[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 209 (Monday, October 30, 1995)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 55202-55206]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-26459]



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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 279

[FRL 5313-5]


Hazardous Waste Management System; Recycled Used Oil Management 
Standards

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency.

ACTION: Administrative stay.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or the Agency) today 
is announcing an administrative stay of the regulatory provisions set 
forth in 40 CFR 279.10(b)(2) applicable to mixtures of used oil 
destined for recycling and either characteristic hazardous waste or 
waste listed as hazardous because it exhibits a hazardous waste 
characteristic. The stay reinstates for these mixtures the regulatory 
requirements ordinarily applicable to mixtures containing hazardous 
waste, along with other applicable regulatory requirements, including 
but not limited to the 40 CFR Part 268 land-disposal restrictions 
(``LDRs''), until the Agency completes a new rulemaking addressing 40 
CFR 279.10(b)(2).

EFFECTIVE DATE: December 29, 1995.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Tracy Bone at (202) 260-3509, Office 
of Solid Waste (5304), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 401 M 
Street SW., Washington, DC 20460.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The contents of today's document are listed 
in the following outline:
I. Background
II. Basis for Stay of Used Oil Mixture Rule
III. Agency Action
IV. Effects on State Authorization
V. Executive Order 12866
VI. Paperwork Reduction Act

I. Background

    Section 3014(a) of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act 
(RCRA), 42 U.S.C. 6935(a), requires EPA to establish management 
standards for used oil destined for recycling. Those standards must 
protect public health and the environment and, to the extent possible 
within that context, not discourage used oil recycling.
    Section 3014(a) was added to RCRA by the Used Oil Recycling Act of 
1980, Pub. L. No. 96-463, Sec. 7(a), 94 Stat. 2055, 2057 (1980). As 
originally enacted, section 3014(a) required EPA to establish 
performance standards and other requirements as may be necessary to 
protect the public health and the environment from hazards associated 
with recycled oil, but also specified that the Agency shall ``ensure 
that such regulations do not discourage the recovery or recycling of 
used oil.'' The Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments of 1984 (HSWA), 
Pub. L. 98-616, Sec. 242, 98 Stat. 3221, 3260 (1984), slightly altered 
the language of RCRA section 3014(a) to require that, in developing 
regulations addressing recycled used oil, the Agency shall ensure that 
such regulations do not discourage the recovery or recycling of used 
oil, ``consistent with the protection of human health and the 
environment.''
    On September 10, 1992, EPA promulgated regulations pursuant to RCRA 
section 3014(a) governing the management of used oil destined for 
recycling. 57 FR 41566 (1992). These regulations are codified at 40 CFR 
Part 279. As part of these regulations, EPA promulgated a used oil 
mixture rule, 40 CFR 279.10(b), that specifies when mixtures of used 
oil destined for recycling and hazardous waste are regulated as used 
oil and when they are regulated as hazardous waste. Among other things, 
the used oil mixture rule specifies that mixtures of used oil destined 
for recycling and waste that is hazardous solely because it exhibits 
one or more of the hazardous waste characteristics identified in 
subpart C of 40 CFR Part 261, and mixtures of used oil and hazardous 
waste that is listed in subpart D of 40 CFR Part 261 solely because it 
exhibits one or more of the characteristics of hazardous waste 
identified in subpart C, are regulated as a hazardous waste under 
subtitle C of RCRA only if the resultant mixture exhibits a hazardous 
waste characteristic. 40 CFR 279.10(b)(2)(i). If the mixture does not 
exhibit a hazardous waste characteristic, it is regulated under the 
used oil management standards, and the hazardous waste regulations 
(including those relating to LDRs) are inapplicable.1 40 CFR 
279.10(b)(2)(ii)-(iii).

    \1\ In a separate part of the used oil regulations, EPA 
specified that mixtures of used oil and listed hazardous waste, 
except for wastes listed solely because they exhibit one or more of 
the characteristics of hazardous waste identified in subpart C of 40 
CFR Part 261, must be handled as hazardous waste under subtitle C of 
RCRA and may not be managed as used oil. 40 CFR 279.10(b)(1); 57 
Fed. Reg. at 41,581. That provision is not impacted by this stay.
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    Two weeks after EPA promulgated the used oil management standards, 
the D.C. Circuit issued its decision in Chemical Waste Management, Inc. 
v. EPA, 976 F.2d 2 (D.C. Cir. 1992), cert. denied, 113 S.Ct. 1961 
(1993), a challenge to portions of the Agency's LDR regulations that 
did not prohibit dilution of certain characteristic hazardous wastes as 
a form of treatment.2 The issue before the court was whether these 
regulations satisfied the requirements of RCRA section 3004(m), which 
mandates that treatment substantially diminish the toxicity of 
hazardous waste or the likelihood of migration of hazardous 
constituents from hazardous waste so that short-term and long-term 
threats to human health and the environment are minimized. The court 
held that, in authorizing dilution as a form of treatment for certain 
characteristic hazardous wastes, the Agency had not satisfied the 
requirements of RCRA section 3004(m) because dilution only removed the 
short-term threat posed by the characteristic, and did not address the 
long-term threat posed by hazardous constituents that could be present 
in such wastes.3

