Overview

• The EPA plans to force some utilities to clean up older piles of toxic coal ash at their power plants to prevent contamination of groundwater.
• The proposed rule follows a legal petition by environmental groups last August asking the EPA to end exemptions to its 2015 coal ash rule.
• The new proposal requires the safe management of coal ash that has been dumped in areas that are currently unregulated.
• Coal ash contains hazardous pollutants including arsenic, chromium, lead, and mercury, which have been linked to cancer, heart and thyroid disease and other illnesses.
• The rule comes just days after the EPA proposed what could become the first-ever rules aimed at curbing carbon dioxide from new and existing power plants.