EPA Expected to Finalize Waste-to-Fuel Rules exempting them from RCRA

Date: November 17, 2008

Source: News Room

The US EPA is expected to finalize a controversial proposal to increase the number of hazardous wastes that can be burned as fuel without being subject to Resource Conservation & Recovery Act (RCRA) rules. The Office of Management & Budget (OMB) received the EPA proposal in June 2007 but later extended its review after chemical industry lobbying to allow even more wastes be burned as fuel than originally proposed. Specifically, industry wants regulatory relief for "fuel-like" wastes in the DSW rule. But EPA last month finalized the DSW rule without the exemptions for "fuel-like" wastes that industry had sought, making the comparable fuels rule a method of last resort. However, some industry groups, including the cement kiln industry, are opposed to efforts to broaden the comparable fuels rule for fear that it would shift recovery efforts away from legitimate and more regulated facilities within their industry toward less regulated facilities in other industries. Environmentalists such as activist law firm EarthJustice also oppose the comparable fuels rule as articulated in a letter to EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson and signed by 25 House lawmakers discussing the potential for numerous environmental problems.

Sign up to receive our free Weekly News Bulletin