For more than 60 years, the Eagle Valley power plant on Blue Bluff Road used coal to generate power. The resulting byproduct was coal ash, which contains hazardous chemicals that can leach into the groundwater and in the case of Eagle Valley, be discharged into the nearby White River.
In January 2025, plans were approved by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) to close and remediate three of the five coal ash ponds AES Indiana had at Eagle Valley, and those ponds are currently being closed. In that same year, AES Indiana submitted a proposed closure plan for the two remaining ash ponds that would have closed them by 2029.
But those plans have now been delayed and could be in jeopardy altogether on the heels of state and federal changes that could put the regulatory power back on the state and relax the current compliance requirements. If that happens, the environmental impacts will be felt at power plant sites across the entire state.
Back in 2015, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued the Coal Combustion Residuals (CCR) Rule setting federal standards for disposing of power plant coal ash. The Rule required the closure and management of active coal ash ponds — also known as “impoundments” — but the ruling exempted inactive impoundments, often referred to as “legacy impoundments.”
In May 2023, when IDEM was attempting to issue local regulations required to comply with the 2015 Rule, our state legislators passed House Enrollment Act 1623 prohibiting IDEM from issuing any CCR regulations more stringent than the federal CCR regulations. Shortly thereafter, the EPA issued the 2024 Legacy Final Rule requiring closure of the legacy impoundments by May 2028.
In March 2025, Gov. Mike Braun issued Executive Order 25-38 prohibiting IDEM’s ability to update or adopt any regulations that are more stringent than the applicable federal requirement or limitation.
In April 2025, President Donald Trump directed the EPA to extend multiple compliance deadlines in the CCR regulations, including the deadline for closure of the legacy impoundments. The EPA extended the deadline for the start of the legacy impoundments closures to February 2032.
In March of this year, our state legislators passed — and Braun signed — Senate Bill 277, which included numerous administrative changes that reduced, eliminated or made optional many of IDEM’s regulatory responsibilities. One of the numerous responsibilities and duties they removed was the requirement that IDEM adopt rules setting standards for closure and post-closure monitoring and maintenance of nonhazardous wastes, and the requirement of prior notice of closure and time limits for closure completion.
In April of this year, the EPA proposed amendments to the CCR regulations that, when issued, will allow all state regulators to consider alternative closure requirements and to determine site-specific cleanup levels for most of the hazardous contaminants being released from the impoundments. While the EPA has yet to finalize the proposed amendments, on Sept. 15, they proposed moving forward with the transfer of the permitting authority for closure and management of CCR impoundments to IDEM.
So, when our state environmental agency was attempting to enforce site specific permit conditions to minimize the release of contaminants from the coal ash ponds, our state officials passed laws and issued executive orders keeping them from doing so.
Now, when the federal Rule requires power companies close the legacy impoundments and the EPA is struggling to finalize and issue amendments that will enable them to avoid the current closure requirements, they want EPA to give IDEM back the permitting authority.
Gov. Braun, in the press conference announcing the proposed transfer, said doing so “strengthens environmental safeguards and keeps permitting decisions here at home” and that a state-run program will offer “greater control, transparency, and accountability in how coal ash is managed.”
Based on all the recent administrative restrictions our state officials have placed on IDEM’s regulatory authority, I don’t believe IDEM will be given the authority to issue closure and management requirements that will minimize the release of contaminants from the legacy impoundments to the extent required under the 2024 Final Rule.
If we want the legacy coal ash ponds closed and managed to minimize the release of contaminates from the coal combustion residuals into our environment, we need to tell the EPA and our state officials:
- We want all legacy impoundments throughout Indiana closed and managed as required by the 2024 Final Rule without any delay,
- We DO NOT want the EPA to issue the Proposed 2026 Amendments to the CCR Regulations, and
- We DO NOT want the EPA to transfer the coal combustion residual permitting authority to the State of Indiana.
The USEPA is accepting written comments from the public on the proposed transfer until November 16, 2026. Visit www.federalregister.gov and type “Indiana Coal” into the search bar. The Sept. 16 EPA proposal should be the first link in the results, which will provide the opportunity to comment.
Stanley Diamond is a retired civil/environmental engineer and a supervisor on the Morgan County Soil and Water Conservation District Board. He lives just north of Martinsville.
