Folks, late last night, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt announced<http://t.congressweb.com/l/?TYGLIGFKNQKQRIN> that he signed the first<http://t.congressweb.com/l/?TYGLIGFKNQYOFAB> of two proposals to weaken the health and environmental protections provided by the 2015 coal ash rule.

The proposal is consistent with Pruitt's obsession to gut EPA authority and return power to the states, but it is wholly inconsistent with Pruitt's purported interest in controlling releases of toxic waste. The proposed rule reveals that the EPA's number one priority is to reduce the cost of regulation to polluters and put states, and the polluters themselves, in the driver's seat.

Background: Coal ash is the nation's second largest industrial waste stream, and it is filled with heavy metals and toxic pollutants. There are over 1,400 coal ash dumps<http://t.congressweb.com/l/?TYGLIGFKNQRCXBI> across the country, and 70 percent are located in low-income and/or minority communities. Unsafe dumping of coal ash has led to over 200 cases of contamination<http://t.congressweb.com/l/?TYGLIGFKNQTCITN> and spills and a U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (USCCR) report<http://t.congressweb.com/l/?TYGLIGFKNQSYWDR> highlighting that EPA's failure to adequately regulate coal ash disproportionately affects America's most vulnerable populations.

Administrative Action: Coal ash dumps are ticking time bombs and despite the threat that this waste poses to human health and the environment--and in response to two petitions from the utility industry--the Pruitt EPA plans to reconsider national protections from this waste in two rulemakings in 2018: the first rollback proposed on March 1, 2018 (Phase 1); and the second proposed rollback in September 2018 (Phase 2).

Among the protections of the coal ash rule that the EPA proposes to weaken or remove are: groundwater monitoring requirements, national groundwater protection standards, cleanup standards, closure standards, location restrictions for siting toxic dumps in groundwater, wetlands, floodplains, fault areas, seismic zones and unstable areas, as well as deadlines to comply with those standards. Recent petitions by the utility industry asked for broad weakening of health and environmental standards, which the EPA has proposed to adopt. The rule seeks to provide States, EPA and even the industry itself, with discretion to weaken core requirements of the 2015 rule that protect the nation's drinking water aquifers, including determining when or if groundwater monitoring is necessary, when cleanup of contaminated groundwater is required, the extent of a groundwater cleanup, and how long a polluter is required to monitor a closed site.

CLICK HERE<https://earthjustice.org/news/press/2018/trump-administration-guts-safeguards-for-nation-s-no-2-toxic-pollution-threat> for a press statement from Earthjustice and our clients.
Best,

Andrea Delgado
Legislative Director, Healthy Communities
Earthjustice
202-230-6592
adelgado@earthjustice.org
Twitter: @Andrea_Delgado7<http://t.congressweb.com/l/?TYGLIGFKNQULWZH>