THE NATIONAL HAZARDOUS WASTE MANAGEMENT PROGRAM
Presented at the
79th National Meeting
American Institute of Chemical Engineers
Houston, March 17, 1975
U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
1976
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THE NATIONAL HAZARDOUS WASTE MANAGEMENT PROGRAM
by John P. Lehman*
Industrial waste management is emerging as a major problem
for all industrial nations. In the past, industrial wastes have
been largely ignored by the public and government officials
because traditionally these wastes are managed outside the
municipal waste collection and disposal system. This situation
is changing rapidly, however. Recent studies show that industry
produces twice as much waste per year as is generated by
municipal sources, and 35 times more waste than do sewage
treatment plants. Industrial waste quantities destined for land
disposal are expected to increase by up to 100 percent in some
industries in the next decade largely due to the installation of
pollution control equipment.
These industrial waste quantity and growth estimates are
somewhat staggering. But, an aspect causing even greater concern
is that many of these wastes are potentially hazardous.
*Mr. Lehman is Director, Hazardous Waste Management Division,
Office of Solid Waste Management Programs, U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency.
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As a result of EPA's "Report to Congress on Disposal of
Hazardous Wastes," mandated by Section 212 of the Solid Waste
Disposal Act as amended by the Resource Recovery Act, a new,
strong thrust to bring hazardous wastes under control is just
beginning in EPA's Office of Solid Waste Management Programs
(OSWMP). Whether under our current authorities or under new
proposed legislation, we believe that Federal involvement in this
field is necessary. As air, water, pesticides, ocean dumping and
other laws are implemented, many hazardous residues, sometimes in
greatly concentrated form, will be diverted to the land.
Hazardous waste includes toxic and carcinogenic chemicals,
pesticides, acids, caustics, flammables, explosives, biological
and radiological residuals. For our Report to Congress in 1973,
we estimated the total amount of non-radioactive hazardous waste
generated in the United States to be approximately 10 million
tons per year. Recent information indicates that this number may
be on the low side.
About 40 percent of these wastes by weight is inorganic
material and 60 percent is organic; about 90 percent occurs in
liquid or semiliquid form. Over 75 percent of hazardous wastes
are generated in the mid-Atlantic, Great Lakes, and Gulf Coast
areas and the State of California.
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The Problem
Only in the last year or two have the public health and
environmental effects of improper waste disposal to the land come
under serious study. This problem is manifested in ground water
contamination by leachate from landfills, surface water
contamination via runoff, air pollution via open burning and
evaporation (as was the case in a recent hexachlorobenzene (HCB)
incident in Louisiana), food contamination via improper storage,
and, of course, personal injury via direct contact and explosions
which may result from the mixing of wastes in landfill
operations.
Everyone can empathize with short-term, acute environmental
problems. When a toxic chemical is dumped in a river and a
massive fish kill results, everyone agrees we've got to clean up
our water. When a smog alert occurs, there is a great hue and
cry about cleaning up our air.
But improper land disposal of wastes often goes unnoticed
because the impacts occur on a longer term and are chronic rather
than acute. It takes decades, in some cases, for hazardous
compounds which have been buried in the land to leach through the
soil into our surface and groundwater supplies. This was amply
demonstrated recently in Minnesota where several people were
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hospitalized after drinking well water contaminated by arsenic
wastes buried 30 years ago on nearby land.
Who, How and Why?
One could ask who causes this problem and how and why? In
our studies to date, we have established that the problem is
caused mostly by some waste generators who use improper disposal
procedures either on-site, that is, on their property, or off-
site via contract haulers, and that these improper acts are
either purposeful or accidental. Also, we have found that waste
haulers sometimes use improper disposal methods in an effort to
reduce costs and improve their profit. Lastly, those that are in
the business of treating and disposing of hazardous wastes
sometimes use improper techniques.
Adverse impacts to the public health and the environment
occur because of open dumping and burning of hazardous wastes or
improper use of existing landfills. These actions can be either
overt or covert. Also, improper use of holding ponds on
industrial land and improper storage techniques cause problems.
We in OSWMP believe that the reason this situation exists is
that there are no widespread economic or legislative incentives
for acceptable hazardous waste management.
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Technology and Economics
We in OSWMP have found that technology is adequate for the
treatment of many hazardous wastes by physical, chemical, thermal
or biological means. Specially designed landfills which isolate
hazardous wastes from the environment via natural or artificial
membranes, with gas and leachate collection where necessary, can
be and have been built. There are secure storage facilities
available for those few wastes to which current treatment and
disposal technology does not apply.
