On its website the US Government Printing Office makes a wealth of Federal publications available for review and download; one of these is the Federal Register.

Published by the Office of the Federal Register, National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), the Federal Register is the official daily publication for rules, proposed rules, and notices of Federal agencies and organizations, as well as executive orders and other presidential documents.

See below for a brief summary of announcements in the Federal Register by the US EPA on the subject of Hazardous Waste and the Pipeline & Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) of the US DOT on the subject of Transportation of Hazardous Materials.

The Federal Register is a great way to look down the road and see potential changes to the regulations long before they are put into effect (sometimes The Rulemaking Process takes years before a final rule is issued, if ever).  Knowledge of these potential changes provides you with several advantages:

• Additional time to modify your business operations to comply.
• Awareness of on what topics the regulatory agencies intend to focus their efforts.
• The ability to register your concerns, complaints, suggestions, etc. in order to modify the proposed rule before a final rule is issued.  It can be done, really!
• Make changes to your training program to account for changes that become effective before the next training cycle.
• Alert you to the need to re-train your employees prior to their next scheduled training cycle, if necessary.
• Keep you abreast of changes to the regulations that affect your business and/or your industry group.

Please note that this is my best effort to identify the relevant announcements in the Federal Register that may be of interest to generators of hazardous waste and shippers of hazardous materials.  I encourage you to review the list of Federal Register publications yourself to ensure regulatory compliance.

April 15, 2014 through May 29, 2014

PHMSA – Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration:

Rules and Regulations:

None

Proposed Rules:

None

Notices:

• New York City Permit Requirements for Transportation of Certain Hazardous Materials Pages 21838 – 21840 [FR DOC # 2014-08691]        PDF | Text | More
• Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Permit Requirements for Transportation of Hazardous Material Pages 21840 – 21842 [FR DOC # 2014-08690]       PDF | Text | More
• Notice of Applications for Modification of Special Permit Pages 25987 – 25988 [FR DOC # 2014-10071]        PDF | Text | More
• Notice of Application for Special Permits Pages 25988 – 25989 [FR DOC # 2014-10073]      PDF | Text | More
• List of Special Permit Applications Delayed More Than 180 Days Pages 25989 – 25990 [FR DOC # 2014-10069]       PDF | Text | More
• Special Permit Applications Pages 25994 – 25995 [FR DOC # 2014-10070]       PDF | Text | More
• Recommendations for Tank Cars Used for the Transportation of Petroleum Crude Oil by Rail Pages 27370 – 27371 [FR DOC # 2014-10914]         PDF | Text | More
• International Standards on the Transport of Dangerous Goods Pages 30689 – 30690 [FR DOC # 2014-12238] PDF | Text | More

FRA – Federal Railroad Administration:

Rules and Regulations:

None

Proposed Rules:

None

Notices:

• Recommendations for Tank Cars Used for the Transportation of Petroleum Crude Oil by Rail Pages 27370 – 27371 [FR DOC # 2014-10914] PDF | Text | More

FAA – Federal Aviation Administration:

Rules and Regulations:

None

Proposed Rules:

None

Notices:

None

USEPA – US Environmental Protection Agency:

Rules and Regulations:

None

Proposed Rules:

• Hydraulic Fracturing Chemicals and Mixtures Pages 28664 – 28670 [FR DOC # 2014-11501]        PDF | Text | More

Notices:

• Santa Fe Springs Drums Site, Santa Fe Springs, CA; Notice of Proposed CERCLA Settlement Agreement for Recovery of Past Response Costs Pages 23352 – 23352 [FR DOC # 2014-09575] PDF | Text | More
• Proposed CERCLA Administrative Cost Recovery Settlement; Absorbent Technologies Site, Albany, OR Pages 26961 – 26961 [FR DOC # 2014-10844] PDF | Text | More
• Chemfax Inc. Superfund Site; Gulfport, Harrison County, Mississippi; Notice of Settlement Pages 26962 – 26962 [FR DOC # 2014-10804] PDF | Text | More

Information can be helpful but it’s useless if you are not able to make sense of it.  You must be able to determine how any changes to the rules and regulations (final or proposed) will affect your operations, and communicate the necessary information to your personnel.  I can help you to do that.

