Tell the EPA: Avoiding Coal Ash Regulation Harms Everyone
If you’re like one of the 1,086,972 people living less than 12 miles from a Texas coal plant — or if you care about clean water in Texas — there’s another rollback you need to hear about.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is weakening safeguards on coal ash put in place after years of advocacy and legal action to hold coal polluters accountable.
If you’re not sure what to say in your comment, you can use the bullet points below to help you get started.
Reasons not to support the EPA’s proposed rule:
- It would exempt hundreds of dangerous coal ash dumps from all regulations and remove all safety standards for “piles” of coal ash waste
- It would grant state agencies and the EPA regional offices broad discretion to deviate from established, effective monitoring and clean-up requirements
- It would delay the closure and cleanup of 100+ legacy coal ash dumps by removing deadlines
- It would eliminate restrictions on the use of coal ash as a substitute for clean soil in any location, such as parks, playgrounds, residential developments, and hospitals
What you could ask the EPA to do instead:
- Urge the agency to strengthen federal coal ash protections and preserve the 2024 Legacy CCR Surface Impoundments Rule to ensure the cleanup of hundreds of dirty and dangerous coal ash sites across the country