Dive Brief:
-
An Environmental Protection Agency decision not to designate coal ash waste from power plants as a hazardous material means the construction industry may continue to recycle it for use in concrete, asphalt and grout.
-
The EPA on Friday announced new regulations for the disposal of the byproducts of coal combustion from coal-fired power plants in an effort to prevent them from contaminating groundwater in case of a spill. A 2008 coal ash spill in Tennessee and another in North Carolina earlier this year prompted the action.
-
But the EPA determined that available evidence does not warrant a "hazardous waste" designation for coal ash.
Dive Insight:
The construction industry recycles approximately 30% of the combustion byproduct each year, the Associated General Contractors of America estimated. And the American Road & Transportation Builders Association said it would cost an additional $105 billion a year to build roads, airport runways and bridges without the use of fly ash.