    \2\ The LDR regulations, codified at 40 CFR Part 268, were 
promulgated pursuant to Section 3004 of RCRA, 42 U.S.C. 6924, which 
restricts the land disposal of certain hazardous wastes beyond 
specified dates unless the wastes are treated according to treatment 
standards established by the Agency.
    \3\ Pursuant to the Chemical Waste Management decision, the 
Agency has promulgated revisions to the 40 CFR Part 268 land 
disposal restrictions applicable to mixtures containing 
characteristic hazardous waste. See 58 Fed. Reg. 29860 (1993); 59 
Fed. Reg. 47982 (1994).
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    Petitions for review challenging EPA's used oil mixture rule 
subsequently were filed in the D.C. Circuit. Safety-Kleen Corp. v. EPA, 
No. 92-1629 (D.C. Cir.). 

[[Page 55203]]
Citing the Chemical Waste Management decision, some petitioners 
asserted that the used oil mixture rule violates RCRA section 3004(m) 
because it allows certain characteristic hazardous wastes to be ``de-
characterized'' by dilution with used oil destined for recycling, and 
to avoid compliance with LDRs. As a result, these mixtures (or 
residuals derived therefrom) might be disposed in land-disposal units 
without adequate prior treatment, despite the fact that they may 
contain significant levels of hazardous constituents in concentrations 
sufficient to pose a threat to human health and the environment.
    EPA subsequently joined with the petitioners in the Safety-Kleen 
Corp. case in moving for a voluntary vacatur of the used oil mixture 
rule to consider the impact of the Chemical Waste Management case on 
the used oil mixture rule. In an order dated September 15, 1994, the 
D.C. Circuit, rather than vacating the rule, remanded the record in the 
case to the Agency with the limited instruction that ``[i]f the EPA 
determines that its rule is invalid, * * * it can proceed 
accordingly.'' The court, however, retained jurisdiction over the case, 
so it still is pending before the D.C. Circuit for judicial review.
    Consistent with the D.C. Circuit's remand, the Agency plans to 
propose a rule in the near future concerning how mixtures of used oil 
destined for recycling and characteristic hazardous wastes should be 
regulated under RCRA section 3014(a) in light of the Chemical Waste 
Management decision and other appropriate policy and legal 
considerations, and requesting public comment on those views. Through 
this rulemaking, the parties to the Safety-Kleen Corp. case, along with 
all other interested persons, will have the opportunity to submit 
comments for the Agency's consideration in reaching a decision 
concerning whether the used oil mixture rule should be revised.
    For the reasons discussed below, EPA also is issuing this 
administrative stay of the used oil mixture rule pending completion of 
this rulemaking. For mixtures of used oil destined for recycling and 
either characteristic hazardous waste or waste listed as hazardous 
because it exhibits a hazardous waste characteristic, this stay 
reinstates the regulatory requirements, ordinarily applicable to 
mixtures containing hazardous waste, set forth in 40 CFR 261.3 (a)(2) 
and (d)(1), along with other applicable regulatory provisions, as 
revised, including but not limited to LDRs.

