{"id":30302,"date":"2018-06-20T15:33:53","date_gmt":"2018-06-20T20:33:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/?p=30302"},"modified":"2018-06-20T15:33:53","modified_gmt":"2018-06-20T20:33:53","slug":"oklahoma-becomes-first-state-to-get-epa-approval-to-manage-coal-ash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2018\/06\/20\/oklahoma-becomes-first-state-to-get-epa-approval-to-manage-coal-ash\/","title":{"rendered":"Oklahoma becomes first state to get EPA approval to manage coal ash"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/p>\n

Joe Wertz \/ StateImpact Oklahoma<\/p>\n

A sign marks the entrance to a coal ash reclamation pit near Bokoshe in southeastern Oklahoma.<\/p>\n<\/div>

Oklahoma is the first state in the nation to receive the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency\u2019s approval <\/a>to manage its own coal ash disposal program. State and federal officials and utility companies said Oklahoma\u2019s plan would improve oversight, but environmental groups like Earthjustice and the Sierra Club said the move protects industry<\/a> and endangers public health.<\/p>

\u201cIf anyone believes this decision will protect Oklahoma\u2019s residents from coal ash pollution, then I have some oceanfront property in the state to sell you,\u201d Earthjustice attorney Jennifer Cassel said in a statement. \u201cOklahoma\u2019s \u2018Department of Environmental Quality\u2019 made clear that it wanted state rules precisely to protect industry from public oversight.\u201d<\/p>

The Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality applied for the state-run program<\/a> in 2017 with support from utility companies, which said the state agency should have more autonomy in enforcing rules, ensuring compliance and issuing, suspending or revoking permits for the disposal of coal ash, a byproduct of coal-fired power plants that contains arsenic, lead, mercury and other heavy metals.<\/p>

A 2015 EPA rule and federal legislation signed by then-President Barack Obama in December 2016 created a roadmap for states to create and manage coal ash programs, which don’t have to be identical to federal coal ash rules but must be “as protective as” the federal guidelines.<\/p>

Under President Donald Trump, EPA administrator and former Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt has pushed hard for states to take over management of coal ash disposal. In a March 2018 announcement<\/a> that drew sharp criticism from environmental groups, Pruitt\u2019s EPA proposed a major overhaul of the federal coal ash guidelines that includes more than a dozen changes to minimum national standards on the design and operation of landfills and pits where the waste is stored.<\/p>

In a statement announcing EPA\u2019s approval of Oklahoma\u2019s coal ash plan, Pruitt said states, not the federal government, should take the lead on managing coal ash.<\/p>

\u201cThis historic announcement places oversight of coal ash disposal into the hands of those who are best positioned to oversee coal ash management: the officials who have intimate knowledge of the facilities and the environment in their state,\u201d Pruitt said. \u201cOklahoma is leading the way for other states to establish state coal ash permit programs, and EPA stands ready to work with each and every state to improve coal ash management.\u201d<\/p>

The Executive Director of the Oklahoma Department Quality Scott Thompson said he was pleased Oklahoma is the first state in the nation to receive approval for its coal ash plan. In a statement, he said Oklahoma\u2019s coal ash permitting rules incorporate the federal rules.<\/p>

\u201cWe have the knowledge and expertise to consider unique and varied local concerns, which will ensure that the program continues to be successful and protective of human health and the environment,\u201d he said.<\/p>

Environmental groups said coal ash is already contaminating<\/a> sites across the state and said Oklahoma\u2019s plan doesn\u2019t do enough to ensure ash doesn\u2019t pollute waterways and the air near disposal sites.<\/p>

Cassel, the Earthjustice attorney, said the group plans to challenge the decision in court.<\/p>

\u201cPruitt knows full well that the only thing that will happen is for the toxic contamination from coal ash to get worse,\u201d she said. \u201c Already the coal-fired power plants are violating state and federal rules on coal ash. And yet, Pruitt\u2019s has approved a program that keeps coal ash management behind closed doors and allows his polluter buddies to self-regulate, leaving the fox guarding the henhouse.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Environmental groups plan to challenge the decision in court.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":30303,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[491],"tags":[670,770,561,688],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30302"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30302"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30302\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30306,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30302\/revisions\/30306"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}