Overview
- EPA proposed weaker national rules for how utilities store and manage coal ash, which is the toxic waste left after burning coal.
- The plan would scale back groundwater monitoring near some ash sites, limit cleanups to dump areas rather than entire properties, and make reuse of ash easier.
- EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said the move supports energy goals and gives states more say over coal ash oversight.
- Environmental advocates warned the changes could let more heavy metals reach rivers and wells, increasing health risks for people living near coal plants.
- Industry groups have argued strict rules drive up costs and speed plant retirements, while past spills in Tennessee and North Carolina led to the original safeguards that the Biden administration later strengthened.