United States
Environmental Protection
\r ^1	Agency
Office of Land & Emergency Management
October 2020
Revisions to the Coal Combustion
Residuals (CCR) Closure Regulations
Background
In April 2015, the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) promulgated a comprehensive set of
requirements for the management of coal
combustion residuals (CCR) in landfills and
impoundments. CCR include a variety of waste
streams, specifically, fly ash, bottom ash, boiler slag,
and flue gas desulfurization materials generated
from coal-fired electric utilities; these waste streams
are commonly known as coal ash. The rule
established corrective action, closure and post
closure, technical standards, and inspection,
monitoring, recordkeeping and reporting
requirements. In Utility Solid Waste Activities Group
[USWAG et al. v. EPA (Aug. 21, 2018)], the D.C.
Circuit of Appeals overturned certain provisions of
EPA's 2015 rule and remanded some provisions back
to the agency.
Even though EPA is making several regulatory
changes with this final rule, the regulations in place
since 2015 to detect and assess, and as needed to
remediate, impacts on groundwater from CCR in
surface impoundments and landfills are in place and
implementation remains on schedule. The 2015
requirements for facility inspection, monitoring,
recordkeeping and reporting requirements remain in
place and further include improvements for the
public to access posted information which were
published in an August 28, 2020 final rule. EPA's
updates with this final rule keep the major
protections and requirements of the 2015 rule in
place while making changes to implement the Water
Infrastructure Improvements to the Nation (WIIN)
Act, respond to petitions, address litigation, and
apply lessons learned to ensure smoother
implementation of the rule.
Summary of the Final Rule
This rule finalizes a two-step process from the March
2020 proposed rule (85 FR 12456) in § 257.71(d) to
allow a limited number of facilities to demonstrate
to EPA or a Participating State Director that based on
groundwater data and the design of a particular
surface impoundment, the unit has and will continue
to have no probability of adverse effects on human
health or the environment. Therefore, the CCR
surface impoundment should be allowed to continue
to operate.
During the application step, facilities submit an initial
application intended to show whether a unit meets
certain minimum requirements before embarking on
a comprehensive alternate liner demonstration. This
first step must be submitted no later than November
30, 2020. Specifically, the owner or operator of the
CCR unit must submit:
•	An application letter;
•	Certification that the CCR unit is in
compliance with all CCR regulations;
•	Documentation that the groundwater
monitoring network meets the CCR
regulations;
•	Documentation that the CCR unit is in
detection monitoring;
•	Documentation that the CCR unit was
designed and constructed to relevant
standards;

-------
•	Documentation that the CCR unit meets all	telephone at 703-347-8953 or by email at
required location restrictions, structural	long.michelle@epa.gov.
stability, safety factor assessments, and
construction quality requirements.
If approved during the application step, facilities
then submit a comprehensive final demonstration
intended to ensure there will be no reasonable
probability of adverse effects to human health or the
environment resulting from groundwater
contamination from the CCR surface impoundment.
This demonstration step must be submitted no later
than November 30, 2021. Specifically, the owner or
operator of the CCR unit must submit:
•	Documentation to characterize site
hydrogeology;
•	Documentation to evaluate the potential for
infiltration through any liners and underlying
soils of the unit;
•	Modeling results of long-term unit
performance; and
•	Documentation that the CCR unit has
remained in detection monitoring for the
duration of the demonstration.
The final rule also includes procedures for approval
and denial of the application step, demonstration
step, timeline extensions, recertification process,
and loss of authorization. It also details the
relationship between the alternate liner
demonstration and the recently finalized CCR Part A
rule, which established alternative closure provisions
in § 257.103(f)(1) and (f)(2).
At this time, EPA continues to read and evaluate the
comments from the other topics proposed in the
March 2020 rule. Provisions from the proposed rule
that are not addressed in this rule will be addressed
in a subsequent action.
Where Can I Find More Information on This
Final Rule?
Additional information about this rulemaking is
available at www.epa.gov/coalash. For information
about the final rule, contact Michelle Long by

-------