II. Basis for Stay of Used Oil Mixture Rule

    The only issue addressed in today's document concerns the status of 
the contested used oil mixture rule, 40 CFR 279.10(b)(2), while the new 
rulemaking process addressing that provision is undertaken. Section 705 
of the Administrative Procedures Act, 5 U.S.C. 705, authorizes EPA to 
postpone the effective date of action taken by it when ``justice so 
requires,'' pending judicial review. As discussed in detail below, EPA 
believes that a stay of the rule is in the interests of justice. It 
will enable the Agency to address the precedential impact of the 
Chemical Waste Management decision before the regulation takes effect, 
it will help ensure that mixtures of used oil destined for recycling 
and characteristic hazardous wastes are managed in a manner protective 
of human health and the environment until the follow-up rulemaking 
concerning the used oil mixture rule is completed, it will limit 
inconvenience to and confusion and inconsistency among the States and 
within the regulated community concerning how such mixtures are to be 
managed, and it will impose no significant burden on the States or the 
regulated community.
    This administrative stay of the used oil mixture rule reflects 
EPA's recognition that the Chemical Waste Management decision raises 
significant legal issues, and may be controlling authority, concerning 
the applicability of LDR regulations to mixtures of used oil destined 
for recycling and characteristic hazardous wastes. As noted above, the 
D.C. Circuit held in that case that, in authorizing dilution as a form 
of treatment for certain characteristic hazardous wastes, the Agency 
had not satisfied the mandate of RCRA section 3004(m) because dilution 
only removed the short-term threat posed by the characteristic, and did 
not address the long-term threat posed by hazardous constituents that 
could be present in such wastes.
    As currently written, the used oil mixture rule provides that 
certain mixtures of used oil destined for recycling and characteristic 
hazardous are subject exclusively to the used oil management standards, 
which do not include LDRs. Thus, the mixture rule, in effect, allows 
dilution of certain characteristic hazardous wastes with used oil, 
instead of treatment under section 3004(m). As a result, some such 
mixtures (or residuals derived therefrom) containing significant levels 
of hazardous constituents potentially may be disposed in land-disposal 
units without adequate prior treatment. (The Agency will conduct fact-
finding on this point as part of the upcoming rulemaking.) The Chemical 
Waste Management decision, however, appears to indicate that such 
mixtures should be subject to LDRs, unless no hazardous constituents 
are present in concentrations sufficient to pose a threat to human 
health or the environment. Because the Agency believes there is a 
strong likelihood that the used oil mixture rule needs to be modified 
in light of the Chemical Waste Management decision, this stay is in the 
interests of justice.\4\

    \4\ RCRA section 3014(a) requires the Agency to ensure that 
regulations concerning used oil ``do not discourage the recovery or 
recycling of used oil,'' consistent with the protection of human 
health and the environment. Based upon this language, some may argue 
that the regulatory requirements applicable to mixtures of used oil 
and characteristic hazardous waste appropriately may differ from 
those applicable to other mixtures containing characteristic 
hazardous waste for purposes of the land-disposal restrictions. The 
possible merits of such an interpretation will be explored in the 
rulemaking concerning 40 CFR 279.10(b)(2) to be initiated in the 
near future.
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    This administrative stay also is justified on the ground that human 
health and the environment are better protected if mixtures of used oil 
destined for recycling and characteristic hazardous waste are subject 
to LDRs like other mixtures containing characteristic hazardous waste 
until the follow-up rulemaking addressing the used oil mixture rule is 
completed. In particular, EPA believes that further analysis is needed 
to determine whether mixtures of used oil destined for recycling and 
characteristic hazardous wastes differ significantly from other 
mixtures containing characteristic wastes in terms of potential threat 
to human health and the environment.\5\ Under the used oil mixture rule 
as currently written, some such mixtures (or residuals derived 
therefrom) may be disposed in land-disposal units without adequate 
prior treatment. To address 

[[Page 55204]]
this concern, during the pendency of the stay mixtures of used oil 
destined for recycling and characteristic hazardous wastes will be 
subject to LDRs. As a result, the stay also is in the interests of 
justice because it is protective of public health and the environment.

