EPA moved Wednesday to create an agency-run permitting program for coal ash dumps, part of a broader Trump administration strategy to ease cleanup requirements for the industrial waste stream.
The agency reopened the comment period on a 2020 proposal from the first Trump administration to create a system for utilities and coal companies to obtain lifetime permits for ash dump sites. Under the original proposal, which was never finalized, companies that received the permits would have been shielded from lawsuits alleging violations of groundwater pollution standards or other requirements under EPA’s coal ash rules.
While the agency considers comments on all aspects of the 2020 proposal, it signaled in a Federal Register notice Wednesday a particular interest in enabling a speedy permitting process.
“In order to expedite processing permit applications, EPA also requests comment on shortening the deadline for submission of the first tier of permit applications to the effective date of the final permitting rule, which would be six months after publication of the final permitting rule in the Federal Register, and whether this is enough time to compile materials needed for the permit application,” the notice states.
