The Trump administration’s Environmental Protection Agency proposed weakening federal rules for disposing of coal-plant ash that can contain hazardous heavy metals and pose a risk to groundwater, the agency announced this week. Under the proposal, EPA would revise requirements it says were tightened under the Biden administration to better protect water near coal-ash disposal sites. Opponents said the changes could make it easier for owners to leave ash in place near groundwater and reduce how thoroughly contamination is addressed.
The EPA proposal would ease monitoring and protection steps for groundwater near some ash sites, according to the administration’s draft revisions. It would also roll back rules that, under the Biden-era approach, required cleanup across entire coal properties rather than focusing only on the specific sites where ash was dumped. The agency also said the revisions would make it easier to reuse coal ash by expanding “beneficial use” pathways for secondary materials such as cement and as structural fill.
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said the proposal reflects EPA’s policy priorities and approach to regulation. In remarks included with the announcement, Zeldin said it reflects the agency’s “commitment to restoring American energy dominance, strengthening cooperative federalism, and accommodating unique circumstances at certain (coal) facilities.”
Coal burning produces large quantities of ash, a waste product that can include heavy metals such as mercury, lead and cobalt. If coal ash is not stored properly, it can contaminate groundwater, and many coal plants sit near rivers or other waterways with ash stored close to those water sources. Federal rules tightened during the Biden administration were designed to reduce the chances that ash would leach into drinking water or other groundwater supplies.
Environmental and legal groups said the proposed approach would undercut key safeguards. Nick Torrey, an attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center, said the proposal “Opening the door to leaving ash in groundwater undermines one of the central protections of this rule, and that’s essentially what this does.” The EPA’s proposal includes language stating that an owner would still be required to ensure that the ash “poses no reasonable probability of adverse effects on human health and the environment.”
The fight over coal-ash rules has often focused on whether regulators must require full-site cleanup or allow exemptions for certain older or specific conditions. The Biden-era EPA in 2022 rejected an effort by the Gen. James Gavin Power Plant in southern Ohio to close a coal-ash disposal site, with the agency saying the ash was in contact with groundwater. In January 2025, after Trump returned to the White House, coal industry entities asked Zeldin to revise the agency’s stance.
The proposal also raises concerns for sites where ash has been used to create land or other structures. For example, under the Biden-era coal ash protections, rules required cleanup at sites such as the Michigan City Generating Station in Indiana by Lake Michigan, with 2024 rules setting deadlines for cleanup. At Michigan City and other locations, the standards to clean up land made with coal ash would be eliminated under the EPA proposal, according to the Associated Press.
On the industry side, the Utility Solid Waste Activities Group said it supports changes aimed at flexibility and challenges to what it describes as a one-size-fits-all framework. In a statement, John Mavretich, executive director of the industry association, said the group “appreciates EPA’s efforts to address the significant challenges our members are facing in implementing” the existing regulations. He added the group “supports changes that move away from the existing ‘one-size-fits-all’ framework and incorporate site-specific flexibility, an approach that is common in other environmental programs.”
The proposal comes amid a broader regulatory shift toward easing environmental rules, officials and groups said. The EPA first set coal-ash standards during the Obama administration, including requirements for lining new storage sites, monitoring water, and closing leaky ponds—often requiring ash to be moved elsewhere. In 2024, the Biden administration eliminated exemptions that had allowed some older ash sites to avoid certain requirements.
Disasters prompted the federal regulation of coal ash, the EPA’s history of the rules notes. The agency began investigating after a 2008 dike failure in Tennessee spread coal ash over more than 300 acres (120 hectares) and triggered a cleanup, while other spill events included a 2014 incident in North Carolina. In addition, the Associated Press reported the Trump administration has taken other steps earlier this year that weaken limits on mercury and other toxic emissions from coal-fired power plants, and has also halted planned shutdowns of some coal plants tied to grid reliability during storms and periods of high demand.
The owners of the Gen. James Gavin Power Plant declined to comment, and the owners of the Michigan City Generating Station did not immediately comment. The EPA proposal also said industry and other officials have told the agency that health risks from coal ash were overstated in previous EPA assessments, and that federal officials found the estimated cost savings were more than enough to justify the proposed changes.