Proposed Rule2026-10641
Hazardous and Solid Waste Management System: Disposal of Coal Combustion Residuals From Electric Utilities; Federal CCR Permit Program; Reopening of Comment Period
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
May 28, 2026
Effective
February 20, 2020
Issuing agencies
Environmental Protection Agency
Abstract
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a proposed rule on February 20, 2020, to establish a Federal permit program for disposal of coal combustion residuals (CCR). The EPA is reopening the comment period on that proposed rule and requesting comment on several issues in particular.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 91 Issue 102 (Thursday, May 28, 2026)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 91, Number 102 (Thursday, May 28, 2026)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 31684-31686]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2026-10641]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Parts 22, 124, and 257
[EPA-HQ-OLEM-2019-0361; FRL-7080-06-OLEM]
RIN 2050-AH07
Hazardous and Solid Waste Management System: Disposal of Coal
Combustion Residuals From Electric Utilities; Federal CCR Permit
Program; Reopening of Comment Period
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Proposed rule; reopening of comment period.
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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a proposed
rule on February 20, 2020, to establish a Federal permit program for
disposal of coal combustion residuals (CCR). The EPA is reopening the
comment period on that proposed rule and requesting comment on several
issues in particular.
DATES: The comment period for the proposed rule published on February
20, 2020 (85 FR 9940) closed April 20, 2020. The comment period was
extended on April 14, 2020 (85 FR 20625) and May 19, 2020 (85 FR 29878)
to close on July 19, 2020 and was reopened on July 31, 2020 to close on
August 7, 2020 (85 FR 46046). With this document, EPA is reopening the
comment period until June 29, 2026. Comments must be received on or
before June 29, 2026.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-
OLEM-2019-0361, online at <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a>. Follow the
detailed online instructions provided under ADDRESSES in the Federal
Register document published on February 20, 2020 (85 FR 9940). Do not
[[Page 31685]]
submit electronically any information you consider to be Confidential
Business Information (CBI) or other information whose disclosure is
restricted by statute. Additional instruction on commenting and
visiting the docket, along with more information about dockets
generally, is available at <a href="https://www.epa.gov/dockets">https://www.epa.gov/dockets</a>.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jessica Schumacher, Region 5, Land,
Chemicals, and Redevelopment Division, Environmental Protection Agency,
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, MC: 5304T, Washington, DC 20460; telephone
number: (312) 886-0769; email address: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#cebdada6bba3afada6abbce0a4abbdbda7adaf8eabbeafe0a9a1b8"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="cbb8a8a3bea6aaa8a3aeb9e5a1aeb8b8a2a8aa8baebbaae5aca4bd">[email protected]</span></a>, or
Phoebe O'Connor, Office of Resource Conservation and Recovery, Waste
Information, Notice, and Generators Division, Environmental Protection
Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, MC: 5304T, Washington, DC 20460;
telephone number: (202) 566-1451; email address:
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#e48b878b8a8a8b96ca948c8b818681a4819485ca838b92"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="4b24282425252439653b23242e292e0b2e3b2a652c243d">[email protected]</span></a>. For more information on this rulemaking please
visit <a href="https://www.epa.gov/coal-combustion-residuals">https://www.epa.gov/coal-combustion-residuals</a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. General Information
On April 17, 2015, EPA published a final rule creating 40 CFR part
257, subpart D, which established a comprehensive set of minimum
Federal requirements for the disposal of CCR in landfills and surface
impoundments (80 FR 21302) (2015 CCR Rule or Federal CCR regulations).
The rule established a set of self-implementing regulations that apply
directly to CCR units, including requirements for the location, design,
operating criteria, recordkeeping, notifications, groundwater
monitoring and corrective action, as well as the closure and post-
closure care of CCR units. It also requires recordkeeping and
notifications for CCR units.
In 2016, Congress passed the Water Infrastructure Improvements for
the Nation (WIIN) Act, which--among other things--authorized EPA to
issue permits under RCRA for CCR units located in Indian country or in
a State that has not been approved to issue its own CCR permits (a
``nonparticipating State''). And under the WIIN Act, once an EPA (or
State) permit is issued and in effect, the requirements of that permit
apply in lieu of the federal regulations. On February 20, 2020, EPA
proposed a rule (85 FR 9940) (2020 Proposed Rule) to establish a
Federal CCR permit program. The original comment period closed on
August 7, 2020. With this document, EPA reopens the public comment
period on the entire proposal for 30 days.
Since publication of the 2020 Proposed Rule, EPA established
regulations applicable to inactive surface impoundments at inactive
facilities (legacy CCR surface impoundments) under 40 CFR part 257,
subpart D (89 FR 38950, May 8, 2024) (2024 Legacy Final Rule). In the
2024 Legacy Final Rule, EPA established regulations requiring owners
and operators of legacy CCR surface impoundments to comply with the
existing CCR regulations that apply to other inactive CCR surface
impoundments, and established new compliance deadlines to ensure the
owners or operators of these units have time to come into compliance
with these newly applicable regulatory requirements. In addition, EPA
established requirements to address the risks from solid waste
management activities involving the direct placement of CCR on the land
at CCR facilities; EPA regulated these activities as CCR management
units or CCRMU. EPA extended a subset of the existing requirements in
40 CFR part 257, subpart D to CCRMU, which include CCR surface
impoundments and landfills that closed prior to the effective date of
the 2015 CCR Rule, inactive CCR landfills, and other areas where CCR is
managed directly on the land at CCR facilities. The additional
requirements for CCRMU apply to all active CCR facilities, all inactive
facilities with legacy CCR surface impoundments, and those active
facilities (i.e., facilities producing electricity for the grid as of
October 19, 2015) that ceased placing CCR in onsite CCR units prior to
the effective date of the 2015 CCR Rule.
