On May 4, 2023, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approved the EPA’s proposed new rule to regulate landfills containing coal combustion residuals (CCR). The new rule would close a regulatory gap left open by the EPA’s 2015 CCR rule which established groundwater monitoring requirements for CCR landfills that accepted ash after October 19, 2015.

The 2015 Rule exempted surface impoundments at active facilities, and surface impoundments at all inactive CCR landfills. While it is not yet clear whether the agency will include provisions addressing inactive CCR landfills in its Legacy Surface Impoundment Proposal, which is set to be published in the Federal Register later this month, the approval by the OMB clears the way for the EPA to regulate all CCR impoundments and landfills.