[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 82 (Friday, April 28, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Pages 20992-20994]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-10510]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[FRL-5199-6]
Notice of Meeting and Request for Comment on Targeted Legislative
Changes to RCRA
AGENCY: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
ACTION: Notice of meetings/request for comment.
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SUMMARY: As called for in the President's plan for ``Reinventing
Environmental Regulation'', EPA is seeking to identify a package of
targeted legislative improvements to the Resource Conservation and
Recovery Act (RCRA). The Agency will consider the views of all
stakeholders and communicate the results, findings, and recommendations
to Congress by July 15, 1995. EPA is providing an opportunity for
interested individuals to present their ideas and suggestions for
improving the solid and hazardous waste system under RCRA. This notice
provides information on the initiative, solicits input from all
interested individuals, and announces a series of roundtable meetings
that will be open to the public. A limited number of individuals will
be invited to sit at the ``roundtable'' to participate in a public,
facilitated dialogue on various issues. Space will be available for
other members of the public to observe and comment on the dialogue as
well.
DATES: EPA will accept public comments until June 15, 1995. Both
written and electronic comments must be submitted on or before this
date. Representatives from a cross-section of the regulated community,
environmental groups, Environmental Justice groups, and states will be
invited to participate in roundtable discussions. At each such meeting,
there will be an opportunity for public comment. Roundtable Meetings
(open to the public) will be held as follows:
May 10, 1995, 9 a.m. until 4 p.m., Lake Michigan Room, EPA Regional
Office, 77 West Jackson Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois
May 25, 1995, 9 a.m. until 4 p.m., Sheraton Crown Center Hotel, 15700
J.F.K. Boulevard, Houston, Texas
June 7, 1995, 9 a.m. until 4 p.m., Hyatt Regency Hotel, 2799 Jefferson
Davis Highway, Arlington, VA 22202
ADDRESSES: Commentors must send an original and two copies of their
comments referencing docket number F-95-LRRA-FFFFF to: RCRA Information
Center (5305), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 401 M. Street,
S.W., Washington, DC 20460.
Comments also may be submitted electronically by sending electronic
mail to RCRA-Docket@epamail.epa.gov. All electronic comments must be
submitted as an ASCII file avoiding the use of special characters and
any form of encryption. Comments will also be accepted on 3.5'' disks
in WordPerfect in 5.1 file format or ASCII file format. Electronic
comments must also be identified by docket number F-95-LRRA-FFFFF.
Confidential Business Information (CBI) should not be submitted through
electronic mail.
Public comments and relevant documents are available for viewing in
the RCRA Information Center (RIC) located in room M2616, at the EPA
address listed above. The RIC is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday
through Friday, excluding Federal holidays. To review docket materials,
the public must make an appointment by calling (202) 260-9327.
Materials may be copied for $0.15 per page. Charges under $25.00 are
waived.
Roundtable meetings will be at the following locations. These
meetings are open to the public. Call Denise Madigan of JAMS-ENDISPUTE
at (202) 942-9180 if you wish to attend, as space may be limited.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For accessing information
electronically, see SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION below.
For further information, contact one of the following individuals
at EPA in the Office of Solid Waste, RCRA Legislative Reform Team:
David Hockey at (202) 260-7596, Bob Hall at (202) 260-9355, or Judy
Kertcher (202) 260-4522.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This Federal Register and other relevant
materials (meeting summaries, public comments) will be available in
electronic format on the Internet System through the EPA Public Access
Server.
This notice is also available electronically through INDIANnet,
operated by Americans for Indian Opportunity. For information and
assistance with using INDIANnet, call 1-605-345-9642.
Paper copies are also available in the RCRA Docket at the address
listed in the previous section.
This document and the background package for this initiative signed
April 13, 1995 are also available on the EPA's Clean-up Information
Bulletin Board (CLU-IN). To access CLU-IN with a modem of up to 28,800
baud, dial (301) 589-8366. First-time users will be asked to input some
initial registration information. Next, select ``D'' (download) from
the main menu. Input the file name ``NOTICE.FR'' to download this
notice and ``RCRA.REF'' to download the initiative announcement and
background package. Follow the on-line instructions to complete the
download. More information about the download procedure is located in
Bulletin 614; to read this bulletin type ``B614'' from the main menu.
