{ "id": "R41341", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "number": "R41341", "active": false, "source": "EveryCRSReport.com, University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department", "versions": [ { "source": "EveryCRSReport.com", "id": 409106, "date": "2011-10-07", "retrieved": "2016-04-07T00:30:55.390130", "title": "EPA\u2019s Proposal to Regulate Coal Combustion Waste Disposal: Issues for Congress", "summary": "Coal combustion waste (CCW) is inorganic material that remains after pulverized coal is burned for electricity production. A tremendous amount of the material is generated each year\u2014industry estimates that approximately 135 million tons were generated in 2009. On December 22, 2008, national attention was turned to issues regarding the waste when a breach in an impoundment pond at the Tennessee Valley Authority\u2019s (TVA\u2019s) Kingston, TN, power plant released 1.1 billion gallons of coal ash slurry. The cleanup cost has been estimated to reach $1.2 billion.\nWhile the incident at Kingston drew national attention to the potential for a sudden catastrophic release of waste, it is not the primary risk attributed to CCW management. An April 2010 risk assessment by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) indicated that CCW disposal in unlined landfills and surface impoundments presents substantial risks to human health and the environment from releases of toxic constituents (particularly arsenic and selenium) into surface and groundwater. That risk is largely eliminated when the waste is disposed of in landfills and surface impoundments equipped with composite liners. In addition to potential risks, EPA has reported numerous cases of actual surface and groundwater contamination when CCW was deposited into unlined disposal units or used as construction fill.\nCCW disposal is essentially exempt from federal regulation. Instead, it is regulated in accordance with individual state requirements. Inconsistencies among state regulatory programs were identified by EPA in a May 2000 regulatory determination as one reason that national standards to regulate CCW were needed. More recently, EPA called into question the effectiveness of some state regulatory programs in protecting human health and the environment. For example, EPA cited state survey data that showed that over 60% of states do not require liners or groundwater monitoring for surface impoundments (the disposal units with the highest potential for contaminant spread).\nTo establish national standards intended to address risks associated with potential CCW mismanagement, on June 21, 2010, EPA proposed two regulatory options to manage the waste. The first would draw on EPA\u2019s existing authority to identify a waste as hazardous and regulate it under standards established under Subtitle C of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). The second option would establish regulations applicable to CCW disposal units under RCRA\u2019s Subtitle D solid waste management requirements. Under Subtitle D, EPA does not have the authority to implement or enforce its proposed requirements. Instead, EPA would rely on states or citizen suits to enforce the new standards.\nThe proposal generated comment from industry groups, environmental and citizen groups, state agency representatives, individual citizens, and some Members of Congress. Concerns regarding the Subtitle C proposal relate to its ultimate impact on energy prices, state program implementation costs, and CCW recycling opportunities. Concern about the Subtitle D proposal primarily relates to whether it would sufficiently protect human health and the environment, given EPA\u2019s lack of authority to enforce it. Commenters have proposed various legislative options in response to the varied concerns over EPA\u2019s existing regulatory options. Possible legislative options include an explicit directive to EPA to regulate or prohibit CCW regulation under Subtitle C or Subtitle D or the creation of a new subtitle under RCRA that requires EPA to develop an entirely new set of disposal criteria specific to CCW management. Another option, proposed in the Coal Residuals Reuse and Management Act (H.R. 2273), would use existing landfill municipal solid waste landfill criteria as the basis for a state CCW permit program.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "active": false, "formats": [ { "format": "HTML", "encoding": "utf-8", "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/R41341", "sha1": "7591b0617eb4cdfe83221e7e429a3c2589a3d77f", "filename": "files/20111007_R41341_7591b0617eb4cdfe83221e7e429a3c2589a3d77f.html", "images": null }, { "format": "PDF", "encoding": null, "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/R41341", "sha1": "05c713f620f4bf0c220f306032b1840c79ebdfab", "filename": "files/20111007_R41341_05c713f620f4bf0c220f306032b1840c79ebdfab.pdf", "images": null } ], "topics": [] }, { "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department", "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc491656/", "id": "R41341_2010Sep21", "date": "2010-09-21", "retrieved": "2015-01-27T19:40:46", "title": "Regulating Coal Combustion Waste Disposal: Issues for Congress", "summary": "This report provides an overview of the current rulemaking for Coal combustion waste (CCW) and relevant background information that applies to that rulemaking. In particular, the report describes the nature of the waste itself and primary methods of managing it; discusses potential risks associated with its mismanagement, particularly as supported by new data EPA has gathered to support the proposed rulemaking; and provides an overview of EPA's current regulatory proposal.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORT", "active": false, "formats": [ { "format": "PDF", "filename": "files/20100921_R41341_77d0c19f956ee4e5c09908d72fabb4427b5f8618.pdf" }, { "format": "HTML", "filename": "files/20100921_R41341_77d0c19f956ee4e5c09908d72fabb4427b5f8618.html" } ], "topics": [ { "source": "LIV", "id": "Environmental protection", "name": "Environmental protection" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Environmental law and legislation", "name": "Environmental law and legislation" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Energy", "name": "Energy" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Mine wastes", "name": "Mine wastes" } ] } ], "topics": [] }