United States             Office of Solid Waste
                    Environmental Protect™      and Emergency Response        EPA/530-SW-90-043
                    AgenCy	Washington DC 20460          xxxxxxxxxxl 990

                    Office of Solid Waste
&EPA        Environmental
                    Fact  Sheet
                    LISTING OF WASTES FROM
                    PRIMARY TREATMENT OF
                    OILY WASTEWATERS
       BACKGROUND
       The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) authorizes the
       Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)  to designate or "list" wastes as
       hazardous. Listings are used to capture specifically identified
       wastestreams that may not be captured by "characterisic" criteria. A
       listed waste has been determined to have hazardous constituents
       present at levels that may pose a threat to human health and the
       environment, and must be handled as hazardous from "cradle to
       grave".

       On May 19, 1980, EPA published a list of hazardous wastes that
       included five wastes generated by the petroleum refining industry Two
       of these wastes result from the separation of oils and solids from oily
       wastewaters in certain treatment units. The two wastes are referred to
       as "API Separator sludge" and "Dissolved Air Flotation (DAF) float"
       Following the 1980 rulemaking, the Agency recieved and favorably
       reviewed a petition that proposed expanded listings  including all oily
       sludges and/or floats generated in the primary treatment of petroleum
       refinery wastewaters, regardless of the type of treatment unit used.

       In response to comments on that proposal, EPA undertook a
       comprehensive waste-characterization effort to further strengthen the
       bases for expanding the listings to include the wastes in question Data
       gathered in this effort and  further clarifications were published in the
       Federal Register on February 11,  1985, and on April 13, 1988.

       ACTION
       Under this rulemaking. all oil/water/solids separator sludges and/or
       floats generated in the primary treatment of oily wastewaters from
       petroleum refining would be regulated as listed hazardous wastes
       under RCRA and Superfund.

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 Specifically not included in this listing are: (1) the existing K048 and
 K051 listings; (2) sludges generated in stormwater units that do not
 receive dry weather flow; (3) sludges generated in aggressive biological
 treatment units; and (4) sludges generated in additional units after
 wastewaters have been treated in aggressive biological treatment units.


 CONCLUSION
 The sludges subject to this listing are generated by over 100 refineries
 at an estimated rate of as much as 300,000 metric tons each year. EPA
 is taking this action because when improperly managed, the sludges
 pose a substantial present and potential hazard to human health and
 the environment through accidental groundwater contamination.

 CONTACT
 For further information, or to order a copy of the Federal Register
 notice, please contact the RCRA/Superfund Hotline Monday through
 Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. EST. The national toll-free number is
 (800) 424-9346 or TDD (800) 553-7672 for the hearing impaired. In
Washington, D.C., the number is (202) 382-3000  or TDD (202) 475-
 9652.

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