Pollution Engineering - March 2009 - (Page 17)

LEGALLOOKOUT By Lynn L. Bergeson EPA Issues ANPRM on Defining Solid Waste Secondary materials are deﬁned, as is legitimate recycling and other important factors in EPA’s latest proposed rule changes. n Jan. 2, 2009, EPA issued an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM) seeking comment on how best to define solid waste for purposes of the Clean Air Act’s (CAA) regulation of solid waste incinerators. CAA Section 112 requires EPA to issue regulations to control emissions of hazardous air pollutants (HAPs). CAA Section 129 requires the agency to address emissions from solid waste combustion, and directs them to issue emission standards for solid waste incineration units. Previously, EPA issued two rules under the CAA in response to these statutory mandates. EPA issued the Commercial and Industrial Solid Waste Incineration (CISWI) definition rule under CAA Section 129, and the Industrial Boilers Maximum Achievable Control Technology (MACT) rule under Section 112. Industry groups challenged both rules. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit concluded that the agency erred by excluding units that combust solid waste for the purposes of energy recovery from the CISWI rule, while including such units under the MACT boilers rule. The court vacated and remanded both rules back to EPA. The ANPRM represents a partial EPA response to the court’s decision. According to EPA, the “critical issue” it must address under the ANPRM is to identify, under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), which nonhazardous secondary materials constitute solid waste. EPA interprets the court’s directive to mean that if a non-hazardous material is not a “solid waste” under RCRA and such material is burned for fuel value or used as an ingredient in a manufacturing process, then the combustion unit would “properly be regulated pursuant to CAA section 112.” A l t e r n a t i v e l y, according to stems EPA, if such Sy umps and Vacuum P material is a solid waste h The Busc under RCRA p Mink pum % and is burned vides 100 pro mpresd pressure for fuel value gry co uum an il-free vac s are also or used as an sion for o . Gas tight version ce n, visit preforman more informatio ingredient For available. husa.com in a manuwww.busc facturing process and such ingre- O dient is combusted, then the unit “must be regulated under CAA section 129.” Information requested by EPA EPA has identified eight non-hazardous secondary material fuels or fuel groups, and six non-hazardous ingredients or ingredient groups. Based on publicly available information, EPA believes that these materials account for the vast majority of all non-hazardous secondary materials used as fuels and/ or ingredients in the U.S. The agency solicited comment on whether there are other non-hazardous secondary materials that are also used as a fuel or ingredient that it had not identified. EPA also noted in the ANPRM that it seeks comment on the issue of what types of activities constitute “legitimate recycling.” This issue has been extensively addressed under RCRA Subtitle C. EPA issued in final, for example, its revised definition of solid waste under RCRA Subtitle C last October.[1] The ANPRM seeks information on activities pertinent to Subtitle D reclamation operations. The ANPRM is an important opportunity to share with EPA information pertinent to a wide range of waste combustion and reclamation activities. Readers with an interest in this area are advised to monitor this ANPRM and participate actively in it. PE Reference: 1. 73 Fed. Reg. 64668 (Oct. 30, 2008). “ The court vacated and remanded both rules back to EPA. ” Busch Lynn L. Bergeson is managing director of Bergeson & Campbell, P.C., a Washington, D.C., law firm focusing on conventional and engineered nanoscale chemical, pesticide, and other specialty chemical product approval and regulation, environmental health and safety law, chemical product litigation, and associated business issues, and President of The Acta Group L.L.C. and The Acta Group EU Ltd. with offices in Washington, D.C., and Manchester, U.K. Visit www.pollutionengineering.com and electronically forward a copy of this article to a colleague or customer. MARCH2009 www.pollutionengineering.com 17 http://www.pollutionengineering.com http://www.pollutionengineering.com

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Pollution Engineering - March 2009 Contents The Editor’s Desk EnviroNews PE Events Legal Lookout Green Connections Get Ready to Count Carbon Getting Rid of Foreign Oil Green Goes Underground Thermal Oxidizers Ocean-Front Remediation Pumps, Pipes and Valve Products Air Monitoring Equipment PE Products Classified Marketplace Advertisers Index State Rules

Pollution Engineering - March 2009

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