Effluent Limitations Guidelines and Standards for the Steam Electric Power Generating Point Source Category-Deadline Extensions

<RULE> ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY <CFR>40 CFR Part 423</CFR> <DEPDOC>[EPA-HQ-OW-2009-0819; FRL-8794.3-04-OW]</DEPDOC> <RIN>RIN 2040-AG54</RIN> <SUBJECT>Effluent Limitations Guidelines and Standards for the Steam Electric Power Generating Point Source Category—Deadline Extensions</SUBJECT> <HD SOURCE="HED">AGENCY:</HD> Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). <HD SOURCE="HED">ACTION:</HD> Final rule. <SUM> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUMMARY:</HD> The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (the EPA or Agency) is finalizing a Clean Water Act (CWA) rule to extend deadlines promulgated in the 2024 “Supplemental Effluent Limitations Guidelines and Standards for the Steam Electric Power Generating Point Source Category” (2024 rule), update the 2024 rule's transfer provisions to allow facilities to switch between compliance alternatives, and create authority for alternative applicability dates and paperwork submission dates, based on site-specific factors. </SUM> <EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD> The final rule is effective on March 2, 2026. In accordance with 40 CFR 23.2, this regulation shall be considered issued for purposes of judicial review at 1 p.m. Eastern time on January 14, 2026. Under section 509(b)(1) of the CWA, judicial review of this regulation can be had only by filing a petition for review in the U.S. Court of Appeals within 120 days after the regulation is considered issued for purposes of judicial review. Under section 509(b)(2), the requirements in this regulation may not be challenged later in civil or criminal proceedings brought by the EPA to enforce these requirements. </EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">ADDRESSES:</HD> The EPA has established a docket for this action under Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OW-2009-0819. All documents in the docket are listed on the <E T="03">http://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> Richard Benware, Engineering and Science Division, Office of Water (Mail Code 4303T), Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20460; telephone number: 202-566-1369; email address: <E T="03">benware.richard@epa.gov.</E> Information about the Steam Electric Effluent Limitations Guidelines and Standards (ELGs) is available online at: <E T="03">https://www.epa.gov/eg/steam-electric-power-generating-effluent-guidelines.</E> </FURINF> <SUPLINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:</HD> <HD SOURCE="HD1">Table of Contents</HD> <EXTRACT> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">I. Executive Summary</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">II. Does this action apply to me?</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">III. What is the EPA's authority for taking this action?</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">IV. Background</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">A. Clean Water Act</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">B. Relevant Effluent Guidelines</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">1. Best Practicable Control Technology Currently Available</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">2. Best Available Technology Economically Achievable</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">3. Pretreatment Standards for Existing Sources</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">4. Best Professional Judgment</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">C. 2015 Steam Electric Rule</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">1. Summary of the 2015 Rule</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">2. Vacatur of Limitations Applicable to CRL and Legacy Wastewater</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">D. 2020 Steam Electric Reconsideration Rule</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">1. Summary of the 2020 Rule</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">2. 2020 Rule Litigation</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">E. 2024 Supplemental Steam Electric Rule</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">1. Summary of the 2024 Rule</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">2. 2024 Rule Litigation</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">3. Administrative Petitions for Reconsideration of the 2024 Rule</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">4. NOPP Submission Extension Requests</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">F. Executive Order Summary</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">V. Information Supporting the Final Action</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">A. National Energy Crisis</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">B. Regional Energy Reliability and Resource Adequacy Concerns</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">C. Increasing Energy Demand From Data Centers, Manufacturing, and Other Causes</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">D. Supply-Chain Risks</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">E. Other Pressures on Retirement</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">F. Recent Changes in Facilities' Plans To Cease Burning Coal in Light of Rising Demand</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">VI. Final Rule</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">A. NOPP Submission Date Extension</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">B. Withdrawal of NOPP Companion Direct Final Rule</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">C. New Transfer Provision</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">D. Extended BAT Applicability Timing for Zero-Discharge Limitations</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">1. Industry-Wide Installation of the 2024 Zero-Discharge Limitations Cannot Reasonably Be Achieved Nationwide by 2029 Due to Longer-Than-Expected Timelines and Delays in Procuring Necessary Components and Completing Installation</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">2. An Extension of the Latest Compliance Deadlines for the 2024 Rule's Zero-Discharge Limitations Until 2034 Is Warranted Based on the Adverse Impacts on Customer Rates Resulting From the Cumulative Costs of Complying With Multiple Rules in Short Succession</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">3. An Extension of the 2024 Rule's Latest Compliance Deadline for Zero-Discharge Limitations Is Warranted To Ensure Plants Can Continue Operating To Support Grid Reliability and in Light of Legitimate Uncertainties About the Economic and Energy Impacts of the 2024 Rule</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">4. The Final Rule Does Not Revise the 2024 Rule's Earliest Compliance Dates, Which Have Already Passed</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">E. Tiered PSES</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">F. Alternative Applicability Timing and NOPP Submission Timing Flexibility</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">G. Clarifications to Sections 423.18(a) or 423.19(i)</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">H. Reliance Interests</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">I. Economic Achievability</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">J. Severability</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">VII. 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">I. Executive Summary</HD> The EPA is finalizing regulations that apply to wastewater discharges from steam electric power plants, particularly coal-fired power plants. In 2024, the EPA finalized a CWA regulation that revised the technology-based effluent limitations guidelines and standards (ELGs) for the steam electric power generating point source category applicable to flue gas desulfurization (FGD) wastewater, bottom ash (BA) transport water, and legacy wastewater at existing sources and combustion residual leachate (CRL) at new and existing sources. 89 FR 40198 (May 9, 2024). In the last year and a half, the EPA has observed extraordinary increases in energy demand across the U.S., decreases in energy reserves, difficulties in transmission across the electricity grid, increased energy prices, and decreased energy reliability (DCN SE11901, SE11902). In addition, the EPA has identified additional information that makes it clear that, due to supply chain logistical challenges as well as the unique characteristics of each facility's operational needs, the deadlines to comply with the 2024 rule are infeasible and impractical on a nationwide basis. This final action revises the compliance deadlines for existing sources subject to the 2024 rule, as seen in the following table, at a time of both growing energy crisis as well as different circumstances than what existed during the 2024 rulemaking process. These compliance deadline extensions also give utilities and permitting authorities flexibilities needed to ensure affordable and reliable power (DCN SE11915). Table 1 provides an overview of each revised regulatory deadline. <GPOTABLE COLS="5" OPTS="L2,nj,i1" CDEF="xs50,r100,r50,r50,xs60"> <TTITLE>Table 1—Summary of Deadline Extensions</TTITLE> <CHED H="1">Rule</CHED> <CHED H="1">Wastestream/submission</CHED> <CHED H="1">Previous deadline</CHED> <CHED H="1">New deadline</CHED> <CHED H="1">Extendable by 40 CFR 423.18?</CHED> <ROW> <ENT I="01">2020 Rule</ENT> <ENT>NOPP for the Voluntary Incentives Plan, Permanent Cessation of Coal Combustion by 2028 Subcategory, and Transfers</ENT> <ENT>October 13, 2021, June 27, 2023, December 31, 2025</ENT> <ENT>X</ENT> <ENT>Yes.</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="22"> </ENT> <ENT>BA Transport Water (Generally Applicable BAT)</ENT> <ENT>December 31, 2025</ENT> <ENT>X</ENT> <E ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Preview showing 10k of 199k characters. Full document text is stored and available for version comparison. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━