Please contact me for a free training consultation to determine your regulatory requirements and how training can help you to attain and maintain compliance with the regulations of the USEPA (and your state) and the PHMSA/USDOT.

The universal waste regulations of the USEPA provide an option for generators of certain hazardous waste to manage them according to a lower regulatory standard:  The Universal Waste Regulations.  To take advantage of this “de-regulation” of a hazardous waste, generators need only comply with some basic regulations pertaining to its onsite management and off-site disposal.  You can learn more about the management of Universal Waste from my article:  The Universal Waste Option for the Management of Hazardous Waste.

The USEPA hazardous waste currently eligible for the Universal Waste option are:

• Lamps
• Batteries
• Mercury-Containing Devices
• Recalled or Canceled Pesticides

While states may differ in what they identify as a Universal Waste and in some of the on-site management requirements, they all agree that Universal Waste must be sent for disposal or recycling to a Universal Waste Destination Facility.  A business can not simply throw Universal Waste in the trash with its regular garbage.

**NOTE:  It may be possible for a Conditionally Exempt Small Quantity Generator of hazardous waste or a homeowner to send its Universal Waste to a Municipal Solid Waste Landfill for disposal with its regular trash or garbage.  However, this is not recommended and some states out-right ban the landfill disposal of fluorescent lamps.

Whatever your hazardous waste generator status or your status as a handler of universal waste, you and your employees will benefit from some form of my training services.  Please contact me to discuss the best training option for you:

• Training Seminars
• Onsite Training
• Webinars
• Learning Management Systems

This article is the seventh in a series that takes a close look at the requirements of 40 CFR 265, Subpart D – Contingency Plan and Emergency Procedures.  This Subpart, along with the remainder of Part 265 is applicable to permitted hazardous waste treatment, storage, and disposal facilities (TSDFs) and to large quantity generators of hazardous waste (LQGs).  A Contingency Plan and the emergency procedures outlined in Subpart D are critical for the safe operation of a hazardous waste facility and to ensure compliance with state and Federal regulations.

The purpose of this article is to read, review, and explain the requirements of 40 CFR 265.55 Emergency Coordinator.

Hold on a minute!  These regulations were revised and moved to a new location within Title 40 of the CFR by the Generator Improvements Rule.  If your state has not yet adopted the Generator Improvements Rule, then this article is still applicable to you (but it won’t be for much longer).  If your state has adopted and been authorized to enforce the Generator Improvements Rule, then these regulations no longer apply to you.  Read: What is the status of the Generator Improvements Rule in my state?

To see an explanation of these regulations as revised by the Generator Improvements Rule you must refer to the following:

• Large quantity generator of hazardous waste (LQG)
• Small quantity generator of hazardous waste (SQG)

Read the previous article in this series: 40 CFR 265.54 Amendment of Contingency Plan or read on to learn about 40 CFR 265.55.

To see an explanation of the regulations prior to the revisions of the Generator Improvements Rule, please continue reading this article.

(more…)

The Bullet:

At the request of Freeborn County the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) investigated properties where several tire fires had occurred in the recent past.  The investigation revealed a generator of hazardous waste improperly disposing of both hazardous and non-hazardous waste through illegal storage, disposal, and open burning.

 Who:

Charles D. Borneman, corporate officer for Albert Lea Trailer Inc. in Freeborn County, Minnesota.

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA).

What:

Albert Lea Trailer Inc. has paid a $20,000 penalty and agreed to comply with state rules that prevent noxious smoke from burning materials such as rubber and a variety of other state regulations that mandate the cradle-to-grave management of hazardous waste.

Where:

Freeborn County, Minnesota.

