EPA is currently taking public comments on proposed changes to the Coal Combustion Residuals (CCR) rule that rolls back important coal ash safety regulations through Friday, June 12. To submit your comment, you can read on to learn more about HEC’s concerns. In a rush? Copy our draft text at the bottom of the blog post (in italics) and paste it into the comment portal on EPA’s website. Please remember to keep the tone of your message constructive and civil.
The Context
Coal ash is the waste left behind from burning coal, and it’s laden with toxic heavy metals, including lead, mercury, and arsenic. Ranging in color from light gray to black, this fine, powdery substance is one of our nation’s largest toxic industrial waste streams. Some of the metals it are carcinogens and cause cancer; others are toxic to the brain; and some of them interfere with prenatal development.
We have known since at least the 1980s that when coal ash gets wet, it contaminates water with heavy metals. The only effective disposal is disposal that keeps the ash dry. In Indiana, we’ve been burning coal for electricity since the 1920s, and we’ve accumulated tens of millions of tons of coal ash. Most of it is stored wet in unlined pits. This allows heavy metals to leak into groundwater, causing contamination. To make matters worse, most of these pits are in the floodplains of Lake Michigan and our major rivers. In the event of flooding, this poses a grave spill risk.
In 2015, the Coal Combustion Residuals (CCR) rule was established to clean up these sites and regulate disposal practices. Yet, the EPA is now proposing to slash disposal and cleanup requirements and allow millions of tons of coal ash to contaminate water.
There are already 4 known locations around Indiana where coal ash contaminated people’s private wells: near the Noblesville, Gibson, and Cayuga power plants and in the Town of Pines. At another location, coal ash is threatening municipal drinking water wells.
We were starting to see improvements because of the federal rule, but this new EPA proposal would decimate those cleanup requirements. It would:
- Exempt about half the coal ash in Indiana from any requirements;
- reduce standards for the sites that still have requirements;
- and allow coal ash to be stored in groundwater, in unlined piles, or used as fill (a base for construction projects), where it will contaminate water and blow in the wind, creating a breathing hazard.
We only have to look at the Town of Pines, Indiana, to understand what happens when coal ash is treated the way EPA is proposing. In Pines, coal ash was left in an unlined “wet” landfill and used extensively as fill, and that allowed it to contaminate 260 private drinking water wells and soil in dozens of residential yards. The cleanup in Pines took more than 20 years. EPA is proposing that we return to the practices that transformed the Town of Pines into a Superfund site and left its residents with lasting damage to their health.
What You Can Do To Help
If coal ash is handled as EPA has proposed, then Hoosiers will pay the price. But here’s the good news: you can raise your voice to protect Hoosiers’ health! Submit your public comment on the EPA website before June 12, 2026, to weigh in. If you live near a coal ash site, please share your concerns about that site in your comments. Otherwise, we recommend outlining the concerns we listed above. Or, you may copy and paste our draft text below and use it as a modifiable template or submit as-is. Please remember to keep the tone of your message constructive and civil.
As a Hoosier, I’m concerned about the proposed changes to the Coal Combustion Residuals (CCR) rule. It’s well-known that unlined coal ash contaminate groundwater with heavy metals. We also know that storing coal ash in major floodplains poses a grave spill risk. Lastly, it’s widely accepted that using it as fill contaminates water, air, and soil. Yet, the proposed changes to the CCR rule ignore decades of science and real harm to Indiana residents. Because our state’s coal ash rule is tied to the federal rule, weakening this rule leaves Hoosiers at risk of cancer, neurological problems, and prenatal development issues from heavy metal exposure.
I am most concerned about the following proposed changes:
- First, EPA proposed exempting the units called CCRMU. Approximately half of the coal ash that has accumulated in Indiana is in CCRMU. The CCRMU are already contaminating groundwater, and EPA’s proposed changes would leave them to continue contaminating groundwater and posing a spill threat in the floodplains.
- Next, EPA has proposed multiple ways of lowering cleanup standards for coal ash sites that are not exempted. Again, that means more groundwater contamination and spill risk for Indiana.
- Finally, EPA has proposed allowing coal ash to be stored in unlined, uncovered piles for indefinite periods of time. It also puts forward allowing unlimited use of coal ash as fill, which is when coal ash is compacted and used as base material for roads, buildings, and other construction projects. Years ago, those practices, including an unlined coal ash pile and coal ash fill, turned the Town of Pines, Indiana, into a Superfund site with contamination of 260 private wells and soil in dozens of residential yards. Residents are convinced that drinking the contaminated water contributed to birth defects and cancers. The cleanup took more than 20 years. There is no reason to return to harmful, high-risk practices that led to a Superfund site.
Please abandon the proposed changes to the CCR rule and help protect Hoosiers’ health and wellbeing.
Categories: Water & Wilderness Protection