[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 180 (Monday, September 19, 1994)]
[Unknown Section]
[Page 0]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-23114]
[[Page Unknown]]
[Federal Register: September 19, 1994]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 261
[SW-FRL-5075-6]
Hazardous Waste Management System; Identification and Listing of
Hazardous Waste; Final Amendment
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency.
ACTION: Final amendment.
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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or Agency) today is
granting a final amendment to an exclusion from the lists of hazardous
wastes previously granted for certain solid wastes generated by POP
Fasteners (POP) in Shelton, Connecticut. This action is taken in
response to a petition for amendment submitted by POP to increase the
maximum annual waste volume covered in its exclusion. The exclusion was
granted under regulations that allow generators to petition EPA to
remove their wastes from hazardous waste control by excluding such
wastes from the hazardous waste lists.
EFFECTIVE DATE: September 19, 1994.
ADDRESSES: The public docket for this final amendment is located at the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 401 M Street, SW., Washington, DC
20460, and is available for viewing (room M2616) from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.,
Monday through Friday, excluding Federal holidays. Call (202) 260-9327
for appointments. The reference number for this docket is ``F-94-DLPE-
FFFFF''. The public may copy material from any regulatory docket at no
cost for the first 100 pages, and at a cost of $0.15 per page for
additional copies.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For general information, contact the
RCRA Hotline, toll free at (800) 424-9346, or at (703) 412-9810. For
technical information concerning this notice, contact Shen-yi Yang,
Office of Solid Waste (5304), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 401
M Street, SW., Washington, DC 20460, (202) 260-1436.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
On March 5, 1990, POP Fasteners (POP), a division of Black and
Decker Corporation, of Shelton, Connecticut petitioned the Agency under
Secs. 260.20 and 260.22, to exclude from hazardous waste control its
F006 metal hydroxide filter cake resulting from the treatment of
wastewater originating from its electroplating operation. After
evaluating the petition, EPA published its final decision in the
Federal Register (57 FR 57673, December 7, 1992) to exclude POP's waste
from the lists of hazardous waste contained at Secs. 261.31 and 261.32.
POP's final exclusion only applied to the process and waste volume (a
maximum of 300 cubic yards generated annually) covered by its original
petition. Any waste generated in excess of 300 cubic yards per year
must be handled as hazardous unless an amendment to POP's final
exclusion is granted.
On May 10, 1993, POP petitioned the Agency for an amendment to its
1992 final exclusion for an increase of its annual maximum waste
generation from 300 cubic yards to 1,000 cubic yards. After its
evaluation of POP's request and supporting information, EPA proposed,
on April 11, 1994, to amend POP's December 7, 1992 exclusion to reflect
a waste volume increase (see 59 FR 17080).
Today's rulemaking finalizes the proposed amendment to amend POP's
existing exclusion.
II. Disposition of Petition for Amendment
POP Fasteners, Shelton, Connecticut.
A. Proposed Amendment
As a result of its business growth, POP petitioned the Agency on
May 10, 1993 for an amendment to its 1992 final exclusion for an
increase of its annual maximum waste generation from 300 cubic yards to
1,000 cubic yards.
POP stated in an April 19, 1993 letter that: (1) the increase in
the filter cake generation was attributable to an increase in rivet
production since the petition was filed; (2) there have been no changes
in the manufacturing process, feed materials, or waste water treatment
process; and (3) the hours of POP's operation have increased.
To confirm that the waste characteristics have not changed, POP
submitted results from the analyses of one filter cake composite for
all Toxicity Characteristic (TC) constituents listed in 40 CFR 261.24
and nickel using the Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP,
SW-846 Method 1311). POP also submitted a signed certification dated
May 10, 1993 stating that all submitted information is true, accurate,
and complete.
The Agency reviewed its previous decision to grant POP's original
delisting petition (57 FR 37921, 57 FR 57673 and the administrative
record in the RCRA public docket) and the analytical results provided
by POP in support of its request for an amendment to its existing
exclusion. The analytical results submitted to support this amendment
show that the constituents detected in the waste sample, as well as
their respective leachate concentration levels, are consistent with the
waste data in POP's original petition. Furthermore, POP has certified
that there have been no changes in process or feed materials.
Therefore, the Agency believes that the waste characteristics have not
changed.
The Agency evaluated the potential impact of POP's petitioned waste
on human health and the environment, at the increased annual maximum
waste volume, following the same approach it used in evaluating POP's
original petition. Specifically, the Agency evaluated the waste using
the requested annual maximum waste volume estimate of 1,000 cubic yards
and the maximum reported leachate concentration of POP's waste using
the same ground-water model described in the Agency's original decision
(see 57 FR 37921, August 21, 1992 and the RCRA public docket ``F-92-
PEEP-FFFFF'' to that rule). The Agency notes that the modeling results
are the same for 300 and 1,000 cubic yards, and the increased waste
volume has no significant impact. Thus, the Agency believes that the
constituents in POP's waste would not leach and migrate at
concentrations above the Agency's health-based levels used in delisting
decision-making.
