Notice2022-25800
Hazardous and Solid Waste Management System: Disposal of Coal Combustion Residuals From Electric Utilities; A Holistic Approach to Closure Part A: Final Decision on Request For Extension of Closure Date Submitted by Gavin Power, LLC
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
November 28, 2022
Effective
November 28, 2022
Issuing agencies
Environmental Protection Agency
Abstract
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or Agency) announces the availability of the final decision denying the extension request submitted by Gavin Power, LLC (Gavin) to allow a coal combustion residuals (CCR) surface impoundment, the Bottom Ash Pond, to continue to receive CCR and non-CCR wastestreams after April 11, 2021, at the General James M. Gavin Plant located in Cheshire, Ohio. EPA is denying the extension based on its determination that Gavin failed to demonstrate that the facility meets the requirements for an extension. As a result of this decision, Gavin is hereby required to cease receipt of waste at the Bottom Ash Pond no later than April 12, 2023 or such later date as EPA establishes to address demonstrated electric grid reliability issues.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 87 Issue 227 (Monday, November 28, 2022)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 227 (Monday, November 28, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 72989-72990]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2022-25800]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[EPA-HQ-OLEM-2021-0590; FRL-10429-01-OLEM]
Hazardous and Solid Waste Management System: Disposal of Coal
Combustion Residuals From Electric Utilities; A Holistic Approach to
Closure Part A: Final Decision on Request For Extension of Closure Date
Submitted by Gavin Power, LLC
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice of availability (NOA) of final decision.
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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or Agency) announces
the availability of the final decision denying the extension request
submitted by Gavin Power, LLC (Gavin) to allow a coal combustion
residuals (CCR) surface impoundment, the Bottom Ash Pond, to continue
to receive CCR and non-CCR wastestreams after April 11, 2021, at the
General James M. Gavin Plant located in Cheshire, Ohio. EPA is denying
the extension based on its determination that Gavin failed to
demonstrate that the facility meets the requirements for an extension.
As a result of this decision, Gavin is hereby required to cease receipt
of waste at the Bottom Ash Pond no later than April 12, 2023 or such
later date as EPA establishes to address demonstrated electric grid
reliability issues.
DATES: The effective date of the final decision (``Effective Date'') is
November 28, 2022.
ADDRESSES: The final decision and supporting information are available
for review in the docket for this action at <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a>
under Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OLEM-2021-0590. The final decision is also
posted on EPA's website at <a href="https://www.epa.gov/coalash">https://www.epa.gov/coalash</a>.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Frank Behan, Materials Recovery and
Waste Management Division, Office of Resource Conservation and
Recovery, Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW,
MC: 5304T, Washington, DC 20460; telephone number: (202) 566-0531;
email address: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#3674535e575818704457585d7653465718515940"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="2466414c454a0a6256454a4f644154450a434b52">[email protected]</span></a>. For more information on EPA's CCR
regulations, please visit <a href="https://www.epa.gov/coalash">https://www.epa.gov/coalash</a>.
Judicial Review: Because EPA's final action promulgates
requirements under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA),
pursuant to RCRA section 7006(a), petitions for review of this final
action must be filed in the United States Court of Appeals for the
District of Columbia Circuit (D.C. Circuit) within ninety days of
publication of this notice in the Federal Register. 42 U.S.C.
6976(a)(1).
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: As documented in the final decision, EPA is
taking final action to deny the request from Gavin for an extension of
the date by which it must cease receipt of waste at the Bottom Ash Pond
pursuant to the authority in 40 CFR 257.103(f). The Agency is denying
the extension based on its determination that Gavin has not
demonstrated compliance with the requirements of 40 CFR part 257,
subpart D, as required in 40 CFR 257.103(f)(1)(iii).
Gavin is the owner and operator of the General James M. Gavin Plant
in Cheshire, Ohio. The Gavin Plant is a coal-fired electric generation
facility that generates and manages CCR on-site and is subject to the
federal standards for the disposal of CCR in surface impoundments and
landfills codified under 40 CFR part 257, subpart D (``regulations'' or
``CCR regulations'').
[[Page 72990]]
Under the CCR regulations, owners and operators of unlined CCR
surface impoundments were required to cease placing CCR and non-CCR
wastestreams into unlined impoundments and initiate the closure (or
retrofit) of the unit no later April 11, 2021. 40 CFR 257.101(a)(1).
