The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has taken the first steps toward revoking Alabama’s coal ash permitting plan, saying the state’s plan does not do enough to protect rivers and drinking water from toxins.

If the EPA proposal is finalized, utilities in Alabama may be forced to excavate and remove millions of tons of wet coal ash slurry from unlined ponds alongside rivers in Alabama.

“Exposure to coal ash can lead to serious health concerns like cancer if the ash isn’t managed appropriately,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan said in a news release. “Low-income and underserved communities are especially vulnerable to coal ash in waterways, groundwater, drinking water, and in the air.”

The EPA today proposed a formal rejection of Alabama’s state coal ash plan, a plan developed by the Alabama Department of Environmental Management. The EPA said it had approved three other states’ plans for managing coal ash. However, the agency said Alabama’s coal ash plan was “significantly less protective of people and waterways than the federal regulations require.”

The EPA said it had contacted ADEM, informing them about the plan’s deficiencies, but that the state had failed to update the plan, or previously issued permits to address EPA’s concerns about coal ash, which contains a number of potentially harmful or cancer-causing substances, including arsenic, mercury, cadmium and more.

The EPA said that facilities like power plants will have to meet federal standards, not state ones, if the proposed rejection is finalized.

“If EPA determines that there are any immediate threats to human health or the environment posed by CCR facilities (whether unpermitted or currently permitted by the state), EPA will consider using all available authorities, including enforcement and response authorities provided under federal law,” the EPA said in its news release.

ADEM denied that its coal ash permits were less protective than the federal standards.

“The permits issued by ADEM for the closure of coal ash impoundments and the remediation of groundwater around the impoundments meet all state and federal requirements and are protective of human health and the environment,” ADEM said in an emailed statement to AL.com. “This action by EPA is not unexpected since EPA is currently defending multiple lawsuits related to the same issues cited as the basis for the proposed denial of ADEM’s program that cleans up coal ash impoundments in Alabama.”

For decades, coal-fired power plants around the country disposed of coal ash by using water to flush it into unlined ponds near the plant, which were usually located along rivers. The heavier ash particles settled to the bottom and the water was allowed to overflow the pond into a river or other body of water.

The 2015 coal ash rules essentially forced U.S. utilities to switch to dry coal ash disposal, but there are old coal ash ponds across the country, stretching hundreds of acres and containing millions of tons of ash that now have to be dealt with.

The EPA’s rejection of Alabama coal ash rules marks the third time this year that the Biden Administration has attempted to force Alabama to bolster its environmental protections.

The EPA proposed a rejection of Alabama’s Clean Air Act plan to meet cross-state air pollution rules because of ground-level ozone readings in Texas.

Earlier this year, the state announced a settlement with the Justice Department and the Department of Health and Human Services to provide better sewage treatment options for residents in the Black Belt.

Environmental groups and other have argued for years that utilities should move coal ash out of unlined ponds — either voluntarily or by government mandate.

Alabama Power’s 597-acre ash pond at the James M. Barry Electric Generating Plant on the banks of the Mobile River, has drawn particular concern. The pond and its 21 million tons of coal ash sits in north Mobile County in the Mobile-Tensaw Delta, an area that’s been called “America’s Amazon” for its remarkable biodiversity.

Environmental group Mobile Baykeeper has pursued legal action to force Alabama Power to move the coal ash away from the Delta.

“Alabama Power has leaned on ADEM permits to claim their disposal plans are compliant, but EPA’s denial would negate that justification,” Mobile Baykeeper’s Cade Kistler said in a news release. “Now it’s time for ADEM to follow our Southeastern neighbors and enforce a protective permitting program that stops coal ash pollution into our rivers from sites like Plant Barry and protects Alabamians, and our wildlife, and waterways.”

In addition to Plant Barry, Alabama Power has coal ash ponds at five other locations across the state:

• Plant Miller in Jefferson County, near West Jefferson
• Plant Gorgas in Walker County, near Parrish
• Plant Greene County, near Demopolis
• Plant Gaston in Shelby County, near Wilsonville
• Plant Gadsden in Etowah County

Alabama Power spokesperson Alyson Tucker said the company was “reviewing and evaluating the new ruling at this time.”

Alabama Power has also been fined a total of $1.5 million after groundwater testing near the ash ponds showed elevated levels of contaminants such as arsenic, radium, lead and beryllium.

Black Warrior Riverkeeper Nelson Brooke said that Alabama Power and ADEM had allowed toxic pollutants to enter groundwater, streams and rivers at Plants Miller, Gorgas and Greene County.

“We welcome EPA’s proposed denial of Alabama’s inadequate coal ash regulatory program, and hope it forces Alabama Power to properly dispose of its toxic coal ash waste away from water resources, as we’ve been encouraging them to do all along,” Brooke said in a news release. “Proper disposal of coal ash is critical to the health and success of future human and wildlife generations.”

It is currently unclear what will happen to Alabama’s coal ash ponds in the wake of EPA’s decision. These ponds had been issued closure permits by the state that may no longer be valid. Many coal ash ponds have already been fully or partially closed according to the state requirements.

The proposed rejection also hasn’t been finalized yet.

The EPA’s decision will now undergo a 60-day comment period that includes an in-person public hearing, scheduled for Sept. 20 in Montgomery, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. There will also be an online public hearing on Sept. 27 from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Interested parties can also deliver written comments through the regulations.gov website.

“This proposed denial from EPA sends a clear message that echoes our thoughts for years– our state permitting program fails to protect people, wildlife, and waterways in Alabama while protecting Alabama Power’s bottom line,” said Coosa Riverkeeper Justinn Overton said in a news release. “It is critically important that people show up and voice their concerns at the public hearing on Wednesday, September 20th.”

The Southern Environmental Law Center, which works across the Southeast to have coal ash moved to lined landfills instead of unlined ponds, cheered the EPA’s rejection of Alabama’s state plan.

“EPA has sent ADEM, Alabama Power, and TVA a strong message: You have to clean up the mess and you can’t leave coal ash forever in dangerous unlined polluting pits,” Barry Brock, Director of SELC’s Alabama office said.

Frank Holleman, who coordinates SELC’s coal ash work, said that previous disasters relating to coal ash show that action was needed.

“Two massive coal ash disasters in our region— Kingston, Tennessee in 2008 and on the Dan River in North Carolina in 2015— serve as catastrophic examples of the danger unlined pits create,” Holleman said. “By proposing to deny ADEM’s application, EPA has made a strong statement that it will enforce and uphold the protections for communities and clean water contained in the federal CCR Rule.”