sites. The EPA expanded this rule in 2024 to cover hundreds of older, dirtier dumps that have been polluting for decades. Clean-up of these newly regulated dumps has yet to begin and under the new proposed rule may never happen.

When Trump was elected, power companies and industry groups began pressing EPA to gut the rules that protect communities from exposure to coal ash waste. Letters and white papers from Utility Solid Waste Activities Group (USWAG) (here, here, and here) and Cross-Cutting Issues Group (CCGI) have been released publicly. With its proposed rule, EPA has granted those requests. Now polluting power companies could be let off the hook for decades of reckless disposal of their toxic coal ash. And this would happen just as the 2024 Coal Ash Rule was finally forcing the coal industry to reveal and address the full scale of its contamination.

The EPA will hold an online public hearing on the proposed changes, people are encouraged to register to speak or submit written comments in advance.

The proposed new rule would:

• Exempt hundreds of dangerous coal ash dumps from all regulation. EPA refers to these older, dry dumps as Coal Combustion Residual Management Units (CCRMU). They are found at nearly every coal plant site and are known to be contaminating groundwater.
• Grant state agencies and EPA regional offices broad discretion to deviate from established, effective monitoring and cleanup requirements at the request of the coal power industry. The proposed rule creates permit exemptions and variances with weak standards that will likely result in no cleanup being required at many sites.
• Allow companies to assess groundwater contamination 150 or more meters from a coal ash dump rather than at the dump's edge, effectively permitting a zone of contamination. EPA even suggested that it might be appropriate to move monitoring as far as the boundary of these large power plant sites.
• Allow states and EPA to increase the amount of cobalt, lithium, molybdenum and lead permitted in coal ash-contaminated water above federal safe standards.
• Permit companies to leave coal ash in dumps even when it is known to be in contact with groundwater and leaking from the site. The current rules forbid leaving coal ash stored in contact with groundwater, because of the threat to nearby waterways, wells, and communities.
• Delay the closure and cleanup of more than a hundred legacy coal ash dumps by removing deadlines and allowing permitting authorities to wait years before establishing standards or simply deciding not to require closure and cleanup.
• Remove all safety standards for "piles" of coal ash waste no matter how large they are or where they are located. Waste piles are currently regulated as landfills because they present the same risks and the rule requires liners, monitoring, dust control, closure, and cleanup for them. Under the proposed rule, utilities would be able to create massive piles of coal ash with no responsibility whatsoever for addressing the serious risks they pose.
• Eliminate restrictions on the use of coal ash as a substitute for clean soil in any location, even in places such as parks, playgrounds, residential developments and hospitals, despite high levels of arsenic and radium in coal ash.

In addition, the proposed rule would grant states and the EPA broad discretion to weaken monitoring and cleanup requirements at the request of coal plant owners through the permitting process. In the proposed rule, the EPA declares its intent to move forward with a federal coal ash permitting rule. This proposed permitting system would empower EPA to rubber stamp utilities' deficient management and cleanup plans.

"The longer the coal industry is allowed to delay closure and cleanup of coal ash, the more toxic waste enters our water, and the more difficult it is to clean up. Yet rather than enforcing the law and holding polluters responsible, today Trump's EPA proposes to let them continue polluting, exactly as they requested. Earthjustice has successfully defended these safeguards in court and will do so again," said Evans.

Additional Resources

• Where are Coal Ash Dump Sites?
• People Are Furious About Coal Ash Deregulation
• 'Do Your Job, EPA': Stories From the Frontlines of Coal Ash
• Threats to Human Health from Coal Ash
• About the Clean Energy Program

About Earthjustice

Earthjustice is the premier nonprofit environmental law organization. We wield the power of law and the strength of partnership to protect people's health, to preserve magnificent places and wildlife, to advance clean energy, and to combat climate change. We are here because the earth needs a good lawyer.