United States Solid Waste and
Environmental Protection Emergency Response EPA/530-SW-90-067
Agency (OS-305) July 1990
Office of Solid Waste
x°/EPA Environmental
Fact Sheet
PROPOSED RULEMAKING FOR
CORRECTIVE ACTION FOR SOLID
WASTE MANAGEMENT UNITS AT
HAZARDOUS WASTE MANAGEMENT
FACILITIES
This proposed rule is intended to establish a comprehensive set of procedural and
technical standards for investigation and cleanup of facilities that receive permits for
managing hazardous wastes under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act
(RCRA). The proposal will provide a consistent regulatory framework for making
cleanup decisions at thousands of industrial facilities across the United States, and will
provide impetus for an increased State role in this important environmental cleanup
program.
BACKGROUND
In 1984, amendments to RCRA provided broad new mandates to
address cleanup, or "corrective action," at facilities engaged in
management of hazardous wastes, and therefore, subject to regulation
under Subtitle C of RCRA. Prior to 1984, the primary focus of the
RCRA program was one of "prevention," that is, ensuring that newly
generated hazardous wastes were managed properly by industrial
handlers, in order to avoid creating new contamination problems and
new Superfund sites. Since the 1984 amendments, however, the
corrective action program under RCRA has been a critical component
of the Agency's overall hazardous waste regulatory program. The scope
and mandate of the corrective action program, and the types of
environmental problems that it will address, are comparable in many
respects to the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Superfund
program.
Under Section 3004(u) of RCRA, all permits issued after 1984 must
address corrective action for the entire facility. Section 3004(v)
established the authority to require owners/operators to clean up
environmental releases that migrate outside a facility's boundary.
Section 3008(h) provides a parallel enforcement authority to initiate
corrective actions at facilities that have interim status (i.e., that have
not been issued permits under RCRA).
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To date, more than 600 permits and enforcement orders have been
issued to facilities to initiate remedial studies and actual cleanup
actions. The Agency estimates that, ultima >ly, between 3,000 and
4,000 facilities will require corrective actions of some kind. The types
of industries that will potentially be affected by the corrective action
rule are highly diverse, and include chemical manufacturing,
petroleum refining, and many others. Approximately 350 Federal
facilities—primarily those owned by the Departments of Defense and
Energy—are also potentially subject to corrective action requirements.
The types of environmental problems that are being addressed under
the RCRA corrective action program also vary widely. Many RCRA
facilities are very large industrial complexes, with numerous historical
waste management units, and serious, complex contamination
problems affecting ground water, surface water, soils, and air. These
facilities are equivalent in scale—and in the potential risks they pose
to the environment and to human health—to the sites being
addressed under the Agency's Superfund program. On the other
hand, many RCRA facilities have only minor releases, and will lend
themselves to relatively straightforward cleanup solutions.
To date, EPA has been imposing requirements on facility owners/
operators to investigate and clean up releases on a case-by-case
basis, with limited guidance. Thus, the primary objective of today's
proposed rule is to set forth a clear and comprehensive set of
standards and procedures that will provide a more consistent
approach to investigating and making cleanup decisions at these
facilities. In addition, the proposed rule will provide an opportunity for
the regulated industry to comment on the specific aspects of the
Agency's regulatory approach to corrective action. The rule should
also serve to encourage States to assume a larger role and to seek
authorization for the corrective action program.
ACTION
Following are key provisions of the proposed rule.
• Definitions. The proposal defines several terms which are
important to defining the scope and coverage of the rule: facility,
release, and solid waste management unit (SWMU).
• Process. The proposal outlines a highly flexible process for
performing investigations and making remedial decisions. There is
a strong emphasis placed on streamlining investigations, focusing
studies on plausible solutions, and taking early actions ("interim
measures") to start cleanups as soon as possible. A new permit
modification procedure is also proposed, which will provide a
mechanism for resolving disputes between the Agency and owners/
operators.
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• Cleanup Standards. The proposal specifies how numerical cleanup
standards for different environmental media are to be established,
and identifies "points of compliance," that is , where the cleanup
standards must be met. The rule proposes a 10 4 to 10 6 risk
range for carcinogens, and a point of compliance for ground water
at the unit boundary.
• Remedy Selection. Four standards for remedies and a set of
decision factors which will allow remedies to be tailored to fit
facility conditions are proposed. These remedy selection
requirements are designed to be flexible, and to result in cleanups
that are consistent with Superfund remedies.
• Waste Management Standards. The proposal outlines specific
requirements for how hazardous and nonhazardous wastes must
be managed in the course of cleaning up facilities. These
requirements will ensure that adequate controls are placed on
wastes that are stored, treated, or disposed during cleanup
operations.
CONCLUSION
This proposed rulemaking provides a clear articulation of EPA's
expectations for remedying environmental problems at thousands of
hazardous waste facilities across the United States. It should
significantly enhance the Agency's ability to effectively and
expeditiously implement this major environmental cleanup program.
CONTACT
For more information or to receive a copy of the Federal Register
notice, please contact the RCRA Hotline, Monday-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 Washington, D.C.,
the number is (202) 382-3000 or TDD (202) 475-9652.
Copies of documents applicable to this proposal may be obtained by
writing: RCRA Information Center (RIC), U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency, Office of Solid Waste (OS-305), 401 M Street SW,
Wasthington, D.C. 20460.
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