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April 30, 2024
This e-newsletter delivers announcements from EPA's Office of Resource Conservation and Recovery on rulemakings, guidance documents, reports, research, upcoming webinars, and more.
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New Rules for the Disposal of Historical Coal Ash
On April 25, 2024, the United States Environmental Protection Agency announced new rules requiring the safe management of coal ash that is placed in areas that were unregulated at the federal level until now. This includes inactive power plants with surface impoundments that are no longer being used (referred to as “legacy CCR surface impoundments”) and historical coal ash disposal areas at active power plants (referred to as “CCR management units”).
Legacy CCR surface impoundments and CCR management units are more likely to be unlined and unmonitored, making them more prone to leaks and structural problems than units at facilities that are currently in service. To address these concerns, with this final rule, EPA is creating safeguards for legacy CCR surface impoundments that largely mirror those for inactive impoundments at active facilities, including requiring the proper closure of the impoundments and remediating CCR-contaminated groundwater. EPA also established groundwater monitoring, corrective action, closure, and post closure care requirements for all CCR management units (regardless of how or when that CCR was placed) at regulated CCR facilities.
These changes advance the agency’s commitment to protecting communities, groundwater, waterways, drinking water, and the air from CCR contamination. For more information, visit our final rule webpage.
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Rounding out Earth Month, the Office of Resource Conservation and Recovery Publishes Fiscal Year 2023 Accomplishments Report
In celebration of Earth Month, we are excited to share the FY 2023 ORCR Accomplishments Report with you. Throughout FY 2023, ORCR made substantial strides in our commitment to advancing the principles of environmental justice and supporting our mission of protecting public health and the environment. Together, we are empowering people, communities, and organizations to be forces for change in their neighborhoods and in the face of the climate crisis.
We continue to protect human health and the environment through our grant programs, regulatory work, international initiatives, national strategies, maps and mapping tools, e-Manifest system, hazardous waste corrective action and polychlorinated biphenyl programs, as well as providing technical assistance, guidance, and outreach. We hope you enjoy reading through this report chock-full of our accomplishments, and we look forward to achieving even more next year!
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Interested in subscribing to our other newsletter? “In the Loop” topics include circular economy, reduce/reuse/recycle, food loss and waste, electronics, plastics, municipal solid waste, and the built environment. Subscribe here.
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