Codes and regulation ·
EPA approval shifts much of Virginia coal ash permitting to the state
By Workvado / Litequo LLC · Published · Updated
A final action published Oct. 22 recognizes Virginia’s partial coal combustion residuals program, which takes effect Nov. 23 while specified federal requirements remain in force.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s final approval of Virginia’s partial coal combustion residuals permit program appeared in the Federal Register on Oct. 22. The action takes effect Nov. 23, 2026. It allows the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality to administer approved elements of permitting for coal ash landfills and surface impoundments in place of the corresponding federal program. The word partial is significant: some federal requirements remain directly applicable, and the state approval does not erase them.
Coal combustion residuals, commonly called coal ash, include fly ash, bottom ash, boiler slag and flue-gas-desulfurization materials. The federal action concerns disposal in landfills and surface impoundments. Its exceptions mean a facility must identify which requirements transfer to the approved state framework and which continue under federal administration.
Virginia DEQ’s standing solid-waste permit guidance describes a process beginning with a Notice of Intent, followed by Part A site-suitability information and Part B engineering and operating plans. The application addresses the proposed facility rather than merely the operator’s identity. Virginia’s administrative code separately requires a Certificate-to-Operate before the facility receives waste, following construction certification and a department inspection. For a construction team, that separates permission to carry out the permitted design from permission to start disposal operations.
This change matters to contractors involved in new or modified ash-management cells, impoundment work, drainage controls, closure construction and post-closure improvements. Bid documents and work plans should identify which regulator owns each decision, what state permit stage the project has reached, and which federal standards still apply. The transition date is prospective; publication on Oct. 22 did not mean the state program became operative that day.
Public involvement remains part of Virginia’s permit process. DEQ’s application guidance describes local approvals and participation at the Notice of Intent stage, while its later permit review determines the conditions governing the facility. Owners can assign responsibility for tracking those notices alongside the engineering submittal schedule. The federal approval leaves the excluded federal provisions applicable, so the responsible-agency matrix should preserve those separate obligations rather than assume that every approval now comes from a single office.
For project controls, a useful first step is a requirements matrix for the specific facility: approved Virginia criteria, remaining federal criteria, responsible agency, submittal dates, public-comment milestones and construction hold points. Teams should confirm the status of any existing authorization rather than assume the change automatically converts or reissues a permit. Where design or monitoring obligations differ, the governing permit and its conditions determine the actual scope of work.
This distinction can affect turnover planning. A closure or cell-construction contractor can complete its physical scope while the owner still needs certification, inspection or another administrative step. The schedule should identify which documents the contractor supplies, who signs them, and how the owner confirms acceptance before moving to the next operating stage. Making these handoffs explicit gives estimators and site managers a practical way to price the documentation effort and avoid treating construction completion as automatic permission to receive waste.
- Federal Register publication
- October 22, 2026
- Effective date
- November 23, 2026
- Program scope
- Partial Virginia coal combustion residuals permit program; excluded federal provisions remain applicable
Sources
- Virginia: Approval of State Coal Combustion Residuals Permit Program, Federal Register via GovInfo, read October 27, 2026
- EPA Finalizes Virginia’s Coal Combustion Residuals Permit Program, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, read October 27, 2026
- Solid Waste Permits, Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, read October 27, 2026
- 9VAC20-81-490. Effect of the permit, Virginia Administrative Code, read October 27, 2026