The main problem is that the use of this technology is
expensive and far exceeds the cost of current practice. For
example, the incineration of hazardous wastes can run as high as
$50 per ton, whereas the current inappropriate practices of open
dumping or ocean dumping cost less than $3 per ton. So, we have
a wide cost variation between acceptable hazardous waste
management practices and the cheap, unacceptable practices
generally used.
The Legislative Gap
Unfortunately, the land disposal of hazardous waste is
essentially unregulated at the Federal level and in most States.
Only two Federal authorities deal with parts of the hazardous
waste management problem. The Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and
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Rodenticide Act, as amended, provides for EPA regulation of the
storage and disposal of waste pesticides and containers. The
Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, provides for AEC
regulation of radioactive wastes. Although most pesticide and
radioactive wastes are certainly hazardous, in aggregate they
represent only a small fraction of the total hazardous waste
problem. Consequently, we have a big gap in the wall of
environmental law.
At the State level, to our knowledge, only five States now
have specific legislative authority regarding hazardous waste
management, and a few others have issued hazardous waste
regulations under broader solid waste management authorities.
Many States have authorities to regulate the disposal of wastes
on the land but progress in enforcement has been very slow.
Several other States are developing or considering hazardous
waste legislation and/or regulations, which we commend. But at
best the current legislative picture is bleak, and enforcement of
existing regulations is hampered by lack of personnel, funds, and
acceptable facilities. Furthermore, when enforcement is
exercised, the hazardous wastes often are merely transported
across State lines to localities without regulatory controls on
land disposal, that is, to the cheap option.
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The Key: Regulation
From the above, OSWMP has reached the conclusion that
environmental insult and hazard of improper waste management will
continue in the absence of strong, uniform regulation of land
disposal and vigorous enforcement of regulations. The longer the
economic pressures tilt the balance toward improper disposal, so
long as no consistent and uniform rules exist for public and
private operation, and so long as offending sites cannot be
closed because no alternatives exist, the necessary transition
from poor waste management to optimum management will not take
place. For this reason, and because jawboning alone appears
insufficient to achieve acceptable standards, we believe the key
to the problem solution is government regulation of all phases of
hazardous waste management and enforcement of land disposal
regulations for all wastes.
Since hazardous wastes pose a particularly ominous threat to
public health and the environment, it is our belief that these
wastes must be controlled from the cradle to the grave in order
to achieve effective waste management. It is not sufficient to
regulate only the land disposal phase, since many uncontrolled
pathways to the environment would still exist. Consequently, our
regulatory strategy includes hazardous waste generator reporting
requirements and waste hauler controls in order to close the
circle on hazardous wastes.
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Status of Federal Legislation
Legislative hearings on several proposed solid waste
management bills, most of which included hazardous waste
management provisions, were conducted by the Senate Commerce
Committee in December 1973, by the House Interstate and Foreign
Commerce Committee in March 1974, and by the Senate Public Works
Committee's Panel on Materials Policy in June and July 1974. No
legislation resulted from these hearings, however. Instead, the
Congress elected to defer new legislation, and passed a
resolution continuing current legislation for one year, to June
1975.
The Senate Public Works Committee did, however, develop a
proposed bill, called the Solid Waste Utilization Act of 1974,
issued as a Staff Working Paper on October 15, 1974. This
Working Paper gives us the best and latest insight into the shape
of future legislation by the 94th Congress.
The proposed Solid Waste Utilization Act would amend the
existing Solid Waste Disposal Act to authorize State program and
implementation grants, to provide incentives for the recovery of
resources from solid wastes, and to control the disposal of
hazardous wastes, among other purposes.
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In essence, the proposed Act would provide the hazardous
waste management regulatory controls we believe are needed. The
proposed Act requires that, within 18 months after passage, EPA
develop and promulgate regulations which (1) designate hazardous
wastes and harmful quantities of such wastes, and (2) require a
permit for any person disposing of, treating, or storing any
designated hazardous waste. Disposal of such wastes without a
permit is prohibited not later than six months thereafter, or 24
months after passage.
Conditions for receiving a permit include, but are not
limited to, (1) reporting of hazardous waste quantities
transported, treated, stored, or disposed of, (2) specifying
receiving sites, (3) appropriate labeling of containers, (4)
compliance with management practices set by EPA, and (5)
compliance with record keeping, reporting, monitoring and
inspection requirements set by EPA.
Under the proposed Act, each State is required to establish
a hazardous waste management program consistent with Federal
regulations, and including a permit program consistent with the
conditions I outlined above. EPA must review and specifically
authorize each State program. Also, each State must have
regulatory and enforcement authority necessary to implement the
Act effectively. Although no time schedule is set for State
hazardous waste management program implementation in the current
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version of the proposed Act, there is an implied deadline of 36
months after passage since State solid waste management program
grants cannot be provided to any State which has not implemented
a hazardous waste management program within three fiscal years
after passage. On the other hand, both program administration
and implementation grants are authorized in the proposed Act to
assist States to comply.
