Image:EPA Ruling on CCBs.pdf

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EPA Ruling on CCB's^[1]

This is Part II of the ruling in which the EPA decided not to classify CCW waste as hazardous (an RCRA sdubtitle C material).

This ruling is commonly cited by proponents of the Cumberland Park project to imply that CCW is safe and non-hazardous. The substance of the document paints a much different picture in which the "decision was a difficult one and [the] EPA believes that, absent our conclusions regarding the current trends in management of this waste, the waste might present sufficient potential threat to human health and the environment to justify subtitle C regulation". The EPA reached this conclusion based on consideration of ‘‘present disposal and utilization practices’’ which "are significantly better than they have been in the past in terms of imposing basic environmental controls such as liners and groundwater monitoring".

In other words, based solely on the fact that much of the industry is voluntarily implementing safeguards such as liners and groundwater monitoring the EPA decided not classify the CCW as hazardous.

The EPA explicitly admits that:

• "a significant percentage (86%) of available waste samples had leach concentrations for arsenic that were greater than ten times the health-based criterion", that
• "similar concerns also occurred when comparing actual groundwater samples associated with FFC waste units", and that
• "analysis of the characteristics of coal combustion wastes leads us to conclude that these wastes have the potential to pose risk to human health and the environment".

Certainly it is wonderful that much of the industry is implementing such controls, However, given the stated danger of CCW , this is no reason to let sites like Cumberland Park off the hook from having to implement such controls.

Such an obvious inconsistency makes one want to jump to the conclusion that the EPA's entire ruling is based more on political and industrial pressure rather than scientific evidence. Amazingly (or perhaps because of the insistence of a determined and mildly-heroic EPA scientist) the ruling essentially admits just that; "Industry commenters have indicated that they believe subjecting any coal combustion wastes to a subtitle C regime would place a significant stigma on these wastes. . . Normally, concerns about stigma are not a deciding factor in EPA’s decisions under RCRA. However, . . . concern over stigma is a factor supporting our decision today that subtitle C regulation is unwarranted".

On the upside, the document does give some insight into the legal liabilities of companies disposing of CCW. For instance:

• "Once these regulations are effective, facilities would be subject to citizen suits for any violation of the standards. If EPA were addressing wastes that had not been addressed by the states (or the federal government) in the past, or an industry with wide evidence of irresponsible solid waste management practices, EPA may well conclude that the additional incentives for improvement and compliance provided by the subtitle C scheme—the threat of federal enforcement and the stigma associated with improper management of RCRA subtitle C waste—were necessary."
• and, "As we proceed with regulation development, we will also take enforcement action under RCRA section 7003 when we identify cases of imminent and substantial endangerment"

Lastly, do note that this document (Part II) only covers disposal of all forms of fossil fuel combustion wastes except high volume coal combustion wastes generated at electric utilities. These high volume wastes (like what is being disposed of at Cumberland Park) are addressed separately by 58 FR 42466, August 9, 1993; however, the regulations in this current document are explicitly formulated to mirror those of the previous ruling covering high volume CCW disposal. As such, this document provides relevant insight into the logical process used by the EPA in classifying CCW as non-hazardous.

File history

Click on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time.

	Date/Time	Dimensions	User	Comment
current	18:22, 26 October 2007	(390 KB)	Darren (Talk | contribs)	(More annotations)
	18:14, 26 October 2007	(322 KB)	Darren (Talk | contribs)	(added annotations)
	04:32, 26 October 2007	(322 KB)	Darren (Talk | contribs)	(Added highlighting and comments)
	02:33, 25 October 2007	(322 KB)	Jasonmj (Talk | contribs)

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