The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued a ruling last Friday stating that coal ash is a non-hazardous waste. Coal ash is a result of coal-based production of power that contains toxic materials like lead and arsenic.
The classification means that the primary enforcers of the federal rules, which target coal ash, are the environmental groups that have taken legal action and the states.
Gina McCarthy, EPA Administrator, told the reporters that "this rule is a huge step forward in our effort to protect communities from coal ash storage impoundment failures as well as the improper management and disposal of coal ash in general."
Environmental groups conveyed their disappointment with regards to the rules that do not necessitate the phase-out of the existing hundreds of holding ponds.
Under the said rules, groundwater surrounding the functioning coal ash landfills and holding ponds will be checked for contamination. If the toxins levels of the ponds are high, it will be dried out and closed.
EPA said that they do not have jurisdiction over abandoned holding ponds. The number of sites that exist cannot be immediately determined.
"Today's rule doesn't prevent more tragic spills like the ones we are still trying to clean up in North Carolina and Tennessee," Earthjustice's attorney, Lisa Evans, said in a statement. "It won't stop the slower moving disaster that is unfolding for communities around the country, as leaky coal ash ponds and dumps poison water."
Edison Electric Institute acclaimed EPA's action for classifying coal ash as not hazardous but expressed their worry that the ruling might be reversed later on.
Jim Inhofe, Senator of Oklahoma, and Shelley Moore Capito, Senator of West Virginia, both are Republicans, said in a statement that they will work to ensure that the American consumers, municipalities, and states will be properly protected legislatively against continuous attack of the president on the affordable and abundant energy resources of the nation.