&EPA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Office of
Solid Waste and
Emergency Response
DIRECTIVE NUMBER: 9451.00-lA
Letter to Vice Admiral Peter J. Rotz concerning
the interaction between Marpol and RCRA regulations from
Marcia Williams
APPROVAL DATE: February 5, 1986
EFFECTIVE DATE: February 5, 1986
ORIGINATING OFFICE: osw
0 FINAL
D DRAFT
STATUS:
REFERENCE (other documents):
OSWER OSWER OSWER
'£ DIRECTIVE DIRECTIVE Dl
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United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Office of
Solid Waste and
Emergency Response
&EPA
DIRECTIVE NUMBER: 9451.00-1A
TITLE; Letter to Vice Admiral Peter J. Rotz concerning
the interaction between Marpol and RCRA regulations from
Marcia Williams
APPROVAL DATE: February 5, 1986
EFFECTIVE DATE: February 5, 1986
ORIGINATING OFFICE: osw
El FINAL
D DRAFT
STATUS:
REFERENCE (other documents):
OS WER OS WER OS WER
'E DIRECTIVE DIRECTIVE Dl
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vvEPA
Washington. DC 20460
OSWER Directive Initiation Reauest
Originator Information
Bruce R. Weddle
Lead Office
D OERR
OD OSW
D OUST
LJ OWPE
G AA-OSWER
Mail Code
WH-563
Approved
Sigp*ujre °* Office Director , -x
77^"^^ 1) /
Interim Directive Numcer
9f51.00-lA
Telephone Numoer
382-4746
for Review
^f)fjL^^
I/L*- +JT "
<;i/A*~~
Date
Letter to Vice Admiral Peter J. Rotz concerning the interaction between
Marpol and RCRA regulations from Marcia Williams,
Summary of Directive
The Coast Guard's Reception Facility Requirements for Waste Materials
Retained on Board, issued under Annex I of MARPOL 73/78 (50 FR 36768,
September 9, 1985), have raised a number of questions regarding thef*
status of ships and terminals/ports under the RCRA regulations. In
particular, who is the generator of oily waste that is produced on
ships and required under the Coast Guard's September 9, 1985 regulations
to be discharged to reception facilities at ports and terminals.
We have determined that, as a general matter, for any oily waste that is
produced in product or raw material vessel units, such as those used
for bulk shipment of oil, both the ship and, in some circumstances,
the operator of the central facility involved in removing the waste from
the ship would be considered hazardous waste generators. For other types
of oily waste, such as bilge water in vessel engine rooms contaminated
with engine lubricant drippings or solvents, only the ship would be deemec
to be the hazardous waste generator.
Type of Directive (Mtnual. Policy Directive. Announctmtnt. etc.)
Letter
Status
G Draft
("xl
Final
UTJ New
LJ Revision
Does this Directive Supersede Previous Directive**)? I I Yes jy I No Doe's it Supplement Previous Directive^)? I I Yes
If "Yes" to Either Question. What Directive (number, tnltl
No
Review Plan
D AA-OSWER
G OERR
Q OSW
Q OUST
D OWPE
LJ Regions
D OECM
D OGC
D OPPE
D
Other (Specify!
This Request Meets OSWER Directives System Format
Signature of Lead Office Directives Officer
Signature of OSWER Directives Officer
Date
Date
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* «L-«
1532,
UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20460
^•ti—*^
OSWER POLICY DIRECTIVE NO.
9451.00-1A
FEB 5 1986
Vice Admiral Peter J. Rotz
Chief, Office of Marine Environment
and Systems
United States Coast Guard
2100 2nd St., S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20593
Dear Vice Admiral Rotz:
We have been asked by members of your staff to clarify the
applicability of EPA's regulations under the Resource Conservation
and Recovery Act (RCRA) to operational wastes from ships. The
Coast Guard's Reception Facility Requirements for Waste Materials
Retained On Board, Issued under Annex I of MARPOL 73/78 (50 PR
36768, September 9, 1985), have raised a number of questions regarding
the status of ships and terminals/ports under the RCRA regulations.
