After Biden denied Alabama coal waste bid, Trump reverses course
The Environmental Protection Agency on Monday proposed to approve Alabama's application to take over issuing certain coal waste permits from the agency, part of a trend under President Donald Trump to transfer more authority from the federal government to states.
Under the current administration, the EPA has already allowed two states to handle how coal plants dispose of waste, and proposed to authorize two others, in addition to Alabama.
"[W]e know that Alabama understands its own resources and topography better than bureaucrats in DC," said EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin in a statement. He later called the decision "yet another win for cooperative federalism."
Alabama's preliminary approval comes after the EPA denied a similar application by the state in 2024, under former President Joe Biden. At that time, the EPA said the state's program wasn't protective enough of human health or the environment, calling it in a press release "significantly less protective of people and waterways than federal law requires."
The process of burning coal generates a number of byproducts, including coal ash, which can contain toxic contaminants known to cause cancer and other serious health problems. After a couple of high-profile coal ash spills in Tennessee and North Carolina, where toxic sludge leaked from coal plants into nearby rivers, the federal government in 2015 put in place initial regulations designed to substantially limit coal ash and other coal waste-related pollution.
Now the federal government is the primary issuer of coal ash disposal permits nationwide, but states can apply to run their own programs if they can prove theirs will be as stringent as federal ones.
When asked about what had changed in Alabama's application, the EPA did not immediately respond. But in its proposed decision document, the agency said it has updated its approach on such applications: While before it had considered a state's coal waste permitting track record in addition to its written criteria, the EPA is now excluding reviews of past permits and their implementation from its decision-making process.
The Biden-era Alabama denial, the EPA said, was mainly because of "deficiencies" identified in previous permits linked to coal plants' unlined surface pits or ponds, groundwater monitoring networks and enforcement. After Alabama submitted a new application in May that excluded those permits, the EPA tentatively approved it.
Environmental advocates say the new approach to state applications could lead to more relaxed permitting and, ultimately, greater pollution risks.
Nick Torrey, a senior attorney at the nonprofit Southern Environmental Law Center, described the change as putting "on a blindfold" in a move to ignore past problems. When it comes to Alabama's plan for permitting and overseeing this waste, he said, "the story here is nothing's changed."
During Trump's first term, the federal government granted state permitting authority for the first time to a trio of states: Oklahoma, Georgia and Texas. These approvals have accelerated in Trump's second term.
The EPA will accept public comments on its Alabama decision through September 14.
The agency also announced on Monday it is looking to revamp its state program approval process even further. Specifically, it said online that it "is exploring whether a general permit could temporarily provide permit coverage" for eligible waste sites while a state looks to take control of its own permitting program.
This announcement comes a few months after the EPA proposed relaxing some of the federal coal ash protections.
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