By: | Virginia Mercury
In a continued push to revamp the coal industry, President Donald Trump’s administration recently renewed their push to ease clean up requirements for the toxic ash that is leftover from burning coal.
Conservation groups say the move could increase the risk of increased groundwater contaminations. But in Virginia, state laws strictly regulate how the cleanup of coal ash is managed at certain sites.
Proposed federal rule change
Earlier this month, the Environmental Protection Agency proposed changes regarding disposal of coal combustion residuals (CCR), otherwise known as coal ash, which contains toxic heavy metals such as mercury, lead, and arsenic. The announcement of the proposed rule revisions kicked off a public comment period before the final rule is solidified.
Coal ash disposal regulations to prevent the contamination of groundwater were first passed in 2015 under the administration of former President Barack Obama and were later strengthened in 2024 under former President Joe Biden.
The newly proposed changes would allow states and utility regulators to grant exemptions from some of the national standards for disposal of the coal ash.
“Specifically, these provisions would allow a permit authority to make site-specific determinations regarding the appropriate point-of-compliance for the groundwater monitoring system (and) site-specific clean up levels during corrective action for constituents without a federal maximum contaminant level,” the proposal reads.
Virginia Democratic U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine pushed back against the changes, saying that they would weaken protections for citizens’ health.
“The EPA’s recent proposal to let companies off the hook for contaminating sites with cancer-causing coal ash is one of countless steps taken by this Administration to roll back environmental regulations designed to keep Americans safe,” Kaine said in a statement.
More ash could be left submerged in water near rivers and lakes where plants are often located under the proposed regulatory changes, environmental groups warned, which could lead to groundwater contamination.
“Letting coal-burning utilities set the agenda has been a disaster for communities across the South, resulting in coal ash spills and hundreds of families forced to live on bottled water for years under the threat of coal ash pollution,” said Nick Torrey, senior attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center
The disaster Torrey referenced is the 2014 coal ash spill in North Carolina from the Duke Energy plant that sent millions of gallons of polluted wastewater into the Dan River. The disaster impacted water intake in Virginia Beach many miles away.
The proposed change also lessens the requirements for recycling the ash for cement manufacturing, flue gas desulfurization gypsum for agriculture and wallboard.
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said these are “commonsense changes” and reflect “a commitment to restoring American energy dominance.”
Virginia coal management
While the majority of the commonwealth’s coal fired plants have been decommissioned or converted to natural gas plants, two plants still burn coal and are managed by Dominion Energy.
Virginia has its own regulations in place for the management of coal ash disposal, including a2019 law that mandated the specific clean up of CCR at four of Dominion’s previous coal burning sites: Bremo Bluff, Chesapeake Energy Center, Chesterfield Power Station, and Possum Point.
That law required Dominion to remove the ash to be recycled or placed in a lined landfill. It allows the company to recover the cost from customers through State Corporation Commission approval.
Dominion recently petitioned the commission to allow for a 53 cent increase to monthly bills to cover the continued costs of managing the CCR clean up and water treatment for the ash ponds.
As part of the Virginia Clean Economy Act, the coal plants, as well as gas powered plants, must be retired by 2050 — unless they are granted an extension due to reliability needs.
When asked if the new federal regulation proposal would impact operations in Virginia, a spokesperson for the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality said Virginia already has more stringent requirements in place.
“The Waste Management Act requires certain CCR units in the Chesapeake Bay watershed and in Giles County to close by removal, meaning CCR must be excavated, removed, and placed in a modern, lined landfill or recycled through encapsulated beneficial use,” the DEQ spokesperson said. “The law also includes additional requirements related to transportation, public water connection or private water testing, and continued efforts to recycle CCR.”
State laws also require biennial progress reports on the CCR clean up in the Chesapeake Watershed.
The last report in 2024 showed that approximately 1,645,698 cubic yards of coal ash were removed from the Chesterfield Power Station site and approximately 123,812 cubic yards from the Chesterfield Power Station were sent off site for repurposing.
The next progress report is due in Oct. 2026.
What’s next for the federal rule
The EPA is accepting public comments through June 12. There will also be a virtual public hearing hosted by the agency on May 28 about the proposed changes.
After those steps, the agency will be able to finalize the rule change and put it into effect, though it’s not clear exactly when that would happen.