Current through Register Vol. 54, No. 44, November 2, 2024
(a)
Coal ash approval at coal mining
activity sites. Approval for the beneficial use of coal ash at coal
mining activity sites as defined in §
86.1 (relating to definitions)
will, at a minimum, be based on the following:
(1) Compliance with this section, The Clean
Streams Law (35 P. S. §§ 691.1-691.1001) and the regulations
promulgated thereunder, the Surface Mining Conservation and Reclamation Act
(52
P. S. §§ 1396.1-1396.19a), the Coal
Refuse Disposal Control Act (52 P. S. §§ 30.51-30.66), the applicable provisions of
Chapters 86-90 (relating to surface and underground coal mining: general,
surface mining of coal, anthracite coal, underground mining of coal and coal
preparation facilities, and coal refuse disposal), and other applicable
environmental statutes and regulations promulgated thereunder.
(2) Certification under §
290.201 (relating to coal ash
certification) by the Department for the intended beneficial uses.
(3) Approval of a request submitted pursuant
to subsection (b).
(b)
Request. A person shall submit to the Department a request to
beneficially use the certified coal ash at a specific coal mining activity site
as part of the reclamation plan under the mining permit. This request must
contain the permit filing fee in subsection (c) and, at a minimum, the
following:
(1) A narrative description of the
project, including an explanation of how coal ash will be placed, where and how
coal ash will be stored prior to placement, identification of the sources of
coal ash and an estimate of the cubic yards of coal ash to be used. For the
beneficial use of coal ash as a soil substitute or additive, the proposed
application rate and justification for the application rate shall also be
included.
(2) Information
demonstrating that the coal ash has been certified for its intended use in
accordance with § 290.201, including the identity of the generator and the
Department-assigned certification identifier, as described in §
290.201(c).
(3) A signed statement
by the owner of the land on which the coal ash is to be placed, acknowledging
and consenting to the placement of coal ash. This statement by the landowner
shall be a recordable document. Prior to beneficial use of coal ash under this
section, the statement by the landowner shall be recorded at the office of the
recorder of deeds in the county in which the proposed beneficial use of coal
ash will take place.
(4) A
monitoring plan that meets the requirements of Subchapter D (relating to water
quality monitoring).
(c)
Permit filing fee.
(1) A
nonrefundable permit filing fee payable to the "Commonwealth of Pennsylvania"
for the beneficial use of coal ash at a coal mining activity site is to be paid
annually in the amount of:
(i) $2,000 for each
coal mining activity site approved to use coal ash until the year following
final placement of coal ash at the site.
(ii) $1,000 from the year following final
placement of coal ash until final bond release has been issued for the coal
mining activity site.
(2)
Money received from the permit filing fee for the beneficial use of coal ash
will be deposited in the Surface Mining Conservation and Reclamation Fund and
will be used by the Department for the cost of reviewing, administering and
enforcing the requirements of the authorization for beneficial use of coal ash
under the coal mining activity permit.
(3) The Department will review the adequacy
of the fees established in this section at least once every 3 years and provide
a written report to the EQB. The report will identify any disparity between the
amount of program income generated by the fees and the costs to administer
these programs, and it shall contain recommendations to adjust fees to
eliminate the disparity, including recommendations for regulatory amendments to
adjust program fees.
(d)
Public notice. A person proposing to use coal ash at coal
mining activity sites shall provide public notice under §
86.31 or §
86.54 (relating to public notices
of filing of permit applications; and public notice of permit
revision).
(e)
Operating
requirements. The beneficial use of coal ash for reclamation purposes
at a coal mining activity site shall be designed to achieve an overall
improvement in water quality or shall be designed to prevent the degradation of
water quality. Coal ash shall only be beneficially used for reclamation at the
following locations:
(1) The pit or area from
which coal is extracted under a surface coal mining permit.
(2) Abandoned mine lands located within the
surface coal mining permit area.
(3) Coal refuse disposal sites and coal
refuse reprocessing sites.
(4)
Areas where other beneficial uses that are part of the approved reclamation
plan at the coal mining activity site are being conducted.
(f)
Additional operating requirements
for the placement of coal ash at permitted coal surface mining activity
sites. Placement of coal ash at coal surface mining activity sites
must comply with the following additional requirements:
(1) The volume of coal ash placed at the site
may not exceed the volume of coal, coal refuse, culm or silt removed from the
site by the active mining operation on a cubic yard basis unless otherwise
approved by the Department. The Department may authorize a greater volume of
coal ash where the mine operator demonstrates that reclamation will be enhanced
or water quality will be improved by the additional coal ash.
(2) Placement of coal ash shall be
accomplished by mixing with spoil material or by spreading in horizontal layers
no greater than 2 feet thick unless otherwise approved by the Department. The
reclamation plan of the approved mining permit must address the placement of
the coal ash.
