The promulgation of a proposed rule regulating coal ash has been delayed amid numerous meetings between industry representatives, environmental groups and federal agencies. On October 16, 2009, the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) sent its proposed coal ash rule to the Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”). EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson had promised that a proposed coal ash rule would be published by the end of 2009. The rule may regulate coal ash as a “hazardous waste” under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (“RCRA”). However, the “noteworthy” number of meetings between industry groups, environmental groups and OMB, and the over 2,300 pages of documents OMB must review, have delayed the release of a proposed rule.
Industry representatives believe that regulating coal ash under RCRA would negatively impact companies who produce the ash as well as companies who beneficially reuse it (e.g., as structural fill or agricultural uses). Tom Addams, executive director of the American Coal Ash Association, a utility industry group, stated “[a] hazardous determination would make builders reluctant to use coal ash not because of what it may contain, but because of tort activity. If litigation was filed on a national basis, it would be mind-boggling to see what the defense costs were.” Industry representatives also believe that the toxic materials in coal ash are not in high enough concentrations for the ash to be regulated as “hazardous.”
Environmental groups want coal ash to be regulated as a “hazardous waste” because it contains mercury, lead, and other potentially toxic constituents. Representatives of these groups are concerned that industry may influence the outcome of the proposed rule.
The coal ash proposal could be published in the coming weeks.
More information about the meetings between industry, environmental groups and OMB is available at the OMB website.
