Sponsors (2)
The bill lets operators keep and stage CCR onsite longer to enable beneficial reuse and critical-mineral recovery and provides regulatory certainty and reporting, but it risks extending community exposure, limits state/local enforcement options, and shifts monitoring/enforcement costs to taxpayers and regulators.
Owners and operators of designated coal combustion residual (CCR) units can store CCR onsite for longer while staging and removing material for beneficial use, giving them more time to recover usable material and plan markets.
Owners and operators who follow the bill's staging and beneficial-use requirements can obtain regulatory certainty because compliant staging units are treated as sanitary landfills and exempted from earlier closure requirements.
State and local governments (and the public) will receive more information because the bill requires beneficial-use plans and reporting on volumes removed and markets for CCR beneficial use, increasing transparency about reuse activities.
Residents living near CCR units (rural and urban communities) may face prolonged onsite storage of CCRs, extending potential exposure and health risks for years under the staged removal timelines.
State and local governments may be limited in their ability to require faster closures or cleanup because the bill bars states from enforcing conflicting closure laws, reducing local authorities' ability to act where they identify higher risks.
If operators fail to meet removal targets, affected communities and local governments could experience delayed revocation or enforcement because the statute relies on state and EPA approval/notification processes that may slow action and prolong environmental risks.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Creates a process to designate eligible CCR landfills/impoundments as time‑limited staging units for removal and beneficial reuse, with application, monitoring, and removal requirements.
Introduced August 5, 2025 by Garland H. Barr · Last progress August 5, 2025
Creates a federal process to allow owners or operators of certain coal combustion residuals (CCR) landfills and surface impoundments to apply for a time-limited designation as "beneficial use staging units" so CCR can be temporarily stored on‑site while being prepared for reuse. Applications must be reviewed by a participating State with an approved permit/prior‑approval program or by EPA for units in nonparticipating States and must include attestations of regulatory compliance, a volume measurement, and a management plan showing how much CCR will be removed, the removal schedule, any plan to recover critical minerals, and the intended markets for beneficial use. Eligibility requires that the unit be lined to current regulatory standards, meet groundwater monitoring requirements, and be in compliance with applicable rules; approvals can be denied with reasons provided, designations expire when removal is required, and repeat designations are barred after a prior failure to complete required removals.