This publication has been replaced by this document here.
On June 21, 2010, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed the rule, Hazardous and Solid Waste Management System; Identification and Listing of Special Wastes; Disposal of Coal Combustion Residuals From Electric Utilities (75 FR 35127). In this rulemaking, EPA co-proposed two options for regulation of coal combustion residuals (CCRs). Under one option, EPA would reverse its August 1993 and May 2000 Bevill Regulatory Determinations regarding CCRs and list CCRs as a special waste subject to regulation under Subtitle C of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) when they are destined for disposal in landfills or surface impoundments. The other option would leave the Bevill determination in place and regulate disposal of CCRs under RCRA Subtitle D, with EPA issuing national minimum criteria under 40 CFR part 257 Criteria for Classification of Solid Waste Disposal Facilities and Practices. The proposal did not address the placement of CCRs in mines, or non-minefill uses of CCRs at coal mine sites. The proposal also did not change the May 2000 Regulatory Determination for beneficially used CCRs, which as EPA noted are currently exempt from the hazardous waste regulations under Section 3001(b)(3)(A) of RCRA. However, EPA did indicate that it was clarifying the determination and seeking comment on potential refinements for certain beneficial uses. This position paper is based in large part upon comments that ASTSWMO provided to EPA on November 19, 2010 in response to the proposal.
ASTSWMO Position Papers
Protected: ASTSWMO Position Paper on Site Assessment Funding
ASTSWMO Position Paper on 128(a) Funding
This paper has been replaced by the document located here.
On January 11, 2002, President Bush signed the Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act (Pub.L.No. 107-118, 115 stat. 2356, “the Brownfields Law”). The Brownfields Law amended the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA or Superfund) by providing funds to assess and clean up brownfields; clarified CERCLA liability protections; and provided funds to enhance State and tribal response programs. Other related laws and regulations impact brownfields cleanup and reuse through financial incentives and regulatory requirements.
Since the Brownfields Law was signed in 2002, funding to States, Territories and Tribes, via the 128(a) Brownfield Grant, has been essential for States and Territories (States) to build and maintain successful State brownfield programs. The funding that States and Territories receive each year provides an incredible number of benefits to local units of government, corporations, and other organizations, who oversee the day-to-day cleanup and redevelopment of blighted, underutilized, and contaminated properties.
ASTSWMO Policy Position Paper on Federal Facilities
Environmental compliance and remediation at active, closed, and transferred federal facilities continues to be one of the most complex and controversial issues in State-federal relationships. The Association of State and Territorial Solid Waste Management Officials (ASTSWMO) has consistently supported individual State efforts to regulate and enforce both State and federal waste management mandates upon federal agencies maintaining facilities located within their State. With the ongoing national debate concerning States’ environmental rights and responsibilities relating to federal facilities, ASTSWMO believes that it is necessary to define our Association’s positions relative to the environmental management and waste management efforts currently ongoing at all federal facilities.
ASTSWMO Position Paper on e-Manifest Funding
The Association of State and Territorial Solid Waste Management Officials (ASTSWMO) strongly supports the development of the e-Manifest system that is currently underway. We and our member States, Territories and the District of Columbia (States) have supported this system since 2004 because it has the potential to provide the States, the federal government, and regulated industry with significant savings of time and resources as well as better and more efficient delivery of information. The system also can also provide real-time tracking of hazardous waste on our nation’s roads and multi-State data will be available to all users.
ASTSWMO Subtitle D Post-Closure Position Paper
Regulations promulgated approximately twenty years ago by individual States under the authority of Subtitle D of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) include provisions regarding the post-closure care of municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills. The Subtitle D regulations establish a 30-year post-closure care period as the default requirement (See 40 CFR § 258.61).
RCRA and the State regulations include provisions allowing the 30-year period to be extended or shortened. The 30-year period may be extended if the Director of an approved State program “determines that the lengthened period is necessary to protect human health and the environment.” The 30-year period may be shortened by the State Director if the “owner or operator demonstrates that the reduced period is sufficient to protect human health and the environment.”
ASTSWMO Position Paper: A New Regulatory Approach to Pharmaceutical Waste Management
Many studies have demonstrated that pharmaceutical compounds are making their way into the environment. Although little can be done to prevent some pharmaceuticals from reaching environmental receptors, the destiny of waste pharmaceuticals can be controlled. The Association of State and Territorial Solid Waste Management Officials (ASTSWMO) understands that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Resource Conservation and Recovery is developing new regulations for management of pharmaceutical wastes to replace the December 2008 proposal that would have allowed those pharmaceutical wastes already regulated as hazardous waste under Subtitle C of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) to be managed as universal wastes. ASTSWMO also understands that while EPA’s forthcoming proposal will be designed to offer flexibility to health care facilities that manage pharmaceutical wastes; it too will only apply to those pharmaceuticals currently regulated as a hazardous waste under RCRA. This Position Paper outlines a more holistic management approach that could apply to all post-manufacturing pharmaceutical wastes, not only those regulated as a hazardous waste. In developing this Paper, several articles and publications were reviewed. A complete bibliography of those reviewed is included.
ASTSWMO Request for Extension of the Comment Period of the Proposed Rule Hazardous and Solid Waste Management Systems; Identification and Listing of Special Wastes; Disposal of Coal Combustion Residuals from Electric Utilities
The Association of State and Territorial Solid Waste Management Officials (ASTSWMO) respectfully requests a 120 day extension of the comment period for EPA’s proposed rulemaking for the Hazardous and Solid Waste Management System; Identification and Listing of Special Wastes: Disposal of Coal Combustion Residuals from Electric Utilities.