Five AGs Filed Comments Criticizing Proposed Pollution Control Rollbacks and Closure Extensions for Coal Ash Ponds

Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh and Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro led a coalition of five attorneys general in filing comments urging the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to withdraw two proposed rules related to coal ash, the toxic remains of coal burned in power plants that is stored in hundreds of unlined ponds across the country. The first proposed rule would extend deadlines for the closure of coal ash ponds, known as impoundments, as far out as 2028; the second proposed rule would allow increased discharges of pollutants such as arsenic, lead, mercury and selenium into waterways. In their comments, the AGs emphasized that they “oppose any effort to weaken, roll back, or improperly extend the deadlines for compliance with either the closure requirements applicable to coal ash impoundments or the effluent limitation guidelines applicable to power plants that generate coal ash and related pollutants.” The coalition also stressed that the EPA’s proposal to create regulatory carve-outs for certain facilities is “just one more subsidy for dirty, non-economical coal plants at the expense of public health and the environment.”