According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the commonwealth of Pennsylvania is the largest generator of coal ash in the United States. Pennsylvania is home to roughly 100 coal ash disposal facilities, three of which have been classified as “high hazard” by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Throughout the country, numerous electric generating facilities have been retiring coal-fired units in favor of natural gas combined cycle units. Still, many of those same electric generating plants find themselves undertaking large-scale coal ash mobilization projects resulting from decades of coal ash accumulation and catalyzed by new regulations from the EPA. With litigation both arising from, and in opposition to, the coal ash regulations, it is an area worth watching at the state and federal levels.

Read more from my article in The Legal Intelligencer supplement, PA Law Weekly by clicking here.