Rachel SiegelCoal ash crackdown continues as EPA denies extensions for six power plants
Among other issues, the EPA determined some plant owners were placing monitoring equipment in locations that could deliver misleading results.
The U.S. EPA on Wednesday denied six coal plants’ requests to keep dumping toxic ash into unlined or inadequately lined pits, signaling the agency’s commitment to enforce the 2015 federal coal ash rules that had been widely flouted by companies and ignored by regulators.
The rules say that pits without legally compliant liners needed to stop receiving coal ash by April 2021, but many companies continued dumping ash in such pits and ponds, with more than 60 seeking extensions to the deadline. The EPA began a series of enforcement actions last year.
