EPA rolls back protective regulation enacted after 2008 Kingston coal ash spill

The Tennessee Valley Authority says the Trump administration's rollbacks for handling toxic coal ash at fossil plants will not affect its current course of action on coal ash storage.

But environmental groups worry the rollback will slow down TVA's already plodding quest toward dry coal ash storage. 

The Environmental Protection Agency announced last Thursday it would push back an Obama-era deadline to stop dumping coal ash into unlined ponds and groundwater adjacent sites. Acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler said the 18-month extension would save the industry $30 million annually.

TVA spokesman Scott Brooks said TVA has been in the process of converting from wet to dry storage of coal ash, a commitment the utility made in 2009 before the rule.

The utility's 2008 spill of 1.1 billion gallons of toxic coal ash slurry from its wet cells damaged 42 properties and harmed the health of multiple cleanup workers.

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Environmental concerns

Environmental groups are concerned the rollback gives utilities, including TVA, too much time to comply with storage requirements, putting the public at risk.

"TVA has been saying since the Kingston disaster nearly 10 years ago that it is converting to dry storage, but it continues to dump coal ash into unlined pits that pollute groundwater, rivers and lakes, and continues to leave millions of tons of coal ash in unlined, leaking pits," said Southern Environmental Law Center senior attorney Amanda Garcia. 

"The rollbacks by the Trump EPA extend deadlines under the CCR Rule to allow more dumping of ash into leaking, unlined pits and back off of some requirements that would require utilities like TVA address their coal ash pollution," she said. 

Brooks said the utility also is working with the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation to investigate its coal ash storage sites in existing and former plants. 

Trump's EPA rollbacks

The rollback represents another attempt by the EPA under the Trump administration to boost the struggling coal industry by rolling back Obama-era protections for the environment and public health. 

Coal plants produce about 100 million tons annually of ash and other wastes, including liquid wastewater containing toxic pollutants such as mercury and selenium that utilities can get permits to discharge into adjacent bodies of water. 

Trump's EPA last year rescinded a rule that would require utilities to reduce toxic discharge levels with the best available technology after industry groups that included TVA petitioned then-EPA Director Scott Pruitt to reconsider compliance dates. 

Then TVA sent TDEC a letter withdrawing its proposed compliance dates.

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TVA's most recent permit, which allows it to discharge wastewater into the Cumberland River, extends compliance dates for certain pollutants to December 2023.