"A federal court today agreed with environmentalists that some parts of Obama-era regulations governing coal ash disposal weren't stringent enough. The ruling came as the new administration seeks changes to the landmark standards.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit threw out provisions in the Obama rules that allowed unlined and clay-lined impoundments to receive coal ash, as well as an exemption for inactive impoundments at power plants that are no longer producing energy.
Those provisions failed to lower the "significant risk" associated with the toxic sludge, according to the three-judge panel.
EPA's approach "does not address the identified health and environmental harms documented in the record. ... Moreover, the EPA has not shown that harmful leaks will be promptly detected; that, once detected, they will be promptly stopped; or that contamination, once it occurs, can be remedied," the court opinion says."
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