Federal rollback on pollution

The federal government moved on two fronts in the same week: on April 9 it proposed weaker rules for coal ash dumps, and on April 8 Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin defended repealing the 2009 finding that greenhouse gases endanger public health. (epa.gov 1) (epa.gov 2) Coal ash is the powdery waste left after power plants burn coal, and it is often stored in ponds or landfills next to rivers and groundwater. The waste can contain arsenic, mercury, cadmium, and chromium, which is why cleanup rules focus on whether those chemicals leak into drinking water underground. (apnews.com) (cleantechnica.com) The April 9 proposal would stop requiring cleanup across an entire coal plant property in some cases and would narrow the focus to the exact places where ash was dumped. It would also loosen groundwater monitoring at some sites and make it easier to classify more ash as reusable material instead of waste needing tighter controls. (apnews.com) (epa.gov) That property-wide rule was added under President Joe Biden after regulators concluded that pollution can move underground beyond the visible edge of a dump, the way spilled coffee can soak past the stain you first see on a tablecloth. The new proposal would give plant owners and permitting agencies more room to argue that only a smaller area needs testing or cleanup. (wtop.com) (earthjustice.org) Environmental groups say that matters because coal ash contamination is already widespread. Earthjustice said industry data show at least 91 percent of coal plants have contaminated groundwater above federal safety standards, and it says 450 facilities around the country have coal ash dump sites. (earthjustice.org) At almost the same time, Zeldin was defending something even bigger than a waste rule: the repeal of the 2009 endangerment finding. That finding is the legal switch the Environmental Protection Agency has used for years to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from cars and other sources under the Clean Air Act. (epa.gov) (nbcnews.com) The agency’s own April 8 page says that without the 2009 finding, it lacks authority under Section 202(a) of the Clean Air Act to set greenhouse gas standards for new motor vehicles and engines. Legal analysts say that logic also supports wider attempts to unwind climate rules for power plants and oil and gas operations. (epa.gov) (skadden.com) Zeldin defended the repeal at a conference hosted by the Heartland Institute, a conservative think tank known for rejecting mainstream climate science, and told attendees to “celebrate vindication,” according to Associated Press reporting carried by CBS News. That speech showed the administration is not treating the rollback as a narrow legal cleanup but as a political reversal of the federal government’s climate posture. (cbsnews.com) (usnews.com) Put together, the two moves change who has to do the work. If federal rules are weaker on coal ash and the legal basis for national climate rules is stripped back, state regulators, local water systems, tribes, and neighborhood groups face more of the burden of testing, suing, and forcing cleanups site by site. (earthjustice.org) (skadden.com) The next fight will not be inside a power plant pond; it will be in courtrooms and state agencies. The coal ash proposal still has to go through the federal rulemaking process, and the repeal of the endangerment finding is almost certain to face legal challenges from states and environmental groups. (epa.gov) (skadden.com)