The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has proposed allowing Indiana to take over most permitting for coal-combustion residuals, opening a 60-day public-comment period on a partial state program that would cover 101 coal-ash units—more than any other state, according to the agency.
If the proposal becomes final, the Indiana Department of Environmental Management would issue permits for most coal-ash landfills and surface impoundments instead of the federal government. EPA's September 15 announcement says federal law requires an approved state program to be at least as protective as the federal coal-ash rules.
The change would not be a complete handoff. EPA is proposing only partial approval, and the Federal Register notice says federal requirements that are not included in Indiana's program would remain directly enforceable. Federal regulations would also continue to govern an individual facility until IDEM issues its state permit.
Indiana's inventory includes 14 coal-ash landfills, 44 surface impoundments, 19 legacy surface impoundments and 24 potential coal-combustion-residuals management units, according to the proposal. Facility owners would have to apply to IDEM within 180 days after the state program takes effect. EPA says Indiana submitted its application on June 26 and revised it on September 9.
The state's rule, 329 IAC 14, largely mirrors federal criteria while adding state permit procedures. The EPA program page says it addresses siting, design and operation; groundwater monitoring and corrective action; closure and post-closure care; recordkeeping; and public website disclosures. For communities near ash sites, the consequential question is therefore not whether core standards disappear, but which regulator writes, administers and enforces most permits.
Environmental advocates have urged caution as federal coal-ash policy evolves. In reporting by Indiana Public Broadcasting, advocates raised concern that later changes to federal standards could leave the state with weaker protections; IDEM said it would evaluate any such changes. The current proposal does not itself revise Indiana's substantive standards, and EPA has not yet made a final approval decision.
EPA will hold a hybrid public hearing at 2 p.m. Eastern on November 12 at the Indiana Government Center South in Indianapolis, with online participation also available. Written comments may be submitted during the 60-day period identified in the federal notice. After reviewing comments and the hearing record, EPA may approve the program as proposed, alter its decision or decline approval.
The scale of the inventory makes implementation consequential: IDEM would be responsible for reviewing a large and varied set of active, inactive and legacy waste units, while EPA would retain oversight of the approved program and direct authority over excluded federal provisions.
Until that process is complete, permitting authority does not change. Operators, nearby residents and local governments can use the comment period to address whether IDEM has the legal authority, staffing, funding and technical capacity to run a program that EPA says must remain at least as protective as federal oversight.
