Closure: EPA Finalizes Long-Awaited CCR Rule Revisions And Surface Impoundment Deadlines

Following years of litigation and a segmented rulemaking process, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized revisions to portions of its coal combustion residuals (CCR) regulations governing, among other things, the closure of surface impoundments.¹ Of importance for most coal-fired power plant operators, the revisions change the classification of so-called "clay-lined" surface impoundments from "lined" to "unlined," effectively triggering closure or retrofit requirements for those impoundments. This change comes in response to a 2018 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in which the court ruled that EPA violated the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act by failing to recognize that clay-lined impoundments are similar to unlined impoundments with respect to the risks they pose.²