EPA delays monitoring and cleanup of hundreds of coal ash dump sites (February 9, 2026 )
February 9, 2026 — The EPA announced it was delaying monitoring and cleanup requirements for hundreds of Coal Combustion Residual Management Units (CCRMUs) — a technical category covering coal ash disposal sites at current and former coal plants across the country — in what Earthjustice described as a prelude to a larger rollback of the coal ash rules enacted under the Biden administration. The delay allows hazardous pollutants including arsenic, lead, radium, cobalt, and other carcinogens stored in these sites to continue leaching into groundwater without mandatory reporting or remediation.
Coal ash is the toxic byproduct of burning coal and is stored in ponds, pits, and landfills at nearly every current or former coal plant in the United States. Industry data suggests that at least 91 percent of 265 regulated coal plants across the U.S. are contaminating groundwater above levels considered safe. The Biden administration had moved to require monitoring of this contamination and cleanup of the most dangerous sites; the Trump administration, at coal industry request, moved to delay those requirements while signaling a much broader rollback was coming.
"There is no reason to delay monitoring for hazardous pollutants that we know are leaking from these coal ash dump sites," said Earthjustice senior counsel Lisa Evans. "Every year of inaction brings more and wider-spread contamination." The delay was explicitly framed by the EPA as a stepping stone to a larger proposed rule — announced two months later — that would weaken the underlying standards themselves, not just their timelines.
| https://earthjustice.org/press/2026/trump-epa-delays-cleanup-of-hundreds-of-coal-ash-dumps-in-advance-of-larger-rollback |