Sponsors (2)
The bill creates a federal pathway with enforceable removal timelines, transparency, and possible material recovery to accelerate cleanup and reuse of CCR, but it limits state/local authority, may delay some long-term closures, and imposes compliance costs that could fall on ratepayers or taxpayers.
Utilities and site operators can designate lined, monitored CCR impoundments as temporary staging units to enable planned removal and beneficial reuse of stored CCR, helping speed cleanup and material recovery.
Owners/operators must follow enforceable removal schedules with minimum removal milestones (e.g., 25% thresholds), creating timelines that will reduce CCR inventories over years and lower long-term exposure risks for nearby residents.
Applicants are required to include plans to recover critical minerals from CCR, encouraging domestic recovery that could support U.S. mineral supply chains and manufacturing.
Residents near CCR units may experience delayed full closure and long-term remediation because staging units that comply can be treated like sanitary landfills and exempted from some closure requirements.
State and local governments and communities lose the ability to require faster or more protective cleanup because the bill preempts stricter state or local laws.
Operators face new reporting, monitoring, and removal schedule obligations that could impose significant compliance costs, which are likely to be passed on to ratepayers or taxpayers.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Creates a process for states or EPA to designate lined CCR landfills/impoundments as temporary "beneficial use staging units" with application, monitoring, and removal requirements.
Official title: To amend the Solid Waste Disposal Act to establish a framework for the beneficial use of coal combustion residuals, and for other purposes.
Introduced August 5, 2025 by Garland H. Barr · Last progress August 5, 2025
Creates a process for owners/operators to apply to state permit programs or EPA to designate lined coal ash landfills and surface impoundments as “beneficial use staging units” to hold coal combustion residuals (CCR) pending removal for beneficial reuse. Applications must include volume estimates, a removal and schedule plan, monitoring and reporting commitments, and optional critical-mineral recovery plans; the statute sets approval criteria, reporting, monitoring, liability, and revocation rules and aligns enforcement with existing Solid Waste Disposal Act authorities. The measure focuses on technical conditions for designation (lining, groundwater monitoring, regulatory compliance), timelines for removal, and procedural elements for approvals, denials, monitoring, and revocation — enabling temporary staging of CCR for reuse while maintaining environmental safeguards and oversight by states or EPA.