Ken
O’Brien
The Environmental Protection Agency announced on
Friday the first national regulations for the safe disposal of coal ash from
power plants.
The new rules categorize coal ash as a nonhazardous
waste.
"These strong safeguards will protect drinking
water from contamination, air from coal ash dust and our communities from
structural failures, while providing facilities a practical approach for
implementation," EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy said in a release.
The regulations include the closure of landfills and
certain other facilities that do not meet construction standards. Other rules
include stricter protection of groundwater and prevention of waste facility
construction in sensitive areas such as wetlands and earthquake zones.
With the new rules, the EPA said it is working
toward greater reuse of coal ash. Nearly 40 percent of all coal ash produced
was beneficially used in 2012, the agency said.
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