In particular, we have been asked to determine who is the generator
of oily waste that is produced on ships and required under the
Coast Guard's September 9, 1985 regulations to be discharged to
reception facilities at ports and terminals.
We have determined that, as a general matter, for any oily
waste that is produced in product or raw material vessel units,
such as those used for bulk shipment of oil, both the ship and, in
some circumstances, the operator of the central facility involved
in removing the waste from the ship would be considered hazardous
waste generators. For other types of oily waste, such as bilge
water in vessel engine rooms contaminated with engine lubricant
drippings or solvents, only the ship would be deemed to be the
hazardous waste generator.
1. Generator requirements
The RCRA regulations define a generator as any person, by
site, whose act or process produces hazardous waste identified or
listed in MO CFR Part 261 or whose act first causes a hazardous
waste to become subject to regulation. MO CFR §260.10. Any
person who generates a solid waste must determine if that waste
is hazardous, and if so, must receive an EPA identification (ID)
number before treating, storing, transporting or disposing of the
waste. If the generator plans to move the waste off-site for
treatment, storage or disposal, he must comply with certain
requirements in Part 262, Including preparing an EPA manifest,
marking the waste, keeping records and filing reports. In addi-
tion, a generator may accumulate hazardous waste on-site for up
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to 90 days without a permit if he complies with the requirements
of §262.3l(a)(l-l»).
2. Types of waste subject to regulation
The oily wastes subject to Coast Guard regulation under
MARPOL Annex I generally are produced in two ways. The first is
through bulk shipment of oil, whereby sludges and sediments that
settle out in the oil storage tank or unit must be periodically
removed. Oil tankers also need to periodically dispose of oily
ballast water and tank cleaning water. The second type of waste
is produced from the use of oil as a fuel and lubricant in a
ship's propulsion and auxiliary system. Bilge water that accumulates
In engine rooms often contains high concentrations of oil from
lubricant drippings and other routine losses. The bilge water
may also be contaminated with other types of wastes. Both types
of waste are solid wastes under §261.2.
Whether these wastes are hazardous wastes would be deter-
mined under §261.3. In general, the waste would have to be
either (1) listed in Subpart D of Part 26l; (2) identified in
Subpart C of Part 261 (e.g., exhibits ignitability characteris-
tic); (3) a mixture of solid waste and a listed hazardous waste;
or (4) is derived from treating a listed hazardous waste. Under
current EPA regulations, used oil is not listed as a hazardous
waste,V and therefore, would have to meet (2), (3) or (4) above.
We do not anticipate many situations in which one of these criteria
would be met, with the possible exception of contamination of bilge
water with spent solvents. (§261.31) However, even this possi-
bility can be minimized if the bilge waters are segregatd from
other wastes generated on the ship.**/
V EPA1s recent proposal to list used oil as a hazardous waste,
if finalized, will change its current status under the RCRA
regulations. See 50 Fed. Reg. 49212 (November 29, 1985).
**/ Under EPA's spent solvent listing, since a solvent is consi-
dered "spent" when it has been used and is no longer fit
for use without being reclaimed or reprocessed, it is likely that
solvents dripping from machinery and collecting in bilge water
would not cause the wastewater to be hazardous. See 50 Fed. Reg.
53315, 53316 (December 31, 1985).
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3. Regulation of oily waste under RCRA
The two types of oily -waste from ships - - waste produced
in product transport units and waste produced in the propulsion and
auxiliary systems - - are treated differently under the RCRA regula-
tions. Under §261.Me), a hazardous waste generated in a product
or raw material transport vessel is exempt from regulation until it
exits the unit in which it was generated or unless it remains in
the unit more than 90 days after the unit ceases to tre operated for
storage or transportation of the product or raw materials. These
wastes are .sludges and residues produced in tanks or holds that
carry products or raw materials, where the products or raw materials
are not in themselves hazardous wastes. See 45 Fed. Reg. 72024,
72026-27 (October 30, 1980).
