United States Office of Solid Waste
Environmental Protection and Emergency Response EPA/530-SW-91 04fl
A9ency Washington DC 20460 Ma/1991
Office of Solid Waste ~~~~ ' ' " '
SEPA Environmental
Fact Sheet
EPA Amends Primary. Petroleum
Sludge Ustiog.
/'M? Prormd9atton °f t*e Primary Petroleum Sludge Listing in the fall of
1990. EPA is clarifying the listing to exclude non-cvnta^nce-thnLjh c^Sna
waters and JUxtt& emanating, from FO3& units as a result of biological treatment
EPA consttiers these wastes to be significantly different in concentration and
^M^^^ the ** °fth£ 0riQinaL l{stif^' M the same
EPA fc reaves*^ a
justify a new listing.
The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) authorizes the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA} to designate or "Hsr wastes
as hazardous. Listings are used to capture specifically identified waste
streams that may not be captured by "characteristic" 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."
Based on a 1980 proposal and subsequent data-gathering efforts
on November 2, 1990,, EPA promulgated a final rule under RCRA,
listing two new wastes. Designated as F037 and F038, those wastes
are generated in the primary and secondary separation of oil, water,
and solids from petroleum refinery process wastewater and oily cooling
wastewaters. &
Since publishing the final rule, EPA has realized that including non-
contact, once-through water in the definition of "oily cooling waters"
may unintentionally extend the F037 and F038 listings to wastes that
have much lower concentrations of hazardous constituents than other
listed petroleum treatment wastes. Unlike contact cooling waters, most
non-contact once-through cooling waters have little exposure to the
toxic constituents present in primary and secondary treatment shidges.
and thu&have significantly lower concentration^of hazardous
constituents; As these waters would not te expected to generate
Hazardous primary treatment sludges, EPAbclievrs they should: be.
addressed separately.
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