For additional help with these instructions, telephone the CLU-IN help
line at (301)589-8368.
The Federal Register notice, minutes of the public meetings, and
copies of all comments submitted also will be kept in paper form.
Accordingly, EPA will transfer all comments received electronically
into printed paper form as they are received, and will place the paper
copies in the public record which will also include all comments
submitted directly in writing. The official public record is the paper
record maintained at the address in Addresses at the beginning of this
notice.
Follow these instructions to access information electronically:
1. Through Gopher: Go to: gopher.epa.gov. From the main menu,
choose ``EPA Offices and Regions''. Next, choose ``Office of Solid
Waste and [[Page 20993]] Emergency Response (OSWER)''. Next, choose
``Office of Solid Waste''. Then choose ``RCRA General/Notice of
Meetings''.
2. Through FTP: Go to: ftp.epa.gov Login: Anonymous Password: Your
Internet Address. Files are located in directories/pub/gopher/OSWRCRA.
3. MOSAIC: Go to: http://www.epa.gov Choose the EPA Public Access
Gopher. From the main (Gopher) menu, choose ``EPA Offices and
Regions''. Next, choose ``Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response
(OSWER)''. Next, choose ``Office of Solid Waste''. Then, choose ``RCRA
General/Notice of Meetings''.
4. Through dial-up access: Dial (919)558-0335. Choose EPA Public
Access Gopher. From the main (Gopher) menu, choose ``EPA Offices and
Regions''. Next, choose ``Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response
(OSWER)''. Next, choose ``Office of Solid Waste''. Then choose ``RCRA
General/Notice of Meetings''.
Background
The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act has been an enormously
effective tool in achieving a dramatic transformation in the way that
we manage hazardous waste. RCRA has allowed the Agency to develop a
cradle-to-grave system to ensure the protection of human health and the
environment when generating, transporting, storing, or disposing of
hazardous waste. The Agency believes that a successful legislative
process to make targeted changes to RCRA, could make the statute an
even more effective tool in safely managing our solid and hazardous
waste.
Eleven issue descriptions have been developed by EPA to serve as a
starting point for discussions to prepare a package of targeted reforms
to RCRA. Each of these issues, regarding certain statutory requirements
for managing solid and hazardous waste, has been previously identified
by one or more stakeholders as an area of concern in which reforms
would be helpful.
EPA will consider all comments received in developing the
legislative proposal. However, due to the expedited timeframe, EPA will
not prepare formal responses to all comments and suggestions placed in
the docket.
We caution the reader not to infer any new EPA policy statements
from this list of issues. These papers are staff drafts attempting to
summarize stakeholder concerns. The eleven issues proposed for
discussion are:
1. RCRA Permits
For low-risk hazardous waste management facilities (e.g., storage-
only facilities), the requirement to obtain an RCRA permit (and to meet
associated management requirements) can in some cases lead to high
administrative costs while resulting in little or no increased
environmental benefit. Cumbersome permit requirements can also delay
the transition from less stringent interim status standards to other,
more appropriate, management standards.
2. Management Requirements
Once a waste is identified as hazardous, through a listing or by
exhibiting a characteristic, all of the applicable requirements for the
generator, transporter, and facility treating, storing, or disposing of
the waste apply. Thus, the regulatory implications of a decision about
whether a waste is hazardous are ``all or nothing''; there is currently
no middle ground. However, it may be possible that for certain wastes
and scenarios the full hazardous waste management requirements are not
needed; the application and enforcement of specific, tailored good
management practices could negate the risk posed for that waste, and
thus the need for a hazardous waste designation.
3. Listing Determinations
When determining whether to list a waste as hazardous, the Agency
considers plausible mismanagement scenarios (e.g., management in an
unlined surface impoundment) in order to be protective. However, if the
waste in question is currently or can be managed under enforceable,
good management practices that protect human health and the
environment, then mismanagement may no longer be plausible, and full
RCRA hazardous waste requirements may not be necessary.
