EPA Delays Coal Ash and Groundwater Monitoring Requirements

The Environmental Protection Agency on Friday announced a final rule pushing back compliance deadlines for coal ash groundwater monitoring and closure reports.

Under the new rule, coal plants would have another year to complete required reports identifying the location and size of facilities that have coal combustion residual management units. The facilities would also get another three years to comply with the groundwater monitoring requirements, according to a statement from the agency.

For example, the deadline for one of the steps, installing the groundwater monitoring system, was moved from May 2028 to February 2031.

“This additional time will allow the regulated community to overcome the challenges that were adversely impacting their ability to comply with the CCRMU compliance deadlines,” EPA said in the statement.

The agency said its move “supports grid reliability and unleashes American energy potential while maintaining strong protections for human health and the environment.”

Coal ash, or coal combustion residuals, are the byproducts created from burning coal at power plants—the contaminants of which can pollute the air and drinking water.

The EPA’s previous coal ash rules have provoked several lawsuits from conservation groups as well as utilities challenging the agency’s regulatory authority.

“Rather than enforcing the law and making polluters clean up their toxic coal ash, Trump’s EPA lets them continue to pollute our water with toxic chemicals that threaten our health,” said Lisa Evans, senior counsel at Earthjustice, in a statement Friday.

“The longer industry delays, the more toxic waste enters our water, and the more difficult cleanup becomes,” she said.

In its final rule—which becomes effective Feb. 9—the EPA acknowledged concerns about the impacts to human health and the environment, but the agency said it believes “providing these extensions protects the American public.”

The EPA’s move comes as the Trump administration has repeatedly sought to prop up fossil fuels—including coal—to meet rising energy demand from data centers and artificial intelligence.

The Energy Department is currently facing multiple lawsuits challenging the continued operation of coal plants previously marked for retirement.