Trump EPA to lift Biden rule on legacy coal ash disposal sites
Late last week, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said it would lift regulations on hundreds of legacy coal ash sites nationwide.
According to Earthjustice, 20 such sites are in Kentucky, 16 are in West Virginia and eight are in Tennessee. They’re filled with ash from coal-burning power plants, and environmental advocacy groups say they pose a risk to drinking water.
A group of utilities, including East Kentucky Power Cooperative, sued the Biden administration over the coal ash rule and sought an emergency stay from the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court declined to block the rule, but the Trump EPA last year said it would revisit the issue. It’s the latest effort by the Trump administration to boost coal generation.
Lisa Evans, senior counsel for Earthjustice, said the Trump administration was taking “a sledgehammer” to health protections.
“This is yet another handout to the coal power industry at the expense of our health, water and wallets,” Evans said. “The Trump administration jeopardizes people’s health by letting the coal industry continue to pollute our communities rather than pay for effective safeguards.”
The organizations said it would sue to block the rule change. Earthjustice, along with the Kentucky Resources Council, has also sued to block the EPA from rolling back regulations on mercury and other toxic emissions from coal plants.
One of the worst environmental disasters in recent decades took place in Kingston, Tennessee, in 2008. A billion gallons of coal ash sludge spilled out of a retention pond at the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Kingston Fossil Plant.
More than 50 workers hired by TVA contractor Jacobs Engineering to clean up the spill later died of cancers, respiratory diseases and other ailments that appeared after the cleanup, while hundreds more fell ill.
In 2023, after 10 years at court, workers accepted a settlement with Jacobs.
Obama and Biden administration efforts to clean up coal ash contamination followed the Kingston spill, and another one along the Dan River in southern Virginia.
