CEGR 4234 5234 Hazardous Waste Management

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CEGR 4234 / 5234Hazardous Waste Management

• 9/5/06

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Legal Framework

• Hazardous Waste Management is generally a
  regulatory-driven activity
• Federal
• State
• Local
• Court decisions
• Regulations change with time and space
• Designs should be protective of human health and
  the environment

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FIGURE 2-1 Growth of environmental laws in the
United States.
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FIGURE 2-2
Changes to U.S. environmental
regulations (federal and state).
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FIGURE 2-3
EPAs short-term agenda458
regulations under development.
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Hierarchy of Lawin order

• U.S. Constitution
• International Treaties consider Kyoto Protocol
• Federal Statutes
• Federal Regulations
• State Statutes (e.g. NC General Statutes,
  http//www.ncleg.net/statutes/statutes.asp)
• State Regulations (e.g. 15A NCAC 01C .0101 (DENR
  Procedures, Rules)
• Local (city/county) laws, ordinances and
  regulations
• Case Lawseparate hierarchy

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Federal Statutes

• Basis for all major U.S. Environmental Laws
• Designations
• Bills in Congress, e.g., S 101, HR 1025
• Pass both houses, signed by President, e.g.
  PL94-580 (Public Law, 94th Congress)
• All laws are then assembled into a master
  document United States Code
• RCRA 42 USC 6901 et seq.
• Title 42 of the U.S. Code, Section 6901 and the
  following sections

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Federal Regulations

• Federal Statutes Laws are often vague
• Details left to agencies (e.g. EPA)
• These details manifest as regulations
• For example, SO2 emissions shall be reduced by
  50
• Per plant? Per Company? By what technique? How
  will it be measured?
• Code of Federal Regulations
• 40 CFR 261 Title 40 (Protection of the
  Environment), part 261 (Hazardous Waste)

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State Laws/Regulations

• Similar pattern
• Promulgating and proposing, codifying, etc.
• General Statutes Laws
• North Carolina Register Regulations
• Not always over-ruled by federal government
• Numerous exceptions according to states
• Some laws delegated
• National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System
  (NPDES, Clean Water Act)
• Some laws not delegated
• CERCLA
• However, passage of additional, similar laws is
  possible
• Compare difference in Coal Combustion Products

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Local City/County Laws, etc.

• Great variability from location
• Consider Permitting efforts in Cambridge, MA
  versus Georgia

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Case Law

• Legislative bodies develop laws
• Courts decide on interpretation of law when
  questioned
• Language regarding need for EIS
• major federal actions significantly impacting
  the quality of the environment
• An EIS takes time and money.lawsuits challenge
  individual words in a law
• Legal precedents
• Courts of equal or lesser authority often accept
  previous rulings

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U.S. Judicial System

• U.S. Supreme Court
• Constitutionality, legal instability
• Federal Court of Appeals (circuit courts)
• Federal District Courts
• Vast majority of case law formed here
• State Courts
• Administrative Courts

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Legal Research

• Process of identifying issue and applicable law

Is it Hazardous?
Primary Source of Law RCRA
Operating Location Does State have Authority?
Yes
No
Review Code of Federal Regulations (existing) and
Federal Register (updates)
Review State Statutes, Regulations
Case Law
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RCRA

• Currently Generated Waste
• Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976
  (RCRA)
• Subtitle C, cradle to grave tracking of waste
• Classifications/definitions established
• See page 48 of text
• Standards for Disposal left to EPA (i.e., through
  rules/regulations)
• Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments (to RCRA)
  (HSWA) of 1984, minimal technical requirements
  passed to ensure such rules would eventually
  become established

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RCRA - Land Disposal

• With exceptions, banned for certain
  chemicals/concentrations
• Even if not banned, toxicity and/or mobility must
  be reduced to certain levels
• Hence focus on treatment technologies
• If disposal occurs
• Double liners
• Leachate collection systems
• GW monitoring
• Leak detection systems

