August 13, 2024 |
Photo – Jim Bridger Power Plant – Bigfoot99 file photo
Governor Mark Gordon announced Monday that Wyoming will lead a lawsuit with Texas, North Dakota, and 14 other states challenging the latest attack on the coal industry with overreaching rules from the Biden Administration’s Environmental Protection Agency.
The latest legal fight is the fourth lawsuit the Governor has filed since EPA released the rule package targeting coal-fired power plants this spring. Wyoming previously filed three lawsuits challenging EPA’s other rules that target the coal industry.
In the latest attack, the so-called coal combustion residuals (CCR) rule creates two new categories of federally regulated CCR facilities: inactive coal ash impoundments at inactive power plants and CCR “management units,” areas of land where coal ash was received, placed or otherwise managed that had not previously been regulated by EPA.
“This one-size-fits-all rule applies a broad brush to every area, while setting unreasonable timelines that will be costly to implement,” Governor Gordon said.
The costs likely will be passed onto consumers. It’s time we stopped this onslaught of anti-coal regulations,” the governor added.
The final rule is effective on November 4, 2024.
Though published under Subtitle D of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), which is the public law that created the framework for the proper management of hazardous and non-hazardous waste, the rule also focuses on assessing and addressing groundwater impacts from coal ash disposal, specifically the leaking of contaminants into groundwater.
It establishes distinct requirements associated with groundwater monitoring and reporting, required closure of CCR units based on groundwater and risk results, and record keeping and reporting requirements for each CCR facility. As a result, utilities have been faced with an increased need for understanding the groundwater requirements associated with the rule and coordination of compliance with current state solid waste regulatory requirements.
Under the rule, owners or operators of both active and inactive impoundments and landfills must monitor groundwater for potential contamination for 30 years or more. Groundwater underlying CCR regulated facilities may have sampling results that are above state and/or federal standards for those constituents listed in the CCR Rule.
In recent decades, increasing regulations regarding coal combustion residuals (CCR) have greatly impacted operations at coal-fired facilities by increasing the cost of doing business.
The rule, published on May 8, 2024, amends the regulations governing the disposal of CCR in landfills and surface impoundments. Specifically, the EPA is establishing regulatory requirements for inactive CCR surface impoundments.
As Governor Gordon noted in his statement Monday, “Ultimately, these costs will be borne by electric cooperatives and passed on to taxpayers.”