Impact of Federal Legislation
Predicting impacts of Federal legislation which is not yet
finalized can be "hazardous" in its own right, as you can
appreciate. Nonetheless, there are some general trends which can
be discussed, assuming passage of the proposed Act in close to
its present form.
We foresee significant impacts on some State governments, on
hazardous waste generators, and on the hazardous waste treatment
and disposal industry.
State legislatures and administrations will be required to
establish and implement an effective hazardous waste management
program in a three-year period. Some States are already doing
this, but the majority will have to focus unaccustomed attention
and resources to meet the challenge. We would recommend as a
minimum that planning actions begin immediately in anticipation
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of this requirement since three years is a relatively short time
to reach the goal from a standing start.
Generators of hazardous waste will be subject to hazardous
waste reporting, container labeling, and inspection requirements
which may cause significant impacts depending on the current
level of practice. We suspect these requirements will lead to
internal studies of methods to reduce or eliminate hazardous
waste generation. Such studies in turn may lead to process
changes or material substitutions. New emphasis will be placed
on waste exchange and material and energy recovery systems. Some
generators may elect to construct on-site hazardous waste
treatment and disposal facilities, either as part of wastewater
discharge pollution control systems or as separate dedicated
facilities. Waste dewatering systems may be employed to reduce
transportation charges if wastes are sent off-site. Another
possibility is pooling of resources from several industries to
support a regional treatment and disposal facility, such as the
Gulf Coast Waste Disposal Authority in the Houston area.
Certainly, there will be an increased corporate awareness of
the legal liability ramifications of hazardous waste management.
This should lead to greater selectivity when corporations choose
hauler, treatment and disposal services. This should eliminate
the "midnight dumper" operations which offer cut-rate prices at
the expense of potential public health and environmental damages.
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Hazardous waste treatment and disposal service corporations
will be subject to more stringent operating, maintenance,
operator training, and fiscal responsibility standards than in
the past. Performance bonding may be imposed, and monitoring and
surveillance requirements may be stiffened. Marginal operations
may be forced to close unless they upgrade their facilities.
On the other hand, due to pressures of a permit program,
there should be a surge in business for service companies, and an
increased opportunity for generation of capital for expansion of
existing facilities. Better market conditions may also mean more
competition from new companies entering the field. Lastly, the
larger volumes of hazardous waste flowing to service companies
should enhance material and energy recovery potential due to
economies of scale.
To labor, new legislation should result in more jobs at
higher skill levels. However, more training will be required to
qualify for these jobs. There should be less safety risk
associated with hazardous waste management jobs as better
operating standards are enforced.
To the consumer, new legislation means slightly higher costs
for products of industries which generate hazardous waste, and
possibly higher taxes to support governmental enforcement and
implementation programs. Neither is particularly good news in
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today's economic climate. However, I'm convinced that if
citizens are made aware of the potential public health and
environmental problems the legislation is designed to overcome,
they will not balk at paying the price.
OSWMP Program in Hazardous Waste Management
OSWMP's hazardous waste management program thrust is aimed
at three main areas. First, we are vigorously building a data
base in the hazardous waste management area. This effort has
three sub-elements including public health and environmental
damage assessment; hazardous waste assessment, that is, a
fundamental knowledge of what hazardous wastes are, how many
there are, and where they are; and lastly, technology assessment
attempting to define all possible treatment and disposal
technologies for hazardous wastes. The damage assessment program
includes case studies of documented damages, hazardous waste soil
transport studies, and preparation of health effects criteria
documents on 17 toxic substances. Two of these criteria
documents have been drafted and the others are being developed on
a phased schedule. Also, we have launched a hazardous waste
leachate sampling program.
Hazardous waste assessment efforts center on 13 industry
waste studies conducted by contractors. These studies will
provide much needed data on the nature and quantities of
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hazardous waste generated in these industries, now and in the
future, and the nature and cost of the disposal technologies
being applied to these wastes. Seven have been completed and are
in the draft report stage, two are underway, and four more are in
the contract award stage. All of the studies are scheduled for
completion in 1975.
The three basic technical options for hazardous waste
management are incineration, chemical or biological treatment and
special landfill. We intend to study all three of these options
in some depth in the coming years by demonstration grants and
contracts. A full-scale hazardous waste incineration test
program, involving 35 organic waste streams and eight different
types of incinerators, began in November 1974. The initial
competition for a full-scale chemical waste landfill project was
completed in September and we are now in the final award phase.
