Sponsors (2)
Introduced August 5, 2025 by Garland H. Barr · Last progress August 5, 2025
The bill creates enforceable timelines, federal transparency, and a pathway to beneficial reuse for lined/monitored CCR impoundments — speeding removal and enabling material recovery — but it limits state/local authority, may delay full closure protections for staged sites, could leave older unlined sites behind, and may raise compliance costs borne by ratepayers or taxpayers.
Communities near CCR impoundments will see reduced long-term CCR inventories and exposure risk because the bill requires enforceable removal schedules with minimum removal milestones (25% thresholds) and timelines for staged removal.
Owners/operators of lined, monitored CCR impoundments can designate those units as staging areas so they can plan, consolidate, and facilitate removal and beneficial reuse of stored CCR, potentially accelerating cleanup and material recovery.
State and local governments, communities (including rural communities), and regulators will have greater visibility because the bill creates federal annual public reporting on stored and removed CCR volumes and any revocations.
State and local governments and communities near CCR units will have reduced authority because the bill preempts state or local laws that would require closure or other more protective actions, limiting faster local cleanup requirements.
Nearby residents (rural and urban) may face delayed full closure and longer-term exposure risks because designated staging units that comply with the bill may be treated as sanitary landfills and be exempt from some closure requirements.
Ratepayers and taxpayers (and utilities that serve them) could face higher costs because operators must meet new reporting, monitoring, and removal schedule obligations that may impose significant compliance expenses.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Creates a process to designate certain lined and monitored coal ash landfills/impoundments as temporary 'beneficial use staging units' for removal, reuse, monitoring, and enforcement.
Creates a federal process to let regulators temporarily designate certain lined and monitored coal ash landfills and surface impoundments as “beneficial use staging units” so stored coal combustion residuals (CCR, i.e., coal ash) can be removed, shipped, and reused for construction or other beneficial markets. Owners/operators must apply and provide a removal plan, volume estimates, monitoring and reporting commitments, and may include plans to recover critical minerals. Designations are granted by approved State permit programs or by EPA in nonparticipating States and carry conditions, monitoring, liability, and revocation rules.