Kicking Ash and Taking Names

摘要

The new rules on Coal Combustion Residuals (CCR) have a novel requirement aimed at making compliance efforts transparent: many records must be posted on the internet to allow easy public accessibility. Requiring a website is an interesting development and is an obvious next step in regulatory communication. On April 17, 2015, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published the final version of the federal CCR rule on the storage and disposal of CCRs generated by electric utilities. The CCR rule is expected to affect more than 1,000 active CCR management units throughout the U.S, particularly the owners and operators of CCR landfills and surface impoundments. The new rule includes provisions addressing the potential for catastrophic failure of CCR containments, groundwater monitoring, operational requirements, recordkeeping and reporting, as well as closure procedures for inactive or failing facilities.