On October 14, 2011, the House passed the Coal Residuals Reuse and Management Act ( H.R. 2273 ). On August 2, 2012, the Coal Ash Recycling and Oversight Act of 2012 (S. 3512) was introduced in the Senate. Each bill would have amended the Solid Waste Disposal Act—more commonly referred to as the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976 (RCRA; 42 U.S.C. §6901 et seq.). The House subsequently incorporated the provisions of the Senate bill in Title IV of H.R. 3409, the Stop the War on Coal Act, passed in the House on September 12, 2012. The bills would have created a framework that states could use to create permit programs for the "management and disposal" of coal combustion residuals (CCRs, also referred to generally as "coal ash"). In states that did not create a program that met program specifications included in the proposed amendment, or in other specified circumstances, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) would have been required to implement a program. Each bill would have added to Subtitle D of RCRA a new Section 4011, Management and Disposal of Coal Combustion Residuals. Compared to H.R. 2273 , the Senate-introduced bill (S. 3512 and Title IV of H.R. 3409) included more detailed provisions applicable to the program. However, the approach to creating state permit programs was largely the same in each bill. That approach is unique within RCRA. As a result, state permit programs implementing regulations applicable to CCR disposal, created in accordance with statutory permit program specifications, would differ from other permit programs created in RCRA. Legislation addressing CCRs may be considered in the 113 th Congress. Analysis of selected elements of the legislation considered during the 112 th Congress is provided in this report as background for future legislation that may take a similar approach. That approach, proposed in the 112 th Congress, was to create state programs to regulate a particular type of waste (CCRs) using as its framework existing federal-state programs to regulate municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills. For that existing program, pursuant to directives in Subtitle D of RCRA, EPA promulgated federal regulatory criteria applicable to owners and operators of MSW landfills; states adopted those federal criteria and implemented them using a permit program; and EPA approved each state permit program, based on EPA's determination of whether each program was adequate to ensure facility compliance with baseline federal regulatory criteria. Further, as explicitly required by Congress, the federal criteria promulgated by EPA, applicable to MSW landfills, were required to be those necessary to "protect human health and the environment." The approach used in the 112 th Congress bills would not have provided an explicit mandate that EPA or the states promulgate regulations applicable to CCR disposal facilities. Instead, the proposed Section 4011 would itself list Permit Program Specifications that individual states would be required to apply to "CCR structures." Using this approach to creating largely state-based programs, it is difficult to determine in advance how such statutory specifications may be interpreted by each state. The proposed amendment would also have provided no explicit authority for EPA to directly enforce regulatory criteria applicable to CCR disposal units (short of EPA running a CCR Permit Program for a state). Such authority provided to EPA in other parts of RCRA (and in some other pollution control laws) has generally served as an incentive to states to adopt and implement federal regulatory criteria. The absence of such authority makes it difficult to anticipate the degree to which EPA may encourage states to adopt and implement a program to regulate CCRs that would comply with the Permit Program Specifications and other relevant provisions in the proposed Section 4011. The bills considered in the 112 th Congress were proposed in the wake of a June 2010 proposal by EPA to regulate CCRs. This report provides background and selected information regarding that EPA proposal, including EPA's determination that CCRs should be regulated according to national waste management standards, rather than standards determined by individual states—as they are regulated currently. The report also describes selected elements of RCRA Subtitles C and D, relevant to both EPA's proposal to regulate CCRs and the legislative proposals to create state programs to regulate CCRs. This report looks primarily at how state programs to regulate CCRs may be developed and implemented by a state according to directives in the bills proposed in the 112 th Congress; it does not attempt to identify detailed requirements that may be applied by a state regulatory program. Accordingly, the report does not compare provisions in House and Senate bills proposed in the 112 th Congress or provide detailed analysis of provisions in those bills, except to the extent that individual provisions may be relevant to the regulatory program a state may develop and implement to regulate CCRs. Federal criteria applicable to MSW landfills were promulgated in 1991. State efforts to adopt the federal criteria and implement them according to an EPA-approved permit program have been largely complete for more than 15 years. In comparing the proposed approach to regulate CCRs