EPA Delays Coal Ash Cleanups in Indiana
(INDIANAPOLIS) – Friday, February 6, at the request of electric utility companies, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a rulei that delays coal ash cleanups that EPA had already delayed by more than a decade. The delays allow the coal ash to continue contaminating groundwater with toxic heavy metals, spread contamination farther, and make cleanup harder. This move by the EPA affects at least a dozen coal ash sites around Indiana.
What is coal ash?
Coal ash is the material left after burning coal. Indiana produces around 5 million tons of it per year. Coal ash contains toxic heavy metals, including arsenic, boron, lithium, molybdenum, radium, and others. These metals have a variety of health effects, from interfering with child development to causing cancer. When coal ash gets wet, it contaminates water with those metals. Every unlined coal ash site in Indiana that has been tested has contaminated the groundwater, and the majority of Indiana’s sites are unlined.
The coal ash sites, called “Coal Combustion Residual Management Units” or “CCRMU,” were exempted from cleanup requirements under the 2015 federal rule on coal ash, despite their potential to cause environmental damage. The coal ash sites covered by that rule began testing groundwater and issued their first groundwater reports in March of 2018.
In 2024, the EPA issued a rule adding coverage to the CCRMU but gave them until January 2029 to report groundwater testing, resulting in more than a decade’s delay. On Friday, Feb 6, the EPA issued a new rule giving it an additional 3 years, until January 2032, to submit its first groundwater reports. The groundwater reports are the first step in the cleanups, so delaying groundwater testing delays the cleanups.
What’s the impact of delays?
“The cleanup delay is unnecessary and harmful,” says Dr. Indra Frank, Coal Ash Advisor for the Hoosier Environmental Council (HEC).
“The 3-year delay is unnecessary because the utilities were fully capable of issuing their first coal ash groundwater reports in just over 2 years. By contrast, the coal ash sites called CCRMU were given nearly 5 years for the groundwater reports, which the EPA has just extended by an additional 3 years. The delay is harmful because during the delay, the coal ash continues to contaminate the groundwater and the cleanup gets more difficult.”
The new rule and its delays apply to the following current or former Indiana power plants:
• Wabash River Generating Station, Terre Haute
• Michigan City Generating Station, Michigan City
• Harding Street Generating Station, Indianapolis
• Eagle Valley Generating Station, Martinsville
• Petersburg Generating Station, Petersburg
• Former Breed Plant, Fairbanks
• Clifty Creek Generating Station, Madison
• Schahfer Generating Station, Wheatfield
• Rockport Plant, Rockport
• Legacy Edwardsport Station, Edwardsport
• Cayuga Generating Station, Cayuga
• Gibson Generating Station, Owensville
This list may grow as utilities comply with the rule and disclose information about additional coal ash sites.
About Hoosier Environmental Council:
Founded in 1983, the Hoosier Environmental Council (HEC) is the largest statewide environmental policy organization in Indiana. HEC aims to advance solutions that are good for the environment and the economy. Visit hecweb.org for more information. You can also follow HEC on X: @hec_ed, and on Facebook at facebook.com/hecweb.
i U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (Feb 6, 2026). Final Rule – Legacy Coal Combustion Residuals Surface Impoundments and CCR Management Units. https://www.epa.gov/coal-combustion-residuals/final-rule-legacy coal-combustion-residuals-surface-impoundments-and-ccr#extension
ii U.S. Energy Information Administration. https://www.eia.gov/electricity/data/eia923/ iii Hoosier Environmental Council (2020). Our Waters at Risk, Part 2. https://www.hecweb.org/wp content/uploads/2020/11/Our-Waters-at-Risk-Part-2.pdf