As a result of this exemption, parties who remove the waste
from the ship at a central facility by either emptying the pro-
duct-holding unit or cleaning the holding tank are deemed to be
generators under 40 CPR §260.10 because their actions cause the
hazardous waste to become subject to regulation. In addition, the
actions of both the operator and owner of the vessel and the owner of
the product or raw material result in production of the hazardous
waste. Thus, these parties, and any others that fit the generator
definition, are Jointly and severally liable as generators. See
^d. at 72026.
The Agency looks primarily to the central facility operated
to remove sediments and residues to perform the generator duties,
since it is the party best able to perform such generator duties as
determining whether the waste is hazardous. Where the wastes are
not removed at a central facility, however, the Agency looks to the
operator of the vessel to perform the generator duties. Id. at
72027.
Engine-related wastes are treated quite differently in that
they are regulated from the moment they are produced. Since the
operation of the ship's propulsion system produces the oily wastes,
the ship's owner and/or operator are generators. The facility
involved in removing this waste from the ship is not a generator
because it is not causing the waste to become subject to regulation
- - this waste is already subject to regulation when produced In
the ship. The facility may be a transporter (Part 263) or a treat-
ment storage or disposal (TSD) facility (Parts 264-265), depending
upon the actions it takes.
The Coast Guard's requirement that certain ports and terminals
be certified to have available adequate reception facilities for
ships' oily wastes does not necessarily determine the role of the
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port or terminal In the RCRA regulatory scheme.V For example, a
port or terminal that has available an independent waste hauler who
transfers engine room waste directly into a tank truck does not
appear to fit the definition of generator, transporter or TSD
facility. The waste hauler, or whoever is engaged in the offsite
(i.e., off the ship) transportation of the waste, would be deemed
the transporter.
Of course, If the manifested waste is stored for any period
of time in tanks or containers at the port or terminal, or if the
waste is removed to and stored in a barge, both the port and barge
storing the waste would be deemed TSD facilities subject to the
requirements of Parts 270, 264 and 265. If whoever is transporting
the manifested waste from the ship stores the waste in containers
meeting the requirements of §262.30 at a transfer facility, such as a
loading dock, the waste may be stored for 10 days without being
subject to regulation under Parts 270, 264 and 265. See 40
CFR §263.12.
The ship, as the generator, is also a TSD facility to
the extent that it is storing hazardous waste on board. Under
§262.34, a generator may accumulate hazardous waste on site for 90
days or less without having a permit provided certain requirements
are met. EPA is currently finalizing a proposed regulation that
would extend this accumulation period for generators who generate
between 100 - 1000 kilograms of hazardous waste per month. See 50
Fed. Reg. 31278 (August 1, 1985).
The Agency believes that the application of the RCRA regula-
tions in this way will be workable for the ships and reception
facilities subject to Coast Guard regulations. In situations where
ships' owners or operators are unable to perform the generator
duties, ships' agents that are available at ports or terminals to
handle fueling and other necessary functions, such as carrying out
Customs requirements, may perform these duties on behalf of the ship.
The Agency would expect the shipping company or agent handling the
required manifesting and record keeping functions to retain records
either at its U.S. business headquarters or at the local agent's
office located near the port or terminal where the ships have their
waste removed.
V Similarly, potential liability of parties under the
Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation
and Liability Act (CERCLA) is not necessarily determined
by RCRA responsibilities. For example, under CERCLA §107,
persons who arrange for transportation, disposal or treatment
of hazardous substances are liable for certain costs, so
that parties who are not "generators" under RCRA may nonetheless
have certain CERCLA liabilities.
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Also, any parties liable for performing generator duties may
designate among themselves the person who will actually carry out
those functions. For example, where both the ship and a central
waste removal facility are deemed to be generators, they may mutually
agree that the central facility will perform the generator duties.
We hope that this has been responsive to the Coast Guard's
concerns regarding the interaction between the MARPOL and RCRA
regulations. Please don't hesitate to contact me or Bruce Weddle
of my staff at 382-^7^6 if you have any further questions.
Sincerely,
Marcia Williams
Director
Office of Solid Waste
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