United States Office of Solid Waste EPA530-F-93-022 Environmental Protection and Emergency Response September 1993 Office of Solid Waste f/EPA Environmental Fact Sheet EPA Proposes Treatment Standards for Newly Listed and Identified Wastes and for Hazardous Soil This proposal presents an innovative approach to the regulation of hazardous soil under the LDR program. It also proposes ways to simplify existing rules by providing a set of universal treatment standards that are to be applied to virtually aH wastes. Background The Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments (HSWA) to the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) enacted in 1984 prohibit the land disposal of untreated hazardous wastes. HSWA requires EPA to set levels or methods of treatment for hazardous wastes to substantially diminish the short-term and long-term threats to human health and the environment. Wastes that meet the treatment standards established by EPA may be land disposed (i.e., placed in a landfill, surface impoundment, waste pile, injection well, land treatment facility, salt dome formation, salt bed formation, or underground mine or cave). The statutory schedule for land disposal restriction (LDR) rules for those wastes identified or listed as hazardous before HSWA was enacted was completed on May 8, 1990. However, a number of hazardous wastes have been newly listed or identified since 1984 for which LDR treatment standards are needed. This notice proposes land disposal restrictions for a number of these "newly listed and identified** wastes and proposes alternative treatment standards for hazardous soil. The schedule for newly listed and identified wastes in this proposed rulemaking is part of a settlement agreement EPA entered into with the Environmental Defense Fund. ------- Action This notice proposes LDR treatment standards based on Best Demonstrated Available Technology (BDAT) for 42 newly listed or identified wastes, including the Toxicity Characteristic fTC) wastes. In addition, the Agency is proposing alternate treatment standards for soil contaminated with hazardous wastes and to establish treatment standards for TC soil. Furthermore, in a move to simplify the LDR program, the Agency is proposing a number of changes, including setting universal treatment standards for over 200 constituents. These standards would apply uniformly to the treatment of the constituent, regardless of the listed waste in which the constituent is found. Finally, EPA is proposing that highly concentrated ignitable and TC pesticide wastes be treated, and not merely diluted, prior to injection into a Class I deep injection well. Public Comment EPA is requesting public comment on this proposed rule. Comments should be sent to EPA within 60 days of the Federal Register notice publication date. For instructions on submitting written comments, please see the Federal Register notice. It is available free of charge by calling the RCRA Hotline or by visiting EPA's RCRA Docket in Washington, DC. Contact For further information, or to order a copy of the Federal Register notice, please call the RCRA Hotline Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., EST. The national toll-free number is (800) 424-9346; for the hearing impaired, it is (TDD) (800) 553-7672. In Arlington, VA, the number is (703) 920-9810 or (TDD) (703) 486-3323. Or write to the RCRA Information Center (OS-305), US EPA, 401 M Street SW, Washington, DC 20460. ------- |