Indiana Department of Environmental Management officials are excited to advance a new state-led coal ash program to strengthen regulations.
However, some cleanup advocates still worry that potential federal changes might hinder the state’s ability to do much.
“The federal coal ash rule is basically a carbon copy of what the Indiana state program will be,” said Ashley Williams, executive director for Just Transition Northwest Indiana. “With the Indiana program, its hands are really tied because the state coal ash rule must be identical to the federal rule.”
On June 30, IDEM announced that its submitted a state coal combustion residuals permit to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for approval. The department has worked on the program’s plan for about a year to year-and-a-half, and the process included public feedback and multiple iterations of the final proposal.
The plan, if approved by the EPA, would direct IDEM to create a permitting section with about nine to 13 staff members to address coal ash impoundment closure permit applications. It would also require any facility with coal ash units as defined by a federal rule to obtain a state permit.
Coal ash is a byproduct that is primarily created from burning coal in power plants, according to the EPA. It contains toxic heavy metals, including arsenic, boron, lithium, molybdenum and radium, which can interfere with child development and cause cancer.
According to IDEM, the agency estimates that more than 100 coal ash units statewide would require permitting under the EPA’s current rule, which would make Indiana the largest permitting program nationwide.
“We’ve put a ton of work and effort into this,” said Brian Wolff, IDEM’s assistant commissioner. “We think that there’s a lot of benefits for both environmentally and to the public and regulatory community as well.”
Wolff said it requires operators to close coal ash sites properly to protect both human health and the environment. He also thinks it will provide a lot of predictability and flexibility for specific site conditions.
“Geologically speaking, certain areas of the state of Indiana can be very, very different,” Wolff said. “A part up in the Lake Michigan basin could be very different from something down along the Ohio River. This gives us the ability to create conditions for closure that are site-specific and not just have to do a ‘one size fits all’ approach.”
IDEM’s program announcement comes at a time when the EPA is likely to make amendments to its coal ash cleanup requirements, which cleanup advocates have said is a betrayal to vulnerable communities nationwide.
On April 9, the EPA announced proposals to amend federal regulations focused on the disposal of coal ash in landfills and surface impoundments, according to the agency. Proposed rule changes would dismantle coal ash protections for operating and former coal power plants, exempt hundreds of coal ash dumps from regulation and permit owners of coal plants to minimize, delay or avoid contamination cleanup, according to Earthjustice.
The EPA accepted public comments on its new rule through June 29. The federal agency has not indicated when a decision will be made.
Seeing changes that the EPA wants to make to its coal ash rule makes Williams nervous for Indiana’s future cleanup, she said. She feels vulnerable areas have faced continual environmental justice blows.
“It’s a tough pill for me to swallow,” Williams said, “as both a Michigan City resident and as executive director of an environmental nonprofit whose very inception was to see that there would be a complete cleanup and closure of the Michigan City Generating station and coal ash sites across the state.”
On Wednesday, Earthjustice announced that President Donald Trump’s administration published an advance notice of proposed rulemaking that would result in more coal ash pollution. The EPA, according to Earthjustice, is “floating the idea” of letting coal plants “essentially permit themselves and take advantage of the grossly weakened provisions of its proposed coal ash rule.”
A comment period is running through the end of the month for the proposed rulemaking.
“The EPA appears to be motivated to get this finalized in a short time,” said Lisa Evans, senior counsel for Earthjustice. “They’re moving forward quickly on all cylinders.”
Although Evans thinks Indiana’s proposed coal ash plan is positive, she also has concerns for what the future holds, especially since the state’s plan cannot be more stringent than the federal rule.
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Wolff said IDEM might change its rule to follow what the EPA chooses to do. However, there’s some scenarios where IDEM won’t have to follow suit.
“If (the EPA wants) a general permit, but they’ve already delegated it to us or we’re in the process of delegation, we wouldn’t necessarily have to follow the general permit program,” Wolff said. “It also depends on when things are finalized federally. If we have delegation, and we’re issuing permits, once we’ve issued a permit, they’re kind of locked into the permit conditions.”
Environmental groups statewide have been supportive of IDEM’s coal ash program goals, Wolff said.
Indra Frank, coal ash advisor for the Hoosier Environmental Council, said the current rule sent to the EPA is in good shape and will protect both human health and the environment well.
But, Frank is still concerned that IDEM’s coal ash rule have to be basically identical to federal rules.
“The EPA has proposed some really awful changes to the federal rule,” Frank said. “If the federal rule changes, then Indiana law will force Indiana to have those same changes. … The changes they made will increase coal ash pollution.”
Frank has three main concerns with EPA’s proposals, including that it would leave about half of Indiana’s coal ash with no requirements, reduce requirements for those being cleaned, and allow coal ash to be stored in dangerous ways.
“For example, they were proposing to allow coal ash piles for an indeterminate period of time,” Frank said. “Well, a pile of coal ash could be open to the wind, and then you’ve got coal ash blowing in the wind, and that’s a significant inhalation hazard.”
The EPA’s proposal would also allow coal ash to be disposed of in contact with groundwater, which Frank said can contaminate other water. In an ideal world, Frank said she’d keep Indiana’s coal ash practices as is.
Williams worries that once a federal rule is finalized, Indiana’s coal ash program will be a false promise to communities like Michigan City who need cleanup.
“It’s absolutely not going to be strengthening protections for communities across the country, especially with Hoosiers,” Williams said. “I just don’t see how Indiana is going to see any expansion of extra protections or seeing due diligence and cleanup of these sites under the new coal ash rule.”