A chemical treatment project is in the bid phase and should begin
in mid-1975. In addition, pilot studies of waste fixation and
encapsulation techniques are now underway.
The second major thrust is in guidelines and standards
development. As mentioned earlier, under the Federal
Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act, as amended in 1972,
we already have the authority to issue procedures and regulations
concerning the disposal and storage of excess pesticides and
pesticide containers. The first publication on this subject,
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which is a statement of EPA's recommended procedures for
pesticide disposal and storage, appeared in the Federal Register
on May 1, 1974. At this time we are preparing regulations which
will prohibit the worst pesticide disposal and storage acts such
as open dumping, open burning, etc. Proposed rulemaking on this
subject was published in the Federal Register on October 15,
1974. Final rulemaking on the prohibitionary regulations is
scheduled for mid-1975.
Next, under the Solid Waste Disposal Act, as amended by the
Resource Recovery Act of 1970, we have the authority to issue
guidelines for solid waste management practices. We are
developing hazardous waste guidelines similar to those for land
disposal and thermal processing of municipal solid waste, which
the Office of Solid Waste Management Programs has published. We
have established no firm date for the publication of the
hazardous waste management guidelines since they are somewhat
dependent upon data base development activities. If the proposed
legislation is passed, the guidelines effort will serve as the
basis for standards and regulations.
Our third main thrust is in program implementation. Here we
have three main sub-areas. In the policy analysis area we are
looking into what the Federal, State and private sector roles
should be in hazardous waste management, and other issues of this
type. Next, in the State implementation area, working through
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EPA's regional offices, we are attempting to aid and assist
those States that already have hazardous waste programs, to spur
those that don't, and in general to provide as much help to the
State governments in this area as we possibly can. We are now
conducting hazardous waste seminars for State solid waste
personnel, providing assistance in drafting State hazardous waste
legislation, and preparing Implementation Guides on hazardous
waste survey techniques and hauler permit systems.
Lastly, in the area of technical assistance we have a small
but competent technical staff capable of responding to requests
from all sources. Currently, we have many requests for
assistance on the disposal of hazardous wastes from EPA regional
offices, other Federal agencies, State governments, private
industry and from private individuals. We have developed a list
of about 100 hazardous waste facilities which can treat or
dispose of hazardous wastes, which is available to all.
An important component of our program is to generate public
understanding and support of the national hazardous waste
management program. We are working with industry trade
associations, labor unions, and public interest groups to raise
public awareness of the issues. Hazardous waste management
brochures and graphics are being prepared to support this effort.
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A less visible but important part of our program takes place
within EPA where we are engaged in efforts to coordinate the
cross-media aspects of EPA actions. Our staff participates in
working groups currently developing industrial wastewater
effluent limitation guidelines, toxic substance discharge
standards, hazardous material spill regulations, new source
performance standards for air emissions, and pesticide
registration and labeling regulations. In addition, we are
involved in Agency Task Forces concerned with toxic substances
such as hexachlorobenzene, asbestos, and vinyl chloride. We feel
such effort is well spent to provide a balanced view of residuals
management to Agency decision makers.
Last, but not least, our staff has recently become involved
in several multi-lateral and bi-lateral international programs.
Hazardous waste management is a common problem to all
industrialized nations. We want to learn how other nations have
dealt with the problem, and to provide the benefit of our
knowledge to them, as needed. We are now co-leader of a NATO
study on hazardous waste disposal involving Belgium, Canada,
Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United
Kingdom. Also, we have bi-lateral programs underway with Japan,
Germany and Russia. Finally, we are monitoring the hazardous
waste management efforts of several international organizations,
including the European Economic Community, the OECD, and the
World Health Organization.
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Let me summarize our perceptions of the hazardous waste
management situation in the United States at this time. First,
we now know that we have a problem, a major problem which is
common to all industrial nations, and that this problem is
growing due to several factors. We have found that the
technology for adequate hazardous waste management exists for
many hazardous wastes but that this technology is costly,
approximately 10 to 20 times as expensive as current unacceptable
practices, which consist mainly of landfilling or ocean disposal.
Consequently, there are no economic incentives for the use of
this technology and, furthermore, there are no strong regulatory
incentives at either the Federal or most State levels.
Consequently, EPA has developed a regulatory strategy for
the management of hazardous wastes. This program will require a
joint Federal, State, and private sector response. We see a
lengthy period during which legislation and regulations are
developed and facilities are made available, but eventually we
would foresee a regulatory program with adequate enforcement to
prevent the potential public health and environmental damages
which can occur from improper management of these wastes.
Thank you very much.
yoll72
SW-541
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