The Trump administration is facing sharp criticism after the Environmental Protection Agency delayed implementing rules regarding the removal of coal ash from a number of sites around the country. 

What's happening?

According to Canary Media, the EPA under Trump-appointed administrator Lee Zeldin has made changes to regulations to allow for further delays in reporting and groundwater monitoring for coal ash.

The EPA wants to push the deadline for filing facility evaluation reports by another one to two years, meaning a further delay in deciding whether sites can be designated coal combustion residual management units (CCRMUs) or not. CCRMUs require more careful monitoring and cleanup than other sites under current EPA regulations.

It's widely believed that the instructions to delay that reporting is a precursor to rolling back regulations on coal ash and its cleanup entirely.

"We assume what EPA did was give themselves time to make significant changes to the legacy coal ash rule," said Lisa Evans, senior counsel at Earthjustice. ​"The amount of time given to utilities to comply with the CCRMU portion of the rules [was] extremely generous. The utilities were given years, and now they're coming back for more, thinking this EPA will grant them more time."

Why is coal ash important?

According to Canary Media, coal ash is a serious environmental and health concern, particularly for residents in areas near current or former coal power plants.

Coal ash can contain heavy metals and other contaminants that can cause cancer, as well as respiratory issues, according to the EPA. Making matters worse, if these coal ash sites and dumps were to begin to leach into the groundwater, the toxins in the remaining particulates would seep into the drinking water for millions of Americans.

According to Evans, many of the sites in question are at high risk of doing just that, contaminating groundwater or major water sources, which could lead to devastating consequences.

"We were all stunned," she said. ​"Years do make a difference when you're thinking about the movement of contaminated groundwater. This will allow more contaminants to get into groundwater, it will make it hard, possibly impossible, to remediate. We know these sites; we know how contaminated these sites are; we know contamination is moving in the groundwater."

What's being done about the new regulations?

Earthjustice and several other organizations are planning to lodge adverse complaints against the delay in the new rules, which creates problems of their own. By filing an adverse complaint, it would delay the implementation of the 2018 regulations by another year, which could push the reporting deadline even further back.

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"If you get a year or two years, you get another two years to put in groundwater monitoring. Then that delays the determination of contamination, which then delays development of a cleanup plan and final remedy," said Evans. ​"You're pushing everything into the future."

The good news is that rolling back protections would be an extended process, as any repealing of agency regulations requires an approval period and can be prolonged by continuing to issue complaints regarding the changes.

Beyond that, the best thing that can be done is to write to your representatives and give to organizations that are fighting to protect communities from coal ash, in the hopes they will force the EPA to enforce its own regulations.

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