EPA also considered the impact of the increased waste volume on
potential risks posed by other exposure routes (i.e., air emission,
surface water). Since the total concentration levels of hazardous
constituents of concern in the petitioned waste and the active landfill
area remain unchanged, the Agency believes that no significant exposure
to contaminants potentially released via air emission and surface
runoff from POP's petitioned waste is likely. See 57 FR 37921 (August
21, 1992), 57 FR 57673 (December 7, 1992), and the RCRA public dockets
for these notices for a detailed description of the evaluation.
B. Response to Public Comments
The Agency did not receive any comments on the proposed amendment.
C. Final Agency Decision
For the reasons stated in the proposed amendment and in today's
notice, the Agency believes that POP's waste is non-hazardous at the
maximum generation rate of 1,000 cubic yards per year, and should be
excluded from hazardous waste control. The Agency, therefore, is
granting the amendment to POP Fastener's exclusion to reflect a waste
volume increase for waste generated at its Shelton, Connecticut
facility. This amendment only applies to the process covered by POP's
original petition, and allows a maximum annual waste volume of 1,000
cubic yards. All other conditions listed in POP's exclusion remain
unchanged. Waste generated in excess of 1,000 cubic yards per year or
from changed processes must be handled as hazardous until a new
exclusion is granted.
III. Effective Date
This amendment is effective immediately upon final publication in
the Federal Register. The Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments of 1984
amended section 3010 of RCRA to allow rules to become effective in less
than six months when the regulated community does not need the six-
month period to come into compliance. That is the case here because
this amendment reduces the existing requirements for persons generating
hazardous wastes. In light of the unnecessary hardship and expense that
would be imposed on this petitioner by an effective date six months
after publication and the fact that a six-month deadline is not
necessary to achieve the purpose of section 3010, EPA believes that
this amendment should be effective immediately upon final publication.
These reasons also provide a basis for making this amendment effective
immediately, upon final publication, under the Administrative Procedure
Act, pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 553(d).
IV. Regulatory Impact
Under Executive Order 12866, EPA must conduct an ``assessment of
the potential costs and benefits'' for all ``significant'' regulatory
actions. This amendment is not significant, since its effect reduces
the overall costs and economic impact of EPA's hazardous waste
management regulations. This reduction is achieved by excluding an
additional amount of waste generated at a specific facility from EPA's
lists of hazardous wastes, thereby enabling this facility to treat its
waste as non-hazardous. There is no additional economic impact due to
today's rule. Therefore, this rule is not a significant regulation, and
no cost/benefit assessment is required. The Office of Management and
Budget (OMB) has also exempted this rule from the requirement for OMB
review under section (6) of Executive Order 12866.
V. Regulatory Flexibility Act
Pursuant to the Regulatory Flexibility Act, 5 U.S.C. 601-612,
whenever an agency is required to publish a general notice of
rulemaking for any proposed or final rule, it must prepare and make
available for public comment a regulatory flexibility analysis that
describes the impact of the rule on small entities (i.e., small
businesses, small organizations, and small governmental jurisdictions).
No regulatory flexibility analysis is required, however, if the
Administrator or delegated representative certifies that the rule will
not have an impact on any small entities.
This amendment will not have any adverse economic impact on small
entities because its effect will be to reduce the overall costs of
EPA's hazardous waste regulations and will be limited to one facility.
Accordingly, I hereby certify that this amendment will not have a
significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities.
This amendment therefore, does not require a regulatory flexibility
analysis.
VI. Paperwork Reduction Act
Information collection and recordkeeping requirements associated
with this final amendment have been approved by the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) under the provisions of the Paperwork
Reduction Act of 1980 (P.L. 96-511, 44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.) and have
been assigned OMB Control Number 2050-0053.
List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 261
Hazardous Waste, Recycling, Reporting and recordkeeping
requirements.
Dated: September 7, 1994.
Elizabeth A. Cotsworth,
Acting Director, Office of Solid Waste.
For the reasons set out in the preamble, 40 CFR part 261 is amended
as follows:
PART 261--IDENTIFICATION AND LISTING OF HAZARDOUS WASTE
1. The authority citation for part 261 continues to read as
follows:
Authority: 42 U.S.C. 6905, 6912(a), 6921, 6922, and 6938.
Appendix IX--[Amended]
2. In Table 1 of Appendix IX of Part 261, the entry for ``POP
Fasteners, Shelton, Connecticut'' is revised to read as follows:
Table 1.--Wastes Excluded From Non-specific Sources
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Facility Address Waste description
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* * * * * * *
POP Fasteners........ Shelton, Connecticut. Wastewater treatment sludge (EPA Hazardous Waste No. F006)
generated from electroplating operations (at a maximum annual
rate of 1,000 cubic yards) after [insert date of publication]. In
order to confirm that the characteristics of the waste do not
change significantly, the facility must, on an annual basis,
analyze a representative composite sample for the constituents
listed in Sec. 261.24 using the method specified therein. The
annual analytical results, including quality control information,
must be compiled, certified according to Sec. 260.22(i)(12),
maintained on site for a minimum of five years, and made
available for inspection upon request by any employee or
representative of EPA or the State of Connecticut. Failure to
maintain the required records on site will be considered by EPA,
at its discretion, sufficient basis to revoke the exclusion to
the extent directed by EPA.
* * * * * * *
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[FR Doc. 94-23114 Filed 9-16-94; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P
