(BISMARCK, ND) – The North Dakota Attorney General’s Office is notifying the federal Environmental Protection Agency that it plans to sue the federal entity.
In a letter to EPA Administrator Jane Nishida and Attorney General Merrick Garland, the office says the suit is being brought due to “failure to perform nondiscretionary duties as required by the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act.”
“For nearly 50 years, the North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality (NDDEQ) has been promulgating and enforcing its own rules regarding the storage, treatment, and disposal of coal combustion residuals (CCR),” the Attorney General’s office said in a release Monday. “When the EPA announced that it would allow states to apply for program primacy for regulating CCR activities, NDDEQ promptly prepared and submitted an application on September 21, 2020. After revising the application, and making accommodating changes to state laws and rules, NDDEQ submitted a final and complete application on March 10, 2023. Since the final submission in 2023, EPA has continually and explicably delayed its decision on NDDEQ’s application. As an energy producing state, the regulation of the coal industry and specifically CCR is vital to North Dakota. North Dakota has now placed the EPA on notice of intent to sue, in an attempt to compel EPA to approve NDDEQ’s CCR permit program and let the state continue regulating its CCR activities as it has successfully done for many years..”
