Resolution 08-14 

Approved September 22, 2008 

Branson, Missouri 

As certified by 

R. Steven Brown 

Executive Director

THE REGULATION OF COAL COMBUSTION PRODUCTS 

WHEREAS, The 1980 Bevill Amendment to the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act 

(RCRA) requires the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) to "conduct a detailed and 

comprehensive study and submit a report" to Congress on the "adverse effects on human health 

and the environment, if any, of the disposal and utilization" of fly ash, bottom ash, slag, flue gas 

emission control wastes, and other byproducts from the combustion of coal and other fossil fuels 

and “to consider actions of state and other federal agencies with a view to avoiding duplication of 

effort”; and 

WHEREAS, USEPA conducted the comprehensive study required by the Bevill Amendment and 

reported its findings to Congress on March 8, 1988 and on March 31, 1999, and in both Reports 

that recommended that coal combustion wastes (CCW) not be regulated as hazardous waste under 

RCRA Subtitle C; and 

WHEREAS, on August 9, 1993, USEPA published a regulatory determination that regulation of 

the four large volume coal combustion wastes (fly ash, bottom ash, boiler slag, and flue gas 

emission control waste) as hazardous waste under RCRA Subtitle C is "unwarranted"; and 

WHEREAS, on May 22, 2000, USEPA published a final regulatory determination that fossil fuel 

combustion wastes, including coal combustion wastes, “do not warrant regulation [as hazardous 

waste] under Subtitle C of RCRA,” and that “the regulatory infrastructure is generally in place at 

the state level to ensure adequate management of these wastes”; and 

WHEREAS, USEPA is under no statutory obligation to promulgate federal regulations applicable 

to CCW disposal following the regulatory determination that hazardous waste regulation of CCW 

disposal is not warranted, and throughout the entire Bevill regulatory process, CCW disposal has 

remained a state regulatory responsibility and most of the states have developed and implemented 

robust regulatory programs tailored to the wide-ranging circumstances of CCW management 

throughout the country; and 

WHEREAS, In 2005, USEPA and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) published a study of 

CCW disposal facilities constructed or expanded since 1994 and evolving state regulatory 

programs that found: state CCW regulatory requirements have become more stringent in recent 

years, the vast majority of new and expanded CCW disposal facilities have state-of-the-art 

environmental controls, and deviations from state regulatory requirements were being granted 

only on the basis of sound technical criteria; and 
WHEREAS, the states have demonstrated a continuing commitment to ensure proper 

management of CCWs and several states have announced proposals for revising and upgrading 

their state CCW regulatory programs. 

NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT THE ENVIRONMENTAL COUNCIL OF 

THE STATES: 

Agrees with USEPA’s assessment that CCW disposal does not warrant regulation as hazardous 

wastes under RCRA Subtitle C; and 

Agrees with USEPA’s finding in the 2005 study previously cited that “the regulatory 

infrastructure is generally in place at the state level to ensure adequate management of these 

wastes” and believes that states should continue to be the principal regulatory authority for 

regulating CCW as they are best suited to develop and implement CCW regulatory programs 

tailored to specific climate and geological conditions designed to protect human health and the 

environment; and 

Supports safe, beneficial reuse of CCW, including for geotechnical and civil engineering 

purposes; and 

Believes that the adoption and implementation of a federal CCW regulatory program would 

create an additional level of resources and oversight that is not warranted, would be duplicative of 

existing state regulatory programs, and require additional resources to revise or amend existing 

state programs to conform to new federal regulatory programs and to seek USEPA program 

approval; and 

Therefore calls upon USEPA to conclude that additional federal CCW regulations would be 

duplicative of most state programs, are unnecessary, and should not be adopted, and instead, calls 

upon EPA to begin a collaborative dialogue with the states to develop and promote a national 

framework for beneficial use of CCW including use principles and guidelines, and to accelerate 

the development of markets for this material.