美国环境保护局正在继续对可能负担国内能源资源公司负担的法规进行审查，这次是朝着煤灰处理。尽管公用事业正在寻找救济，但环保主义者将该机构的行动视为将特殊利益带到了清洁水上。
EPA于6月6日提议推迟公用事业的合规性日期，以减少燃煤工厂的废水排放中的有毒材料，包括煤灰蓄水池，而代理商重新考虑2015年废水限制指南（ELG），要求使用最佳可用技术用于废物流。
When it released the ELG, EPA estimated an annual compliance cost of $480 million for the 12% of steam-generating plants that would need to comply. A group of environmentalists has filed suit, seeking to block EPA’s reconsideration.
同时，公用事业固体废物活动小组已要求EPA重新考虑部分但相关的煤炭燃烧残差规则，该规则管理煤灰的处置，包括暂停即将到来的10月的截止日期，以使授权与ELG合规性日期保持一致。
拼图拼图
Black＆Veatch的能源业务副总裁兼环境总监Andy Byers说，ELG和煤灰规则是将融合在一起的。他说：“由于EPA认为适合暂停ELG规则，直到该机构完成其重新考虑并解决相关的诉讼，因此只有将两者都暂停才有意义。”
公用事业公司希望根据这两个规则进行协调决定。为了加上混乱，各州有权施加超出污水限制指南（ELG）和煤灰规则所设定的最低限度的限制。拜尔斯说：“这有点像拼图拼图。”
Under the coal-ash rule, utilities with surface impoundments must install by October groundwater-monitoring wells to watch for leaks or opt to close them.
The utility group says closing the impoundments adds an onerous cost on coal-fired generation. Byers noted that the original rule’s provision for enforcement through citizen lawsuits adds an additional risk of costly litigation from environmental interest groups targeting coal-fired power plants.
EPA说，矿坑中有超过14亿吨的煤浆，构成了重大威胁。它发现，美国735次蓄水池中有318条处于令人满意的状态。南部环境法律中心的弗兰克·霍尔曼（Frank Holleman）说，美国水道所有有毒污染物中约有30％至50％来自煤灰的存储。Holleman说：“通过捍卫煤灰，它反映出，EPA并没有'排干沼泽，而是成为沼泽。”
规则更改没有好处
Some utilities wouldn’t benefit if the rule is changed. Two proactive South Carolina utilities, Santee Cooper and South Carolina Electric & Gas, have agreed to recycle their coal ash—now stored in unlined pits—or remove it to dry, lined storage, away from water sources.
Santee Cooper has recycled more than 1.6-million tons of ash from impoundments since 2014, says Mollie Gore, a spokeswoman.
戈尔说，尽管如此，煤灰规则的扣活动封闭时间表可能不会留下足够的时间来完成回收的发掘。她指出，所有煤灰中约有一半是回收的。
杜克能源公司（Duke Energy）计划在北卡罗来纳州，南卡罗来纳州，肯塔基州和印第安纳州进行52个煤灰盆地的限制或挖掘，估计成本为62亿美元。杜克（Duke）正在建造三个回收单元，按照国家要求处理煤灰。
The Southern Environmental Law Center on May 31 said it would challenge Duke’s plan to cap in place the unlined coal pond at the Roxboro plant in North Carolina, claiming it is leaking. Duke disputes the claim and notes EPA rules allow both excavation and capping in place as options to close coal-ash ponds.
在2014年在Dan River Steam Station的休息后，Duke Energy于去年被罚款600万美元，将30,000吨煤灰洒入河中。
The break followed the largest spill in the U.S., in 2008, when an impoundment at TVA’s Kingston, Tenn., plant failed and dumped 5.4 million cu yd of coal waste over 300 acres and into the Clinch River.
