Coal ash legislation introduced in Senate

Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Joe Hoeven (R-ND) have introduced legislation in the US Senate to remove coal ash regulation from the US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) remit and transferring responsibility to the states.

“The over-regulation of coal ash by the EPA would threaten vital industries and needlessly cost […] the nation jobs,” said Senator Manchin. “This legislation gives us a commonsense fix: let each state use existing EPA health and environmental regulations to set up their own permitting programme that allows them to recycle and reused coal ash.

The proposed bill would establish a state-permitting programme for coal ash under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. It is companion legislation to a bill currently before the House of Representatives.

“Coal ash is a byproduct of coal-based electricity generation that been safely recycled for buildings, roads, bridges and other infrastructure for years,” Hoeven said. “North Dakota serves as a good example of how states can properly manage the disposal of coal residuals with good environmental stewardship and, at the same time, allow for its beneficial use.”

Written by Jonathan Rowland.

Read the article online at: https://www.worldcoal.com/coal/20072015/manchin-and-hoeven-coal-ash-legislation-introduced-in-senate-2583/