EPA has recently proposed several further revisions to subpart D
that would exempt CCR dewatering structures and modify certain legacy
CCR surface impoundment and CCR management unit provisions (91 FR
18968, April 13, 2026) (``2026 Proposed Rule''). Additionally, EPA
proposed to establish new provisions that would allow a CCR permit
authority to establish alternative requirements in light of site-
specific conditions for the groundwater monitoring and corrective
action points of compliance, the cleanup levels for corrective action,
the appropriate closure requirements, closure timeframes; and extend
the closure deadlines timeframes for CCR units where CCR is being
extracted from the unit for beneficial use during closure. The Agency
also proposed to revise the definition of beneficial use by eliminating
the requirement for an environmental demonstration for the non-roadway
use of more than 12,400 tons of unencapsulated CCR on land; to
establish a definition of CCR storage pile; and to exclude specific
beneficial uses from Federal CCR regulations.
II. Requests for Comment
Although EPA is soliciting comment on all aspects of the proposal,
EPA is specifically seeking comments on: (1) The estimated timeframes
to compile materials that would be needed under all of the various
proposals discussed in the 2026 Proposed Rule, to aid the Agency in
determining the permit application deadline; (2) Shortening the
deadline for the first tier of permit applications to the effective
date of the final permitting rule, which would be six months after
publication of the final permitting rule in the Federal Register; and
(3) Implementing an electronic permitting process for both EPA-issued
CCR permits as well as for States that are implementing the CCR
permitting program in lieu of EPA. Each of these are discussed in more
detail below.
A. Deadlines for Federal CCR Permit Applications
In the 2020 Proposed Rule, EPA proposed that all owners and
operators of a CCR unit in a nonparticipating State or in Indian
country must apply for and obtain a Federal CCR permit in accordance
with Sec. 257.123(a). EPA planned to establish tiers of deadlines for
the owners and operators of a CCR unit to submit a permit application,
and proposed at Sec. 257.124(a)(1) that the first tier of permit
applications would be due 18 months after the effective date of the
final rule. As it relates to this first set of deadlines, EPA requests
comment on the amount of time that facilities estimate would be
necessary to compile the materials needed for all of the various site-
specific decisions that the permit authority would make under the
provisions discussed in the 2026 Proposed Rule. For example, EPA
requests estimates of how long it would take a CCR facility to conduct
a site-specific risk assessment and compile the documents needed to
support a request for alternative closure requirements. In order to
expediate processing permit applications, EPA also requests comment on
shortening the deadline for submission of the first tier of permit
applications to the effective date of the final permitting rule, which
would be six months after publication of the final permitting rule in
the Federal Register, and whether this is enough time to compile
materials needed for the permit application.
[[Page 31686]]
EPA is also seeking comment on the approaches or criteria to
tiering permit applications that EPA identified in the 2020 Proposed
Rule; such as, prioritizing CCR units located in States that
affirmatively declare to EPA that they do not intend to pursue program
approval.\1\ Further EPA is seeking comment from State agencies that
have not yet submitted an application package to confirm interest in
seeking program approval and approximate timelines, as it has been six
years since the initial proposal, and up-to-date information may be
used for tiering permit applications.
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\1\ See further examples at 85 FR 9951 (February 20, 2020).
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B. Electronic Permitting
In the Federal CCR permit program proposed rule, EPA proposed to
use an electronic permitting process whereby applicants would
electronically submit a permit application to EPA. This included
proposing development of a CCR module in the RCRAInfo system which
would allow for improved effectiveness and efficiency in the permitting
process. EPA is seeking comment on how best to implement this
electronic permitting process, including use of required forms that
would provide basic information about each CCR unit at the facility as
part of the permit application process.
In addition, EPA is considering implementing the electronic
permitting process for both EPA-issued CCR permits as well as for
States that are implementing the CCR permitting program in lieu of EPA
to provide for national data consistency. This would require the state
to enter permit data into an EPA data management system to track the
status of state-issued permits in the same database as federal-issued
permits, in line with the practice for RCRA hazardous waste Part B
permits for the treatment, storage, and disposal of hazardous waste.
EPA requests comment on this provision.
III. Public Participation
Written Comments
To submit comments or access the docket, please follow the detailed
instructions provided under ADDRESSES in the Federal Register document
published on February 20, 2020 (85 FR 9940). Comments previously
submitted need not be resubmitted as they are already incorporated into
the public record and will be considered in the final action as
appropriate. If you have questions, consult the people listed under FOR
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.
Steven Cook,
Principal Deputy Assistant Administrator, Office of Land and Emergency
Management.
[FR Doc. 2026-10641 Filed 5-27-26; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P
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