4. Prescriptive Requirements
The RCRA requirements governing certain hazardous wastes can be
prescriptive and may be impractical to implement in certain situations
(e.g., radioactive waste mixed with hazardous waste). In addition,
certain RCRA requirements may be economically unreasonable to
implement, where they have a major impact on the regulated entity
without a corresponding environmental benefit (e.g., small businesses
that do not meet the technical requirements for the small quantity
generator exemption from most RCRA requirements).
5. Untreated Waste Disposal
The RCRA requirements preventing the disposal of untreated waste on
the land unless it can be proven that the waste will not migrate from
the unit as long as the waste remains hazardous (potentially thousands
of years), may prevent the safe disposal of low-risk untreated or
partially treated waste in certain land based units (i.e., deep well
injection).
6. Indian Tribal Program Approval
EPA has explicit statutory authority to authorize states to
implement hazardous and solid waste management programs. RCRA does not
explicitly mention Indian Tribes in its discussion of authorization
authorities; this omission has led some to challenge EPA's authority to
approve qualified Tribal programs.
7. Land Disposal Restrictions
The land disposal restrictions prevent the disposal of hazardous
waste on the land until levels of treatment are met which ensure that
short-term and long-term threats to human health and the environment
are minimized. For some wastes, this provision could be interpreted to
require the treatment of the waste's hazardous constituents to levels
below those which the Agency would consider necessary to protect human
health and the environment.
8. Treatment Requirements
The land disposal restrictions require the treatment of waste to
specified levels or with a specified technology before the waste can be
dispose on the land. However, under some circumstances, the process of
treating certain wastes to meet LDR requirements may itself pose a
greater risk to human health and the environment than land disposal or
other alternative management practices.
9. Recycling of Hazardous Waste
Facilities treating or storing a hazardous waste need to obtain a
permit and comply with all applicable management standards (e.g., land
disposal restrictions, facility-wide corrective action, financial
assurance). However, some facilities that recycle hazardous waste may
not pose significant risks to human health and the environment or may
need less than full RCRA hazardous waste regulation to ensure safe
handling of waste. The need to comply with the full panoply of
hazardous waste requirements may discourage the potential safe
recycling of hazardous wastes. To better encourage appropriate
recycling, certain of these wastes may not need to be
[[Page 20994]] defined and regulated as a solid waste under RCRA.
10. Corrective Action
Under current RCRA requirements, hazardous wastes from cleanup
activities (e.g., corrective action and related activities) are subject
to the same permitting, treatment, disposal and other requirements as
newly generated and managed hazardous waste. However, many of the
requirements for as-generated hazardous wastes are inappropriate for
soil and groundwater contaminated with such wastes, and EPA may lack
sufficient authority to modify these requirements. The application of
full RCRA hazardous waste requirements to cleanup wastes may act as a
disincentive for cleanup, eliminate practical and effective remedies
from consideration, deter the use of innovative technologies, and
result in excessively costly cleanups.
11. Hazardous Waste Manifest
EPA may lack clear statutory authority to provide flexibility to
the manifest system in order to provide significant reductions in paper
work burdens.
Principles for Developing the Legislative Proposal:
In developing the package of targeted legislative reforms for RCRA,
EPA will be following the principles for reinventing environmental
protection outlined in the President's plan:
Protecting public health and the environment is an
important national goal, and individuals, businesses and government
must take responsibility for the impact of their actions.
Regulation must be designed to achieve environmental goals
in a manner that minimizes costs to individuals, businesses, and other
levels of government.
Environmental regulations must be performance-based,
providing maximum flexibility in the means of achieving our
environmental goals, but requiring accountability for the results.
Preventing pollution, not just controlling or cleaning it
up, is preferred.
Market incentives should be used to achieve environmental
goals, whenever appropriate.
Environmental regulation should be based on the best
science and economics, subject to expert and public scrutiny, and
grounded in values Americans share.
Government regulations must be understandable to those who
are affected by them.
Decisionmaking should be collaborative, not adversarial,
and decisionmakers must inform and involve those who must live with the
decisions.
Federal, state, tribal, and local governments must work as
partners to achieve common environmental goals, with nonfederal
partners taking the lead when appropriate.
No citizen should be subjected to unjust or
disproportionate environmental impacts.
Dated: April 24, 1995.
Elliott P. Laws,
Assistant Administrator, Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response.
[FR Doc. 95-10510 Filed 4-27-95; 8:45 am]
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