On April 15, 2021, the Board adopted a new Part 845 of its waste disposal regulations (35 Ill. Adm. Code 845), creating Illinois’ first Statewide standards for the disposal of coal combustion residuals (CCR) in surface impoundments. CCR, commonly called “coal ash,” is generated when coal is burned at power plants to produce electricity. By adopting Part 845, the Board fulfilled one of the primary objectives of the Coal Ash Pollution Prevention Act, which the General Assembly passed and Governor JB Pritzker signed into law as Public Act 101-171 (eff. July 30, 2019). The legislation recognized that CCR has caused groundwater contamination and other forms of pollution at active and inactive power plants throughout Illinois and that our environmental laws should be bolstered to ensure surface impoundments are consistently and responsibly regulated.
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