hazardous waste

EPA Finalizes Agreement to Begin First Phase of Newtown Creek Superfund Cleanup

Superfund is the common name for the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) of 1980.  This law was designed to create a mechanism and funding source for the cleanup of sites contaminated with hazardous substances.  In many cases, such as this one, the contaminated site was a landfill or some other waste disposal site.  Several importanthagnes were made to CERCLA with the passage of the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA) of 1986.  These changes included an increase in funding and the use of new technologies for studies.

Five private firms and the City of New York were identified as PRP’s – that is Potentially Responsible Parties – for this site. They are responsible to conduct an investigation of the site under EPA’s oversight, pay EPA $750,000 for its previous work at the site, and reimburse the Agency for any oversight costs. A PRP is an entity that has been identified as a potential contributor to the contamination and may be held liable for the cleanup of a contaminated property. PRP’s may include:

  • The current owner or operator of the site.
  • The owner or operator of a site at the time of disposal of any hazardous substance.
  • A person who arranged for the disposal or treatment of a hazardous substance at the site. Or, arranged for transportation of a hazardous substance to the site.
  • A person who transported a hazardous substance to a site they selected.

While the first two bullet points may preclude you from ever buying a landfill or treatment facility, the last two should be a wake-up call to a facility that ships any waste, but especially hazardous waste, off-site for disposal. A generator of hazardous waste may be responsible under Superfund even if its disposal was in compliance with the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) regulations at the time. Approximately 70% of Superfund cleanup activities have been funded by PRP’s.

I cover topics such as selection and auditing of a waste generator’s Transfer, Storage, and Disposal Facility (TSDF) in my public training events. I also include EPA guidance on auditing TSDF’s and a hardcopy of a TSDF audit form as part of the training materials provided to attendees. Much more information of a very practical and useful nature is provided as well as fulfilling the EPA training requirements found at 40 CFR 262.34(a)(4) and 40 CFR 265.16.

The second half of the day’s training fulfills the triennial training requirements of the U.S. Department of Transportation for HazMat Employees. I guarantee you will find this day of training useful and informative.

Proposed Changes to the Uniform Hazardous Waste Manifest

In 1984 US EPA created the Uniform Hazardous Waste Manifest. An improvement on its predecessor, it nonetheless allowed States to customize the forms to meet their state-specific needs. Twenty three states adapted the Federal form to include a state letterhead and additional data requirements. Thus variation remained between these twenty three state forms and the Federal form, even though the need to use multiple manifests for interstate shipments had ended.

Fast forward to September 6, 2005 and the creation of a nationwide standardized Uniform Hazardous Waste Manifest system. The Final Rule published on March 4, 2005 gave States and hazardous waste handlers eighteen months to use up their stocks of the old forms and to prepare their regulations for the new ones. After September 6, 2005 only the new form could be used for transportation of hazardous waste. Besides creating uniformity in the appearance and content of hazardous waste manifests, US EPA also made revisions to the form to simplify the tracking of “difficult” shipments of rejected waste, or containers with residue remaining. It also created a registry of companies that were approved to print the manifest to the US EPA specifications. These and other revisions enacted at that time can be reviewed further on the US EPA website.

As of August 22, 2011 US EPA will authorize changes to the current printing specification regulation if no adverse comments are received prior to July 22, 2011. These changes were announced in a Proposed Rule and a Direct Final Rule, both published in the Federal Register on June 22, 2011. This time the changes are much less sweeping than previously. US EPA will allow the approved printers of Uniform Hazardous Waste Manifests to use distinct colors or other methods to differentiate the copy distribution instructions on the form from the remainder of the print. This is intended to cut down on the number of mistakes made in distribution and allow those approved printers greater flexibility in complying with the manifest printing specifications.

These changes should not affect hazardous waste generators other than the possibility of a slight change in the appearance of the Uniform Hazardous Waste Manifest sometime after August 22, 2011. All other requirements, including some state specific requirements remain.

Annual training is required by the US EPA for any personnel that handle hazardous waste or sign the Uniform Hazardous Waste Manifest. Triennial training is required by the US Department of Transportation for any HazMat Employee who prepares hazardous waste for off-site transportation, loads it onto a transportation vehicle, or signs the Uniform Hazardous Waste Manifest.