    \5\ The used oil mixture regulations distinguish mixtures of 
used oil and wastes exhibiting the characteristic of corrosivity, 
reactivity and toxicity from mixtures of used oil and wastes 
exhibiting only the characteristic of ignitability. Compare 40 CFR 
279.10(b)(2) (i) and (ii) with 40 CFR 279.10(b)(2)(iii). As to 
wastes exhibiting the characteristic of ignitability, the Agency 
explained that ``mixing to manage ignitable solvents appears to be 
acceptable, provided the characteristic of ignitability of the 
ignitable solvents is removed.'' 57 FR at 41581. EPA noted, as its 
basis for this statement, that ``mixing the solvents in with used 
oil should not affect the chemical constituents or other properties 
of used oil'' because the solvents are petroleum fractions. Id. EPA 
is not repudiating that statement today, but believes further 
analysis should be undertaken of mixtures of used oil and ignitable 
characteristic hazardous wastes to determine the extent to which 
such mixtures contain hazardous constituents that may endanger human 
health or the environment.
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    This administrative stay also is justified because it will avoid 
inconvenience to and confusion and inconsistency among the States. 
Confusion within the States concerning how used oil mixtures should be 
regulated stems from the strong likelihood that the used oil mixture 
rule will need to be modified consistent with the Chemical Waste 
Management decision and the pendency of the Safety-Kleen Corp. case.
    As discussed more fully below, only a limited number of States 
authorized to administer and enforce the RCRA program for hazardous 
wastes and used oil have yet modified their programs to reflect the new 
Federal used oil management standards, but most were required to do so 
by July 1, 1995. Requiring States to complete the significant task of 
modifying their programs under circumstances such as these, in which 
there is a strong likelihood that the used oil mixture rule will need 
to be modified in light of the Chemical Waste Management decision, 
could result in States being required to make changes and then undo 
them in short order. These circumstances also may result in uneven 
implementation and enforcement of the regulatory requirements 
concerning mixtures of used oil destined for recycling and 
characteristic hazardous waste. To avoid these concerns, during the 
pendency of this stay, authorized States simply will be required to 
maintain (or adopt on a reasonable schedule) regulations no less 
stringent than otherwise applicable EPA regulations governing mixtures 
of used oil destined for recycling and characteristic hazardous wastes. 
See 40 CFR 261.3(a)(2) and (d)(1). Thus, this stay also is in the 
public interest because it avoids inconvenience to and confusion and 
inconsistency among the States.
    Similarly, this administrative stay is justified because it will 
avoid inconvenience to and confusion and inconsistency within the 
regulated community. The regulated community, which is comprised of 
thousands of small businesses, must comply with EPA (or no less 
stringent State) regulations applicable to mixtures of used oil 
destined for recycling and characteristic hazardous wastes, and the 
goal of obtaining consistent and thorough compliance with those 
regulations is ill served by the confusion stemming from the Chemical 
Waste Management decision and the pendency of the Safety-Kleen Corp. 
case. Accordingly, this stay also is justified because avoiding 
inconvenience to and confusion and inconsistency within the regulated 
community is in the public interest.
    Finally, EPA believes that neither the States nor the regulated 
community will be significantly burdened or suffer irreparable harm as 
a result of this administrative stay. As discussed above, most 
authorized States have not yet adopted the used oil mixture rule, and 
they will have no obligation to adopt that rule during the pendency of 
this stay. The stay will reinstate the regulatory requirements 
applicable to hazardous waste mixtures set forth in 40 CFR 261.3(a)(2) 
and (d)(1) on December 29, 1995 in only four States that lack 
authorization to administer and enforce the RCRA programs for hazardous 
waste and used oil. Since these States do not have authorized programs, 
the States themselves will not be impacted by the stay.
    In addition, the impact on small businesses in these States will be 
limited.\6\ Businesses that do not generate characteristic hazardous 
waste, and those that do generate such waste but that either do not mix 
such waste with used oil or are exempt from hazardous waste regulation 
because they are conditionally exempt small quantity generators 
pursuant to 40 CFR 261.5 (i.e., they generate no more than 100 
kilograms of hazardous waste per month), will not be impacted by the 
stay. Moreover, large and small generators alike can avoid having to 
comply with RCRA regulatory requirements applicable to hazardous waste 
mixtures during the pendency of the stay simply by not mixing used oil 
and characteristic hazardous wastes. Additionally, during the pendency 
of the stay, the Agency intends to focus its enforcement-related 
activities only on large-quantity generators whose conduct is 
especially egregious.

    \6\ Persons who change their own oil (so-called ``do-it-yourself 
'' or ``DIY'' used oil) are not subject to the used oil regulations, 
40 CFR 279.20(a)(1), and this stay does not change how DIY used oil 
is regulated under subtitles C and D of RCRA. See 40 CFR 
261.4(b)(1).
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    The limited number of States that have modified their programs to 
incorporate the used oil mixture rule also will not be significantly 
burdened by the stay. They are not required to modify their programs by 
the effective date of the stay, but rather are required, on a 
reasonable schedule, to adopt requirements no less stringent than the 
federal requirements (unless during the time period during which the 
States are to modify their programs EPA action on the new rulemaking 
addressing the used oil mixture rule renders such action by the States 
unnecessary). See 40 CFR 271.21(e)(2). Therefore, States that already 
have modified their programs consistent with the used oil mixture rule 
have flexibility to respond in an appropriate time frame to the stay.
    In addition, the regulated community in these States will be 
impacted only at such time as the States modify their programs. Even in 
States that do modify their programs, the factors limiting the impact 
on the regulated community discussed above would be applicable.
    The majority of States have not modified their programs to 
incorporate the provisions of the used oil mixture rule, so they will 
not be significantly impacted by the stay because they simply can 
maintain the status quo until the stay is lifted. In addition, in these 
States the regulated community will not be significantly impacted 
because it simply will have a continuing, uninterrupted obligation to 
comply with the same regulatory requirements it has been subject to in 
the past, and the factors limiting the impact on the regulated 
community discussed above will be applicable here as well.

