Earthjustice attorney Lisa Evans
WASHINGTON D.C. — “A congressional effort to rein in federal regulation of coal ash could result in little or no regulation at all, a new report from the Congressional Research Service warns.
The bills, H.R. 2273 and S. 3512, would set up a plan for states to regulate coal ash like landfill waste — pre-empting an Environmental Protection Agency proposal to designate the often toxic combustion byproducts as hazardous waste. But the proposals’ vague language would make it difficult to tell if states are correctly implementing their own programs, says the report, which the green group Earthjustice made public Monday.
Among other fuzziness, the bills leave unclear ‘key issues such as how, when or to which facilities the [state] permit program would apply,’ the report says. ‘That level of uncertainty defeats the purpose of a permit program,’ it adds.”
— Erica Martinson, Politico
