EPA Gives Utilities More Options for Storing Coal Waste Ash

The EPA on Friday issued a final rule that lets utilities use a different liner for the disposal pits where they deposit the waste generated by coal-fired power plants.

Under the two-step process laid out in the rule, coal-fired plants now have the option of proving to the Environmental Protection Agency, or to a state regulator, that their impoundments don’t harm groundwater, based on ongoing monitoring data.

• Facilities also must prove that the design of their surface impoundment units will continue having “no reasonable probability” of harm to human health and the environment. Coal ash contains metals such as ...