Fact Sheet: Final Rule on Coal Combustion Residuals Generated
by Electric Utilities
(December 2014)
On December 19, 2014, the EPA Administrator signed a final rule that establishes a comprehensive set
of requirements for the disposal of coal combustion residuals (CCRs or coal ash) in landfills and surface
impoundments. These requirements have been finalized under the solid waste provisions, subtitle D, of
the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. These regulations protect our water, our air, and our
communities and contain provisions to help ensure that actions taken by power plants to comply with
this rule are transparent and that the communities impacted by the disposal of CCRs have the
information they need.
The rule establishes requirements for both existing and new CCR landfills and surface impoundments,
including lateral expansions of any existing unit. These include:
Reducing Risk of Catastrophic Failure
Structural Integrity Requirements (requirements starting 6 months to 2 years after rule
publication) - To prevent the damage associated with structural failures of CCR surface impoundments,
the rule establishes structural integrity design criteria and requires that owners and operators periodically
conduct a number of structural integrity related assessments, including for example:
•	Periodic structural stability assessments by a qualified professional engineer and periodic safety
factor assessments to document that the unit achieves minimum engineering factors of safety
•	Conducting periodic hazard potential classification assessments to assess the damage that would
occur if there was a failure of the CCR surface impoundment
•	Conducting periodic safety factor assessments to document whether the CCR disposal unit
achieves minimum factors of safety
•	Weekly inspections of the CCR unit and monthly monitoring of unit instrumentation
In addition, certain surface impoundments must develop an emergency action plan which details the
actions that will be taken to protect communities in the event there is an issue with the structural safety
of the unit.
Protecting Groundwater
Groundwater Monitoring and Corrective Action (requirements starting 30 months after rule
publication) - These provisions require the owner or operator of a CCR unit to install a system of
monitoring wells and specify procedures for sampling these wells and for analyzing the data to detect
the presence of hazardous constituents. In those cases where hazardous constituents are in the
groundwater above groundwater protection standards, the owner or operator must immediately begin the
corrective action process to clean up the contamination caused by the unit. If the unit causing the
contamination is an unlined surface impoundment, it must begin the closure process.
Location Restrictions (requirements starting 18 months after rule publication) - The rule
establishes five location restrictions to help ensure that landfills and surface impoundments are
appropriately sited. These include restrictions related to placement above the uppermost aquifer, in
wetlands, in fault areas, in seismic impact zones and in unstable areas. Owners or operators must
1

-------
demonstrate that their existing landfills or surface impoundments meet these restrictions currently,
through engineering enhancements, or established alternatives as set forth in the rule. Owners or
operators of existing units that cannot make the required demonstrations must close the unit. New units
must be built in compliance with the requirements.
Liner Design Criteria (documentation required 18 months after rule publication) - All new
landfills, new surface impoundments, and lateral expansions must have a composite liner. The rule
establishes liner design criteria to help prevent contaminants in CCRs from leaching from the unit and
contaminating the groundwater. All new landfills are required to have a leachate collection and removal
system which is designed to remove excess leachate that may accumulate on top of the liner. Existing
unlined landfills may continue to operate.
Operating Criteria
Operating Criteria (requirements starting 6 months after rule publication) - The operating criteria
address the day-to-day operations of CCR units and establish requirements to prevent public health and
environmental impacts from the units. These include air criteria for all units, run-on and run-off controls
for landfills to minimize the amount of water entering the unit and thus prevent erosion, water
discharges and the creation of landfill leachate, and run off controls to help protect against releases to
surface waters. CCR surface impoundments are also subject to requirements to help ensure the unit can
safely handle flood flows to prevent overtopping of the unit. The air criteria address the pollution caused
by windblown dust from CCR units and require that the owners or operators control CCR from
becoming airborne at a facility.
Record Keeping, Notification, and Internet Posting
Record Keeping, Notification, and Internet Posting (requirements 6 months after rule publication)
- The final rule requires owners or operators of CCR units to record compliance with these requirements
in the facility's operating record. In addition, the facility must notify the state of decisions and maintain
a publicly available website of compliance information. Some examples are annual groundwater
monitoring results, corrective action reports, fugitive dust control plans and closure completion
notifications. These requirements help ensure transparency and provide citizens with the information
about CCR units in the state. It will also provide citizens and states with the information they need to
fully engage in its implementation.
Inactive Units
The rule also deals with surface impoundments that have ceased receiving waste by the effective date of
the rule ("inactive units"). Those units, if they have water and contain CCRs, still pose a risk, especially
of structural failure. If these units complete closure (that is dewater and a final cover) within three years
of the publication of this rule, then they are not subject to any additional requirements under the rule.
State Programs
The regulations being finalized today are minimum federal criteria with which facilities must comply
without the engagement of another state or federal regulatory authority. States are not required to adopt
these regulations, to develop a permitting program, or to submit a program to EPA for approval. There is
no mechanism for a state program to operate "in lieu of' the federal regulations.
2

