The state of Wyoming and other coal-producing states are suing to challenge a rule crafted by the Environmental Production Agency that targets “inactive coal ash impoundments.”
The rules, which were designed by the EPA nearly a decade ago to hold power plants accountable for controlling and cleaning up contamination created by the disposal of coal ash, could go into effect in November unless they are overturned by a federal appeals court.
Coal ash is produced from the burning of coal in coal-fired power plants.
On Monday, Wyoming announced that it will lead a lawsuit with 16 other states, including coal-mining states like Alabama, Kentucky, Montana and West Virginia, in the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C.
The lawsuit, which was filed a week ago, challenges the highly technical rule issued by the EPA that creates two new categories of federally regulated inactive coal ash impoundments.
The rule is called the “Hazardous and Solid Waste Management System: Disposal of Coal Combustion Residuals from Electric Utilities.”
One category focuses on coal ash at “inactive power plants,” while the other wrestles with “management units” with coal combustion residuals.
The management units are areas of land where coal ash is received, placed or otherwise managed that had not previously been regulated by the EPA.
Coal ash, or coal combustion residuals, is produced whenever coal is burned at coal-fired power plants. These residuals are considered one of the largest types of industrial waste.
Some residuals are reused to manufacture cement or wallboard, while the rest is dumped in landfills or surface impoundments. Because coal ash contains many contaminants, including mercury and arsenic, unsafe and unregulated management of coal ash disposal units can pose environmental and health risks.
The coal ash residual rules were first pushed in 2015 during the waning days of former President Barack Obama’s administration. After several legal appeals, the EPA issued final rules that are expected to become effective Nov. 4.
“This one-size-fits-all rule applies a broad brush to every area, while setting unreasonable timelines that will be costly to implement,” Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon said in Monday’s announcement. “Ultimately, these costs will be borne by electric cooperatives and passed on to taxpayers. It’s time we stopped this onslaught of anti-coal regulations.”
This is the state’s fourth lawsuit challenging new rules from the EPA that Wyoming claims will destroy its coal industry.
In other lawsuits, the state joined 21 other states challenging recently released power plant regulations from the EPA they say are designed to regulate coal and natural gas-fired power plants out of existence over the next decade and undermine Wyoming’s economy.
On May 9, Gordon filed a pair of lawsuits challenging the rules that push the relevance of coal as a revenue stream to the backburner in America.
Gordon says the EPA’s rules are designed to force the early retirement of electricity generating power plants fueled with coal and gas.
Pat Maio can be reached at pat@cowboystatedaily.com.