When:

The multiple fires that sparked the investigation took place in March 2012.

The MPCA Press Release is dated May 8, 2014.

Why:

The open burning of waste by a business (homeowners have a few exceptions) is banned by the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) passed as law in 1976.  Read more about the history of RCRA.  It is also against Minnesota law and just a real bad idea since it releases harmful pollutants (like dioxins) into the air.

How:

As a state with an authorized hazardous waste management program under RCRA, the MPCA has the authority to investigate, enforce, and assess penalties for violations of state environmental regulations.

Conclusion:

Whether you generate a little waste or a lot.  Whether the waste is hazardous, non-hazardous, used oil, or universal waste, you must comply with the regulations of the USEPA or your state for its management at your site, its off-site transportation, and its final disposal.  One requirement of those cradle-to-grave regulations is training for all Facility Personnel who come in contact with hazardous waste.  Contact me for this training or for any questions you have about the management of hazardous waste.

Read the full MPCA press release

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Since March 24, 2011 the Maine Department of Environmental Protection (ME DEP) policy has offered an option for management of solvent-contaminated wipes (wipers in ME DEP policy) for generators of hazardous waste.  In the absence of a comparable exclusion in USEPA regulations, this state policy held the force of regulations for ME businesses.  That changed with the USEPA’s announcement July 23, 2013 of a conditional exclusion for both disposable and reusable solvent-contaminated wipes effective January 31, 2014 (read about the Federal Rule).

These Federal regulations force ME DEP (and all other states without an authorized hazardous waste program) to choose between adopting the new regulations as is or to create its own – possibly more stringent – state regulations.  Continuing the management of solvent contaminated wipes as a state “policy” is no longer acceptable for Maine businesses.  I was informed by Michael Hudson of ME DEP on March 24, 2014 that Maine is expected to adopt the new Federal rule – as is – into its state regulations some time before July 2015, possibly in 2014.  Until then, per Michael Hudson, Maine businesses have two options:

• Comply with the new Federal Rule.
• Continue to comply with the ME DEP policy until the Federal Rule is adopted into state regulations.

Read on for a summary of the ME DEP Policy for Solvent Contaminated Wipers. (more…)

Any business in Ohio, especially one involved in manufacturing, likely find itself subject to the regulations of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.  As a state with an authorized environmental program, the Ohio EPA is allowed to make its state regulations more strict and more broad than those of the Federal USEPA.  Even where the regulations of the USEPA and Ohio EPA are similar, there can be differences in how the state chooses to interpret and enforce those regulations.  If you are subject to the regulations of the Ohio EPA then it is in your best interest to pay attention to their announcements, notices, and deadlines.  A good way to do that is to subscribe to the quarterly newsletter published by the Ohio EPA.  It’s a great way to stay informed of regulatory updates that may have a direct impact on your compliance status and suggestions on pollution prevention technologies.

Subscribe to the Ohio EPA Compliance and Prevention Quarterly Newsletter

In addition to receiving updated information, you can use the above link to review past newsletters.  See what you missed!

My recommendation to anyone involved in regulatory compliance is to stay informed.  The Ohio EPA Compliance and Prevention Newsletter is one way to do that.

From the Ohio EPA website:

Keep up with current pollution prevention and compliance assistance activities in Ohio and elsewhere. Find out what other industries are doing in the environmental arena, get regulatory updates, and info on new P2 technologies. If you have any comments or suggestions, we’d like to hear from you. Please send any comments or suggestions to Dave Foulkes or call (614) 644-3469.

The Ohio EPA regulations require training for Hazardous Waste Personnel and HazMat Employees.  Contact me for this training or any questions you may have about the management of hazardous waste or the transportation of hazardous materials.

