Hazardous and Solid Waste Management System: Disposal of Coal Combustion Residuals From Electric Utilities; CCR Management Unit Deadline Extension Rule

<RULE> ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY <CFR>40 CFR Part 257</CFR> <DEPDOC>[EPA-HQ-OLEM-2020-0107; FRL-7814.2-02-OLEM]</DEPDOC> <RIN>RIN 2050-AH36</RIN> <SUBJECT>Hazardous and Solid Waste Management System: Disposal of Coal Combustion Residuals From Electric Utilities; CCR Management Unit Deadline Extension Rule</SUBJECT> <HD SOURCE="HED">AGENCY:</HD> Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). <HD SOURCE="HED">ACTION:</HD> Direct final rule. <SUM> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUMMARY:</HD> The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or the Agency) is taking direct final action to establish an additional option for owners or operators of active coal combustion residuals (CCR) facilities or inactive CCR facilities with a legacy CCR surface impoundment to comply with the facility evaluation report (FER) Part 1 requirements and to extend compliance deadlines for the remaining CCRMU provisions published in the <E T="04">Federal Register</E> on May 8, 2024. The May 8, 2024 rule (Legacy Final Rule) established regulatory requirements for legacy CCR surface impoundments and CCR management units (CCRMU) under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). </SUM> <EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD> This final rule is effective on January 22, 2026, without further notice unless EPA receives adverse comment by August 21, 2025. If EPA receives adverse comment, the Agency will publish a timely withdrawal in the <E T="04">Federal Register</E> informing the public about the specific regulatory paragraph(s) or amendment(s) that will not take effect. </EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">ADDRESSES:</HD> EPA has established a docket for this action under Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OLEM-2020-0107. All documents in the docket are listed on the <E T="03">https://www.regulations.gov</E> website. Although listed in the index, some information is not publicly available, <E T="03">e.g.,</E> confidential business information (CBI) or other information whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Certain other material, such as copyrighted material, is not placed on the internet and will be publicly available only in hard copy form. Publicly available docket materials are available electronically through <E T="03">https://www.regulations.gov.</E> <FURINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:</HD> Taylor Holt, Office of Resource Conservation and Recovery, Materials Recovery and Waste Management Division, Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, MC: 5304T, Washington, DC 20460; telephone number: (202) 566-1439; email address: <E T="03">holt.taylor@epa.gov,</E> or Frank Behan, Office of Resource Conservation and Recovery, Materials Recovery and Waste Management Division, Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, MC: 5304T, Washington, DC 20460; telephone number: (202) 566-0531; email address: <E T="03">behan.frank@epa.gov.</E> For more information on this rulemaking please visit <E T="03">https://www.epa.gov/coalash.</E> </FURINF> <SUPLINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:</HD> <HD SOURCE="HD1">Table of Contents</HD> <EXTRACT> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">I. Why is the EPA using a Direct Final Rule?</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">II. General Information</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">A. Does this action apply to me?</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">B. What action is the agency taking?</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">C. What is the agency's authority for taking this action?</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">D. What are the incremental costs and benefits of this action?</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">III. Background</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">A. 2015 CCR Rule</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">B. Legacy CCR Surface Impoundment and CCR Management Unit Rule</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">IV. Revisions to Part 257, Subpart D</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">A. Revisions to the Facility Evaluation Report Part 1 Compliance Deadline</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">B. Revisions to the Groundwater Monitoring Compliance Deadline</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">C. Conforming Revisions to Other CCR Management Unit Compliance Deadlines</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">V. The Projected Economic Impact of This Action</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">A. Introduction</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">B. Affected Universe</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">C. Baseline Costs</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">D. Costs and Benefits of This Direct Final Rule</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">VI. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">A. Executive Order 12866: Regulatory Planning and Review and Executive Order 13563: Improving Regulation and Regulatory Review</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">B. Executive Order 14192: Unleashing Prosperity Through Deregulation</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">C. Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA)</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">D. Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA)</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">E. Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA)</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">F. Executive Order 13132: Federalism</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">G. Executive Order 13175: Consultation and Coordination With Indian Tribal Governments</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">H. Executive Order 13045: Protection of Children From Environmental Health Risks and Safety Risks</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">I. Executive Order 13211: Actions Concerning Regulations That Significantly Affect Energy Supply, Distribution or Use</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">J. National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act (NTTAA)</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">K. Congressional Review Act (CRA)</FP> </EXTRACT> <HD SOURCE="HD1">List of Acronyms</HD> <EXTRACT> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">CBI Confidential Business Information</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">CCR coal combustion residuals</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">CCRMU coal combustion residuals management unit</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">CFR Code of Federal Regulations</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">EPA Environmental Protection Agency</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">FER Facility Evaluation Report</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">FR Federal Register</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">GWMCA groundwater monitoring and corrective action</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">ICR Information Collection Request</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">NAICS North American Industry Classification System</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">OMB Office of Management and Budget</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">PBI Proprietary Business Information</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">PRA Paperwork Reduction Act</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">RCRA Resource Conservation and Recovery Act</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">REA Regulatory Economic Assessment</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">USWAG Utility Solid Waste Activities Group</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">WIIN Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation</FP> </EXTRACT> <HD SOURCE="HD1">I. Why is the EPA using a Direct Final Rule?</HD> EPA is publishing this rule without a prior proposed rule because EPA views this as a noncontroversial action and anticipates no adverse comment since the amendments simply establish an additional option for owners or operators of an active CCR facility or an inactive facility with a legacy CCR surface impoundment to comply with the FER Part 1 requirements and extends the remaining deadlines for owners and operators of CCRMU. However, in the “Proposed Rules” section of this <E T="04">Federal Register</E> publication, EPA is publishing a separate document that will serve as the proposed rule to adopt the provisions in this direct final rule if adverse comments are received on this direct final rule. In the companion proposed rule the Agency is additionally soliciting comment on an alternative to extend the deadlines to prepare part 2 of the FER by 12 months. If EPA receives comment that convinces EPA that extending the FER Part 2 deadline is warranted, the Agency will withdraw this direct final rule and pursue such an extension through standard rulemaking procedures. The Agency will not institute a second comment period on this action. Any parties interested in commenting must do so at this time. For further information about commenting on this rule, see the <E T="02">ADDRESSES</E> section of the proposed rule document. If EPA receives adverse comment, EPA will publish a timely withdrawal in the <E T="04">Federal Register</E> informing the public about the specific regulatory paragraph(s) or amendment(s) that will not take effect. The provisions that are not withdrawn will become effective on the date set out above. EPA would address all public comments in any subsequent final rule based on the comments and new information submitted in response to the proposed rule. In this action, EPA is not reconsidering, proposing to reopen, or otherwise soliciting comment on any of the existing CCR regulations beyond those specifically identified in this action. For the reader's convenience, EPA has provided a background description of existing requirements in several places throughout this preamble. These descriptions do not reopen the underlying described provisions, but merely explain the context to inform the public of the basis for this action's regulatory amendments. EPA will not respond to comments submitted on any issues other than those specifically identified in this action, and such comments will not be considered part of the rulemaking record. <HD SOURCE="HD1">II. General Information</HD> <HD SOURCE="HD2">A. Does this action apply to me?</HD> This rule may be of interest to electric utilities and independent power producers that fall within the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code 221112. The reference to NAICS code 221112 is not intended to be exhaustive, but rather provides a guide for readers regarding entities likely to be regulated by this action. This discussion lists the types of entities that EPA is now aware could potentially be regulated by this action. Other types of entities not described here could also be regulated. To determine whether your entity is regulated by this action, you should carefully examine the applicability criteria found in § 257.50 of title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). If you have questio ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Preview showing 10k of 59k characters. Full document text is stored and available for version comparison. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━