(3) The coal ash
shall be spread and compacted within 24 hours of its delivery to the site
unless stored in accordance with Subchapter E (relating to coal ash
storage).
(4) Where placement of
coal ash is not being accomplished by mixing with spoil, the placed coal ash
must achieve a minimum compaction of 90% of the maximum dry density as
determined by the Modified Proctor Test, or 95% of the maximum dry density as
determined by the Standard Proctor Test. The Proctor Test shall be conducted on
a semiannual basis unless the Department requires more frequent
testing.
(5) For a project
involving multiple refuse reprocessing sites, the Department may allow a
greater volume of coal ash to be placed at an individual site than the volume
of coal refuse removed from that site if the following conditions are met:
(i) The multiple sites are a project
involving the coordinated use of multiple coal refuse reprocessing
sites.
(ii) A reclamation plan is
approved for each of the sites and each plan identifies the total cubic yards
of coal ash that may be placed at each site.
(iii) The total cubic yards of coal ash
placed on the sites is less than the total cubic yards of refuse, culm or silt
removed from the combined sites.
(iv) The project shall be designed to achieve
an overall improvement of surface water or groundwater quality at each site,
where acid mine drainage is evident. If acid mine drainage is not evident, the
project shall be designed to prevent degradation of the surface or groundwater
quality.
(v) Only coal ash from the
project can be used.
(vi) The
project shall be accomplished in a manner that blends into the general surface
configuration and complements the surface drainage pattern of the surrounding
landscape.
(6) The person
shall maintain information identifying the sources and the volume in cubic
yards and the weight in dry tons of coal ash used.
(7) The site shall be monitored in accordance
with the requirements of Subchapter D and any additional hydrologic tests
specified by the Department.
(8)
The offsite dispersion of dust from coal ash and other materials shall be
minimized.
(g)
Additional operating requirements for the beneficial use of coal ash as
a soil substitute or soil additive. The following apply to the
beneficial use of coal ash as a soil substitute or soil additive:
(1) Coal ash shall be applied at a rate per
acre that will protect public health, public safety and the
environment.
(2) The coal ash that
is applied will be part of the approved reclamation plan of the coal mining
activity in order to increase the productivity or properties of the
soil.
(3) The coal ash is not used
in amounts that exceed the maximum cumulative loading rates in §
290.103(e)
(relating to use as a soil substitute or soil additive).
(4) The offsite dispersion of dust from coal
ash and other materials shall be minimized.
(h)
Additional operating requirements
for the beneficial use of coal ash at coal refuse disposal sites. The
following apply to the beneficial use of coal ash at coal refuse disposal
sites:
(1) Placement of coal ash as part of
coal refuse disposal operations permitted under Chapters 86-90 must meet the
following:
(i) The cubic yards of coal ash
does not exceed the total cubic yards of coal refuse to be disposed based on
uncompacted volumes of materials received at the site.
(ii) The coal ash has physical and chemical
characteristics that meet the following requirements:
(A) Improve compaction and stability within
the fill.
(B) Reduce infiltration
of water into coal refuse.
(C)
Improve the quality of leachate generated by the coal refuse.
(2) The offsite
dispersion of dust from coal ash and other materials shall be
minimized.
(i)
Additional coal ash sampling. A person using coal ash at a
coal mining activity site shall, each quarter that coal ash is being used at
the site, sample the coal ash after it has been placed at the site and such
sample shall be analyzed in accordance with §
290.201. The results of the
analysis shall be submitted quarterly to and in the format required by the
Department. A reduced frequency may be approved by the Department where a coal
mining activity site is receiving coal ash from only one source and is located
at one of the following:
(1) On the same tract
of land where the coal ash was generated.
(2) On a tract of land contiguous to the
tract where the coal ash was generated.
(3) On a tract of land connected to the tract
where the coal ash was generated by a right-of-way controlled by the generator
and to which the public does not have access.
(4) On a tract of land separated from the
tract where the coal ash was generated by only a public or private right-of-way
and access between the two tracts is by crossing rather than traveling along
the right-of-way.
(j)
Annual report. Prior to January 31, the permittee of a coal
mining activity site where coal ash was placed in the previous calendar year
shall submit a report for the previous calendar year to the Department that
includes permit number, mining company contact information, the identity of
each source of coal ash and its Department-assigned certification identifier,
and the volume in cubic yards and the weight in dry tons for each source of
coal ash that was placed at the site.
(k)
Notification to
Department. A person beneficially using coal ash under this section
shall notify the Department within 72 hours of any evidence that the material
does not meet the certification requirements in § 290.201.
This section cited in 25 Pa. Code §
290.101 (relating to general
requirements for beneficial use).
