As reported by the U.S.-based Waste Business Journal (www.wastebusinessjournal.com), a coalition of 11 environmental and public health groups are suing the EPA to force the agency to set a hard deadline by which it will issue the final version of its long-stalled coal combustion residuals (CCRs) disposal rule.
The groups argue that the EPA is ignoring a Resource Conservation & Recovery Act (RCRA) requirement to periodically review and revise its waste rules.
EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson recently said the agency plans to finalize the rule in late 2012 after completing a risk analysis of coal ash reuse in products.
The rule will finalize the EPA's June 2010 proposal to regulate coal ash either as a RCRA subtitle C hazardous waste subject to strict disposal controls, as desired by the activists, or under RCRA's subtitle D solid waste program, which would delegate the regulation of CCRs to the states.
Despite Jackson's assurance, several activist groups -- Earthjustice, Physicians for Social Responsibly and 10 other organizations -- sent the EPA a January 18, 2012 notice of intent to sue saying that the agency "has effectively ignored RCRA's requirement to periodically review and revise regulations for decades. It is now incumbent on the Agency to remedy this longstanding legal violation by completing reviews and regulatory revisions that are plainly necessary based on the wealth of data gathered and multiple reports issued by the Agency."
Lisa Evans of Earthjustice said that the intent of the lawsuit is to obtain a legal deadline compelling the EPA to act on the proposed rule and issue a final rule.
The groups claim EPA "has neither completed final review nor revised the regulation exempting coal ash from hazardous waste rules since its promulgation in 1980 . . . nor has it completed its review and timely revised the industrial solid waste regulations that apply to coal ash disposal . . . which were promulgated in 1979."
Those comments contrast sharply with the view of states, who have defended the effectiveness of their regulations and sought legislation that would effectively bar an EPA rule under subtitle C.
In comments made in 2011, the Association of State & Territorial Solid Waste Management Officials reiterated long-running criticisms that activists "drastically underestimate the adequacy of state coal combustion residuals management programs" and interpret data from studies "in a way that makes the programs appear to be less effective than actually reported."