EPA adds three years to deadline for cleaning coal ash sites

The Environmental Protection Agency has issued a rule delaying the monitoring and clean-up of coal ash from power plants in Indiana and across the country.

Burning coal for energy results in coal ash, which contains toxic heavy metals like arsenic, radium, and cadmium that can cause cancer, heart disease, and other illnesses.

Coal ash from dump sites without protective lining can leach into groundwater. Most coal ash sites in Indiana are unlined.

The EPA had previously issued a rule requiring owners of coal ash sites called "Coal Combustion Residual Management Units" to test groundwater at the sites for coal ash contamination by 2029. Groundwater reports are the first step to cleaning up coal ash sites, which are often located on or around power plants.

That deadline has been extended to 2032.

The ruling applies to sites at the Eagle Valley Generating Station in Martinsville, the former Wabash River Generating Station in Terre Haute and ten other power plants around the state.

Dr. Indra Frank is the Coal Ash Advisor at the Hoosier Environmental Council. She said the EPA's reasoning for the extension doesn't make sense.

"These coal ash sites were already given five years to get their initial groundwater testing done, and now the EPA has added three years on top of that," Frank said. "Previous coal ash sites have gotten their groundwater testing done in just over two years."

Frank said that while there are methods to clean up coal ash contamination from groundwater, they're far more expensive than taking measures to prevent groundwater contamination in the first place.

Duke Energy spokesperson Angeline Protogere said plans to close a coal ash site at the former Wabash River Generating Station will be unchanged by the new deadlines.

"With a closure plan approved by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management; we expect to begin closure work this year without significant changes to our closure timeline," Protogere said.