to the now-mature and already EPA-approved state programs to regulate MSW landfills, where relevant, this report provides information regarding those existing programs as they have been implemented (e.g., with regard to enforcement authorities that EPA could have exercised, but did not). Also, to simplify the discussion in this report, potential programs to regulate CCRs are discussed in the present tense (e.g., references to programs that "may be" or "could be" created and implemented by states refer to programs that may or could have been created pursuant to bills proposed in the 112 th Congress). Since the most recent bill passed by the House adopted provisions in the Senate bill, unless otherwise noted, any reference to "the bills," "the proposed amendment to RCRA," or "Section 4011" refers to S. 3512/Title IV of H.R. 3409 , proposed in the 112 th Congress. Provisions included throughout the bills use the term "CCR permit program" to refer to state programs to regulate CCRs. The proposed amendments to RCRA would not create a "permit program," per se (see discussion in " Provisions Relevant to Potential State CCR Permit Programs "). Instead, selected provisions in the bills would form a framework that states could use to create programs to regulate CCR management (i.e., its use or disposal). To distinguish between "permit programs" as they have been previously created in RCRA and programs that could be created pursuant to the approach taken in the proposed bills, use of the phrase "CCR Permit Program" will mean a program that could be developed, adopted, or implemented by or for a state according to provisions in proposed Section 4011. Further, since the bills were designed to result in a state-based regulatory program, discussion of CCR Permit Programs focuses primarily on the programs that may be created by states, as opposed to a program to regulate CCRs that could potentially be implemented by EPA for a state. State solid waste management agencies commonly require owners and operators of certain waste disposal facilities to obtain a permit as part of that state's program to ensure that those facilities will comply with applicable waste management requirements. Such permits are legally enforceable documents detailing requirements applicable to the permittee (owners and operators of a specifically regulated solid waste disposal facility) and conditions the permittee must meet to demonstrate compliance with those requirements. Requirements applicable to solid waste disposal facilities are generally promulgated by states pursuant to state laws applicable to solid waste management. State regulations applicable to waste disposal facilities may vary depending on the issues specific to the type of waste received at that facility. For example, requirements applicable to a landfill that receives construction and demolition debris would be tailored to address waste management issues that may be different from requirements applicable to a landfill that accepts industrial solid waste. A state permit "program" is the body of authorities, activities, and procedures that the permitting authority uses to implement and enforce regulations applicable to a solid waste disposal facility. Permit programs may include, among other elements, state laws that specify the types of facilities required to obtain a permit; provide a state agency with authority to implement the regulatory program applicable to those facilities; and authorize the permitting authority to conduct compliance inspections and to take enforcement action necessary to remedy violations of program requirements. Exactly how state solid waste management programs have been created varies from state to state. Since all states currently have waste management laws in place, a new permit program may be created by amending existing laws to specify the entity required to operate using a permit and authorize the appropriate state agency to promulgate regulations applicable to the permittee. Once the regulations are promulgated, the authorized state agency would generally be required to take measures necessary to ensure that the newly regulated waste disposal facility operates in compliance with applicable requirements. The permit would specify those compliance requirements (e.g., daily operating procedures, facility design requirements), as well as documentation that must be maintained to prove facility compliance (e.g., inspections records, groundwater monitoring data). Under Subtitle C of RCRA, EPA has primary authority to regulate hazardous wastes from the time it is generated until its ultimate disposal. Under RCRA Subtitle D, however, states have primary authority to regulate nonhazardous solid wastes. EPA's role in the regulation of solid waste under Subtitle D has largely been to promulgate criteria applicable to sanitary landfills as necessary to identify and eliminate open dumps, prohibited under RCRA. Amendments to RCRA in 1984 required EPA to revise the sanitary landfill criteria to apply to facilities that may receive hazardous household wastes. EPA subsequently defined these facilities in regulation as municipal solid waste, or MSW, landfills. The creation of state programs to regulate MSW landfills involved two different but related elements—the promulgation of federal regulatory criteria applicable to owners and operators of MSW landfills (at 49 C.F.R.