Industry Concerned EPA "Waste" Definition Could Hamper Energy Production

Date: June 25, 2008

Source: News Room

Industry groups including the Rubber Manufacturers Association and others are urging the EPA to exclude certain materials used as fuel in boilers rather than define them as solid waste that is subject to regulation under the Resource Conservation & Recovery Act (RCRA). Among the materials that could qualify for the fuel designation are used tires, cement kiln dust, agricultural byproducts, forest thinnings and other biomass and construction materials. With rising fuel costs, these materials are much cheaper than coal, oil and natural gas. But without designation as fuel, burning the materials would subject burners to much stricter and more costly regulation as solid waste incinerators and perhaps eliminate the incentives to do so.

See also the US EPA's site: "Revisions to the Definition of Solid Waste (DSW)" www.epa.gov/epaoswer/hazwaste/dsw/abr.htm.

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