-------
Nevertheless, EPA recognizes the crucial role that our state partners play in implementation and in
ensuring compliance with environmental regulations, particularly in complex situations such as
corrective action. EPA is strongly encouraging states to adopt at least the federal minimum criteria into
their regulations. EPA recognizes that some states have already adopted requirements that go beyond the
minimum federal requirements (e.g., financial assurance). This rule will not affect these state
requirements; moreover, the final rule does not preclude a state from adopting more stringent
requirements where they deem that appropriate.
EPA expects that states will be active partners in overseeing the regulation of CCR landfills and CCR
surface impoundments and has finalized a number of provisions to ensure that states have the
information necessary to undertake this role. The final regulations require owners or operators of
regulated CCR units to notify the state of actions taken to comply with the requirements of the rule. In
addition, facilities will be required to maintain a publicly accessible Internet site that will document the
facility's compliance with the requirements of the rule and states will be able to access this site to
monitor facility activities.
In addition, EPA anticipates that states will revise their Solid Waste Management Plans (SWMPs) to
demonstrate how CCRs will be regulated in their states. The SWMP is the mechanism where a state will
be able to set out, as part of their overall solid waste program, how the state intends to regulate CCR
landfills and surface impoundments. In other words, the plan can demonstrate how the state program has
incorporated the minimum national criteria and can highlight those areas where the state regulations are
more stringent or otherwise go beyond the federal minimum criteria. For example, the plan can describe
the actions the state will take to oversee CCR disposal units, particularly those units undergoing closure
or corrective action, and how the state intends to review or use the notices and other information
pertaining to the units that the facility owners will be providing to the state.
Citizens also perform a critical role in the development of SWMPs. Revisions of SWMPs must have a
public participation process. This process will provide the public and communities near CCR landfills
and surface impoundments with an opportunity to participate in the decision making about how CCRs
are managed in their State.
Once EPA has approved a SWMP that incorporates or goes beyond the minimum federal requirements,
EPA expects that facilities in that state will operate in compliance with that plan and the applicable state
regulations. In those circumstances, EPA's view is that facilities adhering to the requirements of a state
program that is identical to or more stringent than an approved SWMP will meet or exceed the minimum
federal criteria. EPA anticipates that a facility that operates in accord with an approved SWMP will be
able to positively use that fact in a citizen suit brought to enforce the federal criteria. EPA believes a
court will accord substantial weight to the fact that a facility is operating in accord with an EPA-
approved SWMP.
EPA will work closely with states on implementation issues. However, EPA has no formal role in
implementation of the rule. EPA does not issue permits, nor can EPA enforce the requirements of the
rule.
Closure
Closure and Post Closure (requirements 18 months after rule publication) - These criteria help
ensure the long term safety of units that are closing and require all units to close in accordance with
specified standards and to monitor and maintain the units for a period of time after closure, including
maintaining groundwater monitoring and corrective action. The rule establishes specified timeframes for
3

-------
both beginning and completing closure and enables owners/operators to obtain extensions due to
circumstances beyond the facility's control; where there is no alternative disposal capacity; or where the
facility is permanently closing the coal fired boiler in the near future.
Closure of a CCR unit is triggered in one of three ways:
1. When a unit fails to meet technical criteria:
a.	If the CCR unit cannot meet the location criteria or the engineering demonstrations
that the unit can still operate safely even though it does not meet the location
restrictions.
b.	If an unlined CCR surface impoundment is found to contaminate groundwater in
excess of a groundwater protection standard.
c.	If a CCR surface impoundment cannot demonstrate that it meets the minimum factors
of safety regarding structural integrity of the CCR unit.
In addition, closure would also occur due to an owner's decision to cease using the unit in the following
circumstances.
2.	When a CCR unit receives the known final waste shipment or when the owner or operator
removes the known final volume of CCRs from the unit for the purposes of beneficial use. In
this case, closure must begin within 30 days of such receipt or volume removal.
3.	For "idled" units - the rule establishes a presumption that the owner or operator must initiate
closure of the CCR unit no later than two years after the most recent receipt of CCRs or any
non-CCR waste stream or no later than two years after the most recent date that CCRs were
removed from the unit for the purpose of beneficial use, whichever is later. The rule provides
procedures for an owner or operator to rebut this presumption and obtain additional time,
provided the owner or operator can make the required demonstration.
Beneficial Use
The final rule does not regulate CCRs that are beneficially used, and provides a definition of beneficial
use to distinguish between beneficial use and disposal. This rule does not affect beneficial use
applications started before the effective date of the rule. Only applications to be started after the
effective date of the rule need to determine if they comply with the criteria contained in the final rule
distinguishing between beneficial use and disposal. Additionally, the rule establishes a comprehensive
definition of beneficial use of CCRs to remove confusion about what constitutes beneficial use. The rule
also clarifies that a use of a CCR that is not beneficial use is disposal.
JFlk l-nA United States
Environmental Protection
^1 M * Agency
Office of Resource Conservation and Recovery (5305P)
EPA530-F-15-001
December 2014
www2.epa.gov/coalash/coal-ash-rule
4

-------