EPA Solid Waste Rule Could Conflict With States' Preemption

Date: February 23, 2009

Source: News Room

An advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPR) to define non-hazardous waste under the Resource Conservation & Recovery Act (RCRA) is drawing fire from all sides. The EPA has been attempting to rewrite vacated air rules on boilers and incinerators ever since the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in 2007 vacated EPA's boiler and incinerator maximum achievable control technology (MACT) standards, along with the definition of solid waste (DSW) rule. The court rejected EPA reclassification of some incinerators as boilers based on whether they burned waste for energy recovery. The EPA now says "any unit combusting any 'solid waste' at all must be regulated [under the stricter section 129] as a 'solid waste incineration unit,' regardless of the function of the combustion device." The problem now is whether EPA's rule should preempt existing state rules governing solid waste. While EPA promulgates criteria for waste facility permitting programs, it is the states that implement those programs and their own laws. However, the EPA says that a federal definition is now necessary to establish MACT standards for units that combust secondary materials. Several industry associations are concerned that EPA regulations could interfere with existing state and local laws involving beneficial use determinations, renewable portfolio standards, and other energy programs.

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