EPA Urged To Force Stricter Ash Pond Water Permits Ahead Of Waste Rule

摘要

Environmentalists are renewing calls for EPA to force states to update and strengthen water discharge permits for coal ash impoundments ahead of the agency finalizing a waste rule for the ponds, saying it would ensure strict controls are in place for the ponds until EPA issues a long-pending waste rule that it is aiming to finalize in December. Updating current Clean Water Act National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits is almost as important as finalizing the waste rule and a related power plant effluent rule, says one environmentalist, because implementation of those rules could be delayed for months or years due to expected suits over the rules. Advocates are arguing that the agency has not enforced a 2010 guidance specifically calling for such permit updates. The push, citing a memo drafted by then-EPA wastewater chief James Hanlon, comes as advocates are separately urging site-specific controls for power plants' scrubber wastewater, which are also called for in the memo.