Retailers and other industry stakeholders had until Oct. 15 to submit comments to the U.S. EPA in support of an effort by the Agricultural Retailers Association (ARA) to have flue gas desulfurization (FGD) gypsum excluded from the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) when the product is used as a soil additive.
EPA has proposed changes to the agency’s Coal Combustion Residual (CCR) regulations related to the disposal of coal ash as hazardous waste, and ARA fears these revisions could result in changes to how FGD gypsum – which is produced by the removal of sulfur dioxide from flue gas streams at coal-fired utility plants – is distributed, stored, and applied as a soil amendment.
In an Oct. 11 letter to EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler, ARA’s Richard Gupton said the proposed changes to the CCR regulations could cause “an unfair financial hardship on agricultural retailers and others within the agricultural industry, and impact the availability of this important fertilizer product.”
Gupton noted that EPA already exempts other agricultural products from RCRA, including zinc fertilizer and solid wastes generated by crops that are returned to the soil as fertilizers. “FGD gypsum, like mined gypsum, has very beneficial agricultural uses that have shown to enhance crop production, improve soil health, and improve water quality by reducing phosphorus runoff,” he said.
In the letter, Gupton states that gypsum is one of the earliest forms of fertilizer used in the U.S., and has been applied to farmland for more than 250 years as a source of the plant nutrients calcium and sulfur. The product is primarily used on peanuts, cotton, corn, wheat, and alfalfa, with peanuts benefiting particularly because of the crop’s high calcium needs.
The letter also stresses that gypsum as a food additive is recognized by the FDA as acceptable for human consumption, and that USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service has highlighted the product’s importance as a tool to reduce phosphorus runoff from fields that contributes to harmful algae blooms.
Gupton said if EPA is unable to fully exempt FGD gypsum from RCRA, then ARA is requesting that EPA maintain a 12,400-ton pile threshold and allow an exemption for agricultural retailers to handle the product. A typical pile of gypsum at retail facilities is around 10,000 tons, he said.
“Agricultural retailers temporarily store gypsum at their locations for no more than a 3-4 month period during the key part of the growing season,” the letter states. “The product is nontoxic and ecologically safe. All the gypsum products sold, distributed, stored, and applied by the agricultural industry have a Safety Data Sheet (SDS) that is required to be followed by the purchaser.”