EPA rule would force clean-up of toxic coal ash dumped in landfills, ponds near power plants
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Environmental Protection Agency is strengthening a rule aimed at controlling and cleaning up toxic waste from coal-fired power plants. A proposal announced Wednesday would for the first time require safe management of so-called coal ash dumped in hundreds of older landfills, “legacy" ponds and other inactive sites that currently are unregulated at the federal level.
EPA Administrator Michael Regan said the plan would hold polluters accountable for controlling and cleaning up coal ash, a byproduct of burning coal in that can pollute waterways, groundwater, drinking water and the air. Coal ash contains contaminants such as mercury, chromium and arsenic associated with cancer and other health problems.
“Ensuring the health and safety of all people is EPA’s top priority, and this proposed rule represents a crucial step toward safeguarding the air, groundwater, streams and drinking water that communities depend on,” Regan said in a statement.
If finalized, the rule would help protect underserved and minority communities already overburdened by pollution, reflecting the Biden administration’s commitment to environmental justice, Regan said.
“Many of these communities have been disproportionately impacted by pollution for far too long,'' he said, noting that power plants, chemical plants and other large industrial sites are commonly located in poor and minority neighborhoods.
The proposed rule follows an EPA proposal last week to impose new limits on greenhouse gas emissions from coal- and gas-fired power plants — the Biden administration's most ambitious effort to roll back planet-warming pollution from the power sector, the nation’s second-largest contributor to climate change.
The agency also has proposed rules to crack down on polluted wastewater...