Wrenching change is coming to coal country, and the coal industry and its defenders are blaming the government for waging a war on coal. Some analysts say this war is also capitalism at work because, increasingly, natural gas from fractured shale and plummeting renewable-energy costs are cheaper than coal-fired power generation. But regulation of coal use is being tightened. Two new Environmental Protection Agency rules are driving changes in the disposal of both liquid and solid wastes from coal combustion. The regulations will greatly influence the cost and operation of coal-burning utilities and may force some owners to decide which power plants will continue to operate.
The Disposal of Coal Combustion Residuals from Electric Utilities (CCR) rule requires utility companies that burn coal to close inactive impoundments for coal ash and dispose of their contents in a landfill or beneficially use them. The Effluent Limitations Guidelines (ELG) rule increases regulation on discharges into surface waters from coal-fired power plants.