If your interest extends beyond Ohio, you may wish to consider subscribing to my monthly HazMat Transportation and RCRA Newsletter

If you have ever handled a fluorescent lamp you know how fragile they are and how easy it is to break one.  I myself have a – rather embarrassing – memory of dropping a box of approximately thirty 4′ long lamps from the height of 1 1/2 feet.  The nearly simultaneous explosion of all of those bulbs caused the box to swell outwards (luckily it held) and then compress in on itself due to the vacuum created.  I was lucky that neither I nor anyone else was hurt.  Lesson learned.  But what about cleaning up the mess?  In order to minimize the risk of mercury exposure (or other hazards that may be present such as lead), please follow these steps: (more…)

Readers of my blog and subscribers to my monthly newsletter will know that the EPA published a NODA (Notice of Data Availability) in the Federal Register on February 14, 2014.  Its purpose:  to  present information assembled by the EPA during previous listening sessions and to provide an opportunity for stakeholders (not just the retail sector, but any  interested parties) to comment on this information.  It also offers the opportunity to provide additional information about any RCRA-related issues faced by the retail sector.  In a nutshell, the EPA is in the early stages of considering the creation of hazardous waste regulations specific to the retail industry.  At this stage they are looking for information, hence the NODA.

As published, the NODA set a deadline for comment of April 15th; however the EPA recently announced a 45 day extension of this date to a new deadline of May 30th.

Read my article on the subject with links to the original publication in the Federal Register or view the EPA page on the NODA and the status of the extension.

As a state authorized to create and enforce its own regulations, Texas has taken distinctive measures to protect its air, land, and water resources from the impacts of the regulated industry within its borders.  From my limited scope of the regulations pertaining to waste (hazardous waste, universal waste, used oil, & non-hazardous industrial waste) I can say that understanding the regulations of the TCEQ – not to mention compliance with them – can be a challenge.

But to their credit, the TCEQ provides a multitude of tools for your use; one of them that I make great use of is a subscription to the TCEQ Rules e-Mail Updates.  More information is available on the TCEQ website:  TCEQ Rules EMail Updates, or if you’re ready to subscribe now you may sign up as a new subscriber: Sign up for e-mail updates or, change your existing profile to include it:  Access your user profile to add this subscription.

By subscribing you’ll receive updates on all topics before the TCEQ, whether it’s a new rule or a schedule for a public hearing.  To give you an idea of  the information available I have included below an entry for the week of April 11, 2014:

Items filed with the Chief Clerk for Future Agenda(s):

• None

Items Continued or Remanded for Future Agenda(s):

• Adoption, SB 1727: Light-Duty Motor Vehicle Purchase or Lease Incentive Program (Rule Project: 2013-039-114-AI) has been moved to the April 30, 2014 Agenda.

New Rule Projects Approved by the Executive Director:

• None

Items Submitted for Texas Register Publication:

• Adoption, SB 1727: Emissions Reduction Incentive Grants Program, (Rule Project No. 2013-036-114-AI)
• Adoption, SB 1727: Drayage Truck Incentive Program, (Rule Project No. 2013-037-114-AI)
• Adoption, SB 1727: Emissions Reduction Incentive Grants Program, (Rule Project No. 2013-038-114-AI)

Petition for Rulemaking Received:

• None

More information can be found in the TCEQ Rule Projects database.

 As I indicated above, I’ve been subscribed for over a year now and have found it a welcome weekly notice in my email:  a quick scan to see if there is any information of interest to me, a deeper look if necessary, and then deleting it and moving on knowing that nothing that affects my business is going to happen in Texas that week.  Take advantage of this free tool from the TCEQ to assist you in complying with the State of Texas regulations.

If you need training, then consider these options:

• Attend my one-day, all-Texas, training seminars.  I spend 8 hours covering nothing but the generation, management, and off-site transportation of waste (hazardous waste, universal waste, used oil, & non-hazardous industrial waste) in Texas.
• Onsite Training.  Delivered right to your door and containing only the Texas-specific regulations that you and your personnel need to know.  Train everybody all at once for one low, flat fee.

And if you don’t need training, then don’t hesitate to contact me with a questions.  I’m glad to help.