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Permitting

• HSWA detailed permitting requirements
• Permits required for treatment, storage and
  disposal facilities (TSDFs)
• Incentive is to keep business running
• Permits include
• Corrective action plan for potential releases
• Exposure assessment for potential releases
• Five year review
• See Handouts

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Enforcement

• EPA Enforcement increased after HSWA
• HSWA made it a crime to knowingly
• Transport hazardous waste without a manifest
• Omit relevant information on a manifest form
• Violate any of the regulations
• Fail to file a required report or permit
  application
• Fines / Imprisonment

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Underground Storage Tanks

• HSWA required regulatory program for USTs
• Beginning 1988, ten year plan to evaluate and
  upgrade all tanks
• Owners must have leak detection system or
  inventory control and regular testing
• Maintain liability insurance
• See handouts

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FIGURE 2-4 Photograph of an underground storage
tank removal.
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Hazardous Waste Regulations

• Again, Congress passed RCRArequired EPA to
  promulgate specific regulations
• Hazardous defined under RCRA if
• Waste is listed in any four lists in regulations
• Waste is tested and is found to be
• Ignitable, corrosive, reactive or toxic
• Waste is declared hazardous by generator

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Characteristics

• Ignitable
• Liquids with flashpoints lt 600C
• Solids that may cause fire at STP
• Corrosive
• pH lt 2 or gt 12.5
• Corrodes steel gt 0.25 in/year
• Reactive
• Unstable, react with air, water
• Create fumes
• Toxic
• Focus is on that which can leach out from waste
  matrix
• TCLP / SPLP vis a vis realistic leaching
  scenarios

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Generators / Transporters

• Generators must evaluate and obtain and EPA ID
  number
• Transporters must also obtain an EPA ID number
• Cradle to grave tracking
• Small quantity exemptions for lt 1000 kg/month

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Treatment, Storage and Disposal Facilities (TSDF)

• Landfills
• Incinerators
• Surface impoundments
• Storage areas
• Requires spill prevention procedures, contingency
  plans, training programs
• Manifests and complete operating documentation
  must be maintained

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FIGURE 2-5 Hazardous waste manifest, New York
State Department of Environmental Conservation.
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E-Manifests

• May 2001 EPA proposed modifications to the
  hazardous waste manifest system and the manifest
  form that is used to track hazardous waste
  shipments during their transportation
• Feedback Collected through 2002
• Roadmap presented in 2004
• Implementation..?

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Superfund

• 1980 Comprehensive Environmental Response,
  Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA)
• 1986 Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act
  (SARA)
• Primary purpose to clean up hazardous waste sites
  not regulated under RCRA
• Initially established 1.6 Billion for Cleanup
• SARA essentially re-wrote CERCLA, 8.5 Billion
  appropriated
• Appropriations derived primarily through industry
  taxes
• Current debate about continuing funding, taxes
  since removed

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FIGURE 2-6 An abandoned plant becomes a Superfund
site. (Photo courtesy EPA.)
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FIGURE 2-7 Activity schematic at a Superfund site.
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Cleanup Standards

• Almost always a residual, site, chemical and
  technique specific
• Interplay of regulations
• Applicable or Relevant and Appropriate
  Requirements (ARARs)
• A cover may be required for a contaminated site,
  that in turn must satisfy RCRA designs in terms
  of cap, liner system

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Liability

• While funded by tax (previously), EPA required
  to seek funds from PRPs
• Lengthy litigation pursued by both EPA and PRPs
• PRPs
• Present/past property owners (including DOT)
• Facility operators
• Generators
• Transporters

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Other Federal Statutes

• Toxic Substance Control Act
• e.g., PCBs banned
• Occupational Safety and Health Act
• 40 hour OSHA training for Haz waste sites
• Clean Water Act
• Sewage treatment plants, NPDES permits, etc.
• Safe Drinking Water Act
• Drinking water standards (GW and SW) (e.g., p. 69
  of text)
• Clean Air Act
• SO2 Reductions required
• NC large shift to producing FGD

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CERCLA NC Analogue

• Inactive Hazardous Sites Response Act of 1987
• This act requires the branch to maintain a
  catalog of inactive hazardous substance or waste
  disposal sites.