Comment submitted by Our Children's Trust

RE: Comment for “Hazardous and Solid Waste Management System: Disposal of Coal Combustion Residuals From Electric Utilities; Legacy/CCRMU Amendments” Proposed Rule (EPA-HQ-OLEM-2020-0107) Dear Secretary Zeldin, On behalf of all of our youth clients, including our clients in Lighthiser v. Trump and Venner v. EPA, and in the interest of America’s children and youth, Our Children’s Trust provides these comments on the EPA’s “Hazardous and Solid Waste Management System: Disposal of Coal Combustion Residuals From Electric Utilities; Legacy/CCRMU Amendments” proposed rule. The proposed rule weakens coal ash safety standards (groundwater monitoring, CCR storage piles) and revises the definition of beneficial use by eliminating an environmental requirement, thereby facilitating coal development and increasing pollution that is unjustified by law, science, economic prosperity, energy security, or any other reason. In addition to being illegal, this proposed rule will worsen the adverse health effects of fossil fuel pollution our clients are currently suffering directly through their inhalation and exposure to the localized pollution and through the heat-trapping greenhouse gases from fossil fuels, resulting in further dangerous disruptions of the climate system on which these youths’ health and lives depend. These efforts to unleash coal development and infrastructure, will also inhibit renewable energy development, which instead must be accelerated so that the United States can meet its energy needs while protecting the health and welfare of its people, including our clients who are already suffering from shortness of breath, lung damage, and irritations to nose and throat from fossil fuel pollution. This rule will contribute to young Americans’ long-term effects of liver damage, kidney damage, cardiac arrhythmia, and cancer resulting from exposure to coal ash. See Declaration of Elizabeth Pinsky, MD, Venner v. U.S. EPA, No. 26-1038 (D.C. Cir. May 20, 2026). As the Nation’s only law firm dedicated to representing children and youth whose constitutional rights are being infringed by government conduct that causes and contributes to climate change, we write to advise you that your proposed rulemaking must be consistent with protecting the rights to life, personal security, family autonomy, bodily integrity, the practice and transmission of cultural and religious traditions, children’s equal protection of the law, and free exercise of religion. U.S. Const. amend. V, XIV, § 1, I; 42 U.S.C. § 2000bb-1 (Religious Freedom Restoration Act). Here, you are engaged in unconstitutional rulemaking to implement the President’s Executive Orders 14154, 14156, and 14261, in violation of U.S. Const. amend. V, XIV, § 1, I; 42 U.S.C. § 2000bb-1 (Religious Freedom Restoration Act). This rulemaking effort also violates the separation of powers, by exceeding the authority the EPA has been delegated by Congress and by engaging in conduct that has a significant effect on U.S. public health, welfare and the economy, while lacking any scientific integrity as Congress has mandated. Congress has not given EPA the statutory authority to deprive children and youth of their fundamental rights listed above, nor does EPA have the delegated authority to interpret statutes in a manner that contravenes the U.S. Constitution. Please include all referenced evidence above and below in the administrative record. We will provide any of the cited evidence on request. However, it is already in your possession and should be included. Please send us a detailed response to our comments, notification of further comment opportunities, and all analyses and decision documents to the address and email listed below. See attached comment. Sincerely, /s/ Julia Olson Co-executive Director and Chief Legal Counsel julia@ourchildrenstrust.org Our Children’s Trust P.O. Box 5181 Eugene, OR 97405