Illinois and other environmental groups won a victory at the end of September after a federal judge ruled that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has to set federal regulations for the safe and appropriate disposal of toxic coal ash.

The September 30 order from Judge Reggie B. Walton of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia did not offer specifics about when the EPA’s regulations needed to be released, or what they should contain. A Memorandum Opinion, however, from the court is set to be issued within the next 30 days with more details.

The various groups, including the Illinois-based Prairie Rivers Network, that filed the lawsuit in April 2012 challenging the EPA’s lack of federal coal ash regulations said the decision is a big first step to achieving federally enforceable safeguards, monitoring, and protections against coal ash.

Illinois produces 4.4 million tons of coal ash every year, and imports coal ash for disposal from at least six states, according to the Prairie Rivers Network. The group says this toxic waste product is dealt with based on "outdated and ineffective state rules that were written over three decades ago."

“In most states — at ponds, landfills, and mine pits where coal ash gets dumped — a slow seepage of the ash’s metals has poisoned water supplies, damaged ecosystems, and jeopardized citizens’ health. Unfortunately, the Illinois communities of Marion, Joliet, Venice, Oakwood, Havana, Alton, Powerton, Hennepin, Hutsonville, Canton, Wood River, and Coffeen now know this," wrote Traci Barkley, water resource scientist for Prairie Rivers Network, in a statement. "We are long overdue for an update. It is well past time the EPA acts on promises made years ago to protect the nation from coal ash contamination and life-threatening coal ash ponds."

The other groups that worked to file the lawsuit include: Appalachian Voices, Chesapeake Climate Action Network, Environmental Integrity Project, Earthjustice, French Broad Riverkeeper, Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, Moapa Band of Paiutes, Montana Environmental Information Center, The Sierra Club, and Southern Alliance for Clean Energy.

The groups collectively issued the following statement:

The impacts of coal ash pollution are being felt across the country. Our groups represent millions of Americans who want clean water, clean air and healthy living. We turned to the courts to force the EPA to set long overdue protections from this toxic menace. This decision marks the first step towards federally enforceable safeguards from coal ash. For decades, coal ash has been dumped into unlined and unmonitored pits, poisoning water supplies and the communities that rely on them. No one should have to live in fear of the coal ash dump in their backyard, and we hope the EPA will finally adopt regulations that protect all nearby communities.