Energy companies that manage coal ash dumps have asked the Trump administration for relief from a new regulation requiring them to inspect and monitor those retention ponds for signs of pollution.
If EPA grants their request, it could delay cleanup of one the nation’s most significant sources of industrial waste.
In a sweeping rule issued last year, EPA directed companies to begin cleaning up over 100 coal ash dumps and landfills, some of which are known to leak toxic, cancer-causing metals like mercury, lead and arsenic into groundwater. Now, companies say they are struggling to evaluate those sites for signs of leaks and structural problems, as required under the rule.
Describing the rule’s deadlines as “unreasonable and unworkable,” the Utility Solid Waste Activities Group has asked EPA to delay additional requirements until the agency creates a permit program to “review, approve, and verify the existence” of coal ash sites across the country, according to a letter viewed by POLITICO’s E&E News.
