The Biden administration finalized two sweeping rules Thursday to slash toxic pollution from coal power plants that can contaminate rivers, streams and groundwater.
As part of a suite of new regulations that could reshape the power sector, one of the rules sets stricter standards for coal wastewater, requiring plant owners to effectively eliminate toxic heavy metals and other pollutants from three major waste streams. The rule tackles one of the largest industrial sources of arsenic, mercury and lead in water that have been linked to human health problems like cancer.
The agency will also require electric utilities to close and clean up inactive landfills that store coal ash, the byproduct of the fossil fuel after it is burned for electricity. That rule effectively ends what environmental advocates have described as a loophole in coal regulations and could help prevent disastrous coal ash landslides like the one that occurred near Kingston, Tennessee, in 2008.
Although coal use declined dramatically in the last 20 years, it has been one of the largest sources of electric power in the U.S. since the Industrial Revolution. It’s also often considered the dirtiest source of energy, both with respect to carbon emissions and pollutants like mercury and arsenic that are toxic to humans and fish.
