United States Office of I aste Environmental Protection and Emer: Response EPA/530-SW-91-036 Agency (OS-305) January 1991 SEPA Environmental Fact Sheet PROPOSED AMENDMENTS TO INTERIM STATUS STANDARDS FOR DOWNGRADIENT MONITORING WELL LOCATIONS AT HAZARDOUS WASTE FACILITIES BACKGROUND Subtitle C of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) creates a comprehensive program for the safe management of hazardous waste. RCRA -equires EPA to develop regulations for owners or operators of hi. ardous waste treatment, storage and disposal facilities (TSDFsj. In 1980, EPA created comprehensive standards for owners and operators of TSDFs that qualify for interim status (a short term permitted status assigned to facilities in the process of applying for a final permit). Under these standards, interim status facility owners or operators must install and operate a system to monitor ground water for hazardous waste contamination. The system must include monitoring wells at specific -- -tc ~,irng the perimeter of the waste management area. ACTION In some waste management areas, certain physical obstacles (e.g., buildings, electric cables, highways) prevent the placement of monitoring wells near the perimeter. In such cases, this rule proposes to allow alternate placement of downgradient monitoring wells. The alternate locations must be as close to the perimeter as possible, and must ensure immediate detection of ground-water contamination. While the proposed rule would only be applicable to units existing on the effective date of the rule, the Agency is soliciting comments on whether to extend the rule's coverage to include new and expanding units as well. ------- CONCLUSION By allowing for minor alterations in monitoring well placement under certain conditions, the ground-water monitoring standards will provide greater flexibility to interim status facilities while maintaining the highest level of environmental protection. 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 for free 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. ------- |