However, the regulations also include procedures by which an owner or
operator of an unlined impoundment could request additional time to
cease the receipt of waste and initiate closure of the unit. 40 CFR
257.103(f). On November 30, 2020, Gavin submitted a timely
demonstration pursuant to 40 CFR 257.103(f)(1) requesting additional
time to develop alternative capacity to manage CCR and non-CCR
wastestreams in its Bottom Ash Pond, an unlined CCR surface impoundment
subject to the requirement to close no later than April 11, 2021.
On January 11, 2022, EPA proposed to deny Gavin's request for
additional time to develop alternative capacity to manage CCR and non-
CCR wastestreams in its Bottom Ash Pond. EPA sought comments on the
proposed decision during a comment period that closed on March 25,
2022. In response to the proposed decision, the Agency received
approximately 30 comment letters from the public. All comment letters
can be accessed in the docket for this action at <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">www.regulations.gov</a>
under Docket ID EPA-HQ-OLEM-2021-0590. EPA's responses to public
comments are either in the final decision or the Response to Comments
document; both are available in the docket.
After considering the comments submitted on the proposal, EPA is
denying the request for an extension of the deadline for the Bottom Ash
Pond to cease receipt of waste because Gavin has not demonstrated that
the facility is in compliance with all of the requirements of 40 CFR
part 257, subpart D, as required in Sec. 257.103(f)(1)(iii). First,
EPA finds that Gavin has not demonstrated that it complied with the
closure performance standards in 40 CFR 257.102(d) when it closed the
Fly Ash Reservoir, a separate CCR surface impoundment at the Gavin
Plant, with at least a portion of the CCR in the closed unit in
continued contact with groundwater, and without taking any measures to
address the groundwater continuing to migrate into and out of the
impoundment. Second, Gavin did not develop a closure plan for the Fly
Ash Reservoir consistent with 40 CFR 257.102(b). Third, Gavin has not
demonstrated that the groundwater monitoring system for the Bottom Ash
Pond is in compliance with the requirements of 40 CFR 257.93(a),
257.93(f)(3), or 257.94(c) regarding statistical analyses of data, or
of 40 CFR 257.94(e)(2) for alternative source demonstrations. Finally,
Gavin has not demonstrated that the groundwater monitoring system(s)
for the Fly Ash Reservoir and Residual Waste Landfill (a CCR landfill
at the Gavin Plant) comply with the requirements in 40 CFR 257.91,
257.93(a), 257.93(f)(3), 257.94(c), or 257.94(e)(2).
EPA's decision is also based on the determination that Gavin's
workplan for obtaining alternative capacity does not meet the
requirements of 40 CFR 257.103(f)(1)(iv)(A). Specifically, Gavin failed
to present a detailed plan of the fastest technically feasible schedule
to complete its alternative capacity for non-CCR wastestreams. 40 CFR
257.103(f)(1)(iv)(A)(1)(iii).
As a result, Gavin is hereby required to cease receipt of waste at
the Bottom Ash Pond no later than April 12, 2023 or such later date as
EPA establishes to address demonstrated electric grid reliability
issues. EPA recognizes the importance of maintaining grid reliability
and has established a process for Gavin to seek additional time if
needed to address demonstrated grid reliability issues. Because Gavin
is in the Pennsylvania-New Jersey-Maryland Interconnection (PJM)
region, EPA closely considered the comments from and discussions with
PJM and developed a process that relies on and is consistent with PJM's
existing approach to scheduling outages and protecting electric grid
reliability. To utilize this process, the final decision requires Gavin
to submit a request for a planned outage to PJM no later than December
13, 2022 to ensure that PJM has sufficient time to evaluate the
potential impacts of a planned outage at Gavin. Additionally, Gavin
must engage with PJM no later than 5 days after submitting the request
for an outage to PJM and no later than December 19, 2022, to request
assistance in scheduling the planned outage so that Gavin and PJM can
determine the shortest period of time, if any, in which the generating
unit must be online to avoid a reliability violation. Finally, to
obtain an extension of the new deadline to cease receipt of waste to
the Bottom Ash Pond, the final decision requires Gavin to submit a copy
of the planned outage request submitted to PJM and the PJM
determination (including the formal reliability assessment) to EPA
within 10 days of receiving the response from PJM and no later than
March 28, 2023. EPA will review the request and, without further notice
and comment, issue a decision.
Barry N. Breen,
Acting Assistant Administrator, Office of Land and Emergency
Management.
[FR Doc. 2022-25800 Filed 11-25-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P
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