Who Wants Coal Waste In Their Drywall? Who Wants To Cut Coal Toxin Testing? EPA Is Coming Through For YOU!!
The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday announced plans to weaken existing federal requirements over how power companies store and use the toxic waste produced by burning coal, the latest chapter in a fight that has spanned more than a decade and multiple presidential administrations. The many changes the Trump administration is seeking include exempting some older or inactive coal ash disposal sites from regulation, granting state officials more leeway over some cleanup and monitoring requirements, and allowing companies to test for contamination farther from ash sites rather than at the edge of a dump. The proposal, which would unravel protections put in place under Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden, would also make it easier to reuse coal ash for things like cement manufacturing and the production of drywall.
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Thursday’s proposal seeks to unwind much of the oversight the Biden administration hoped to impose on coal ash, which has long ranked among the nation’s largest industrial waste streams, with tens of millions of tons produced by power plants each year. The EPA said Thursday that it would accept public comments on its proposals for 60 days and plans to hold a public hearing.
In the meantime, advocates point to some places, particularly in the Southeast, where utilities have moved significant amounts of coal ash out of harm’s way and closed aging ponds and dumps. One of those spots is North Carolina. After multiple lawsuits and settlements following the Dan River spill, Duke Energy agreed to a comprehensive cleanup plan for all of its remaining coal ash lagoons in the state and has excavated tens of millions of tons of waste.
In addition, every utility in South Carolina has excavated or is excavating its coal ash from unlined lagoons, according to the Southern Environmental Law Center. Other controversial sites remain, however, and could be affected by whatever set of rules the Trump administration ultimately adopts. One of numerous examples is Alabama Power’s Plant Barry site, where an unlined coal ash pond containing more than 20 million cubic yards of waste sits along the Mobile River — one of multiple ash ponds owned by the state’s largest utility.
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2026/04/09/epa-coal-waste-proposal/
https://wapo.st/4taySzK
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