III. Agency Action

    As discussed above, EPA is issuing an administrative stay of the 
used oil mixture rule, 40 CFR 279.10(b)(2), until the Agency completes 
a new rulemaking addressing that provision. This stay is issued 
pursuant to section 705 of the Administrative Procedures Act, 5 U.S.C. 
705, which authorizes EPA to postpone the effective date of action 
taken by it when justice so requires, pending judicial review.
    In its Order dated September 15, 1994, the D.C. Circuit expressly 
retained jurisdiction over the Safety-Kleen Corp. case, so that case 
still is pending before the court for judicial review. In addition, the 
Agency finds that justice requires the issuance of this administrative 
stay because, as discussed in detail above, it will enable the Agency 
to address the precedential impact of the Chemical Waste Management 
decision before the regulation takes effect, it will help ensure that 
mixtures of used oil destined for recycling and characteristic 
hazardous wastes are managed in a manner protective of human health and 
the environment until the follow-up rulemaking concerning the used oil 
mixture rule is completed, it will limit inconvenience to and confusion 
and inconsistency among the States and within the regulated community 

[[Page 55205]]
concerning how such mixtures are to be managed, and it will impose no 
significant burden on the States or the regulated community.7

    \7\ Although EPA does not regard today's administrative stay as 
a rule subject to the requirements of 5 U.S.C. 553, were it viewed 
as a rule there is good cause for issuing the stay without prior 
notice and opportunity for comment pursuant to Sec. 553(b)(3)(B) for 
the same reasons that issuing the stay is in the interests of 
justice outlined above. In addition, EPA does not view today's stay 
as subject to the requirement of RCRA Section 3010(b) that 
regulations take effect six months after promulgation, but were it 
viewed as subject to that provision the earlier effective date of 
this stay, December 29, 1995, is warranted because the regulated 
community does not need six months to come into compliance with the 
stay. As noted above, in the vast majority of States, the regulated 
community still operates under the regulatory framework in effect 
prior to the promulgation of 40 CFR 279.10(b)(2), and the regulated 
community will not need to change its practices within those States. 
In the limited number of States in which the used oil mixture rule 
has become effective, the regulated community operated under the 
regulatory framework in effect prior to the promulgation of 40 CFR 
279.10(b)(2) until recently, and readily should be able to conform 
its conduct to those requirements. In addition, there is good cause 
for adopting an earlier effective date for the same reasons that 
issuing the stay is in the interests of justice outlined above.
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IV. Effects on State Authorization

    Under RCRA section 3006, 42 U.S.C. 6926, EPA may authorize 
qualified States to administer and enforce the RCRA program for 
hazardous wastes within the State. See 40 CFR Part 271. Section 3006(h) 
allows EPA to authorize State used oil management programs in the same 
manner as State hazardous waste programs, even if EPA does not list 
used oil as a hazardous waste.
    EPA retains enforcement authority under sections 3008, 7003 and 
3013 of RCRA following authorization of State hazardous waste and used 
oil programs, although authorized States have primary enforcement 
authority. Sections 3008 (d)(4), (d)(5) and (d)(7) of RCRA further 
clarify that EPA may assess criminal penalties for violations of used 
oil standards even if it does not identify used oil as a hazardous 
waste. Once EPA grants authorization to a State, the State's 
requirements become federally enforceable under subtitle C of RCRA. In 
States that do not have authorization to administer and enforce the 
RCRA programs for hazardous wastes and used oil, Federal requirements 
are applicable.
    For rules written under RCRA provisions that predate the enactment 
of HSWA in 1984, authorized States administer their hazardous waste and 
used oil management programs entirely under State law in lieu of EPA's 
Federal program. The Federal requirements no longer apply in authorized 
States. When new, more stringent Federal requirements are promulgated 
or enacted, authorized States must develop equivalent authorities 
within the time frame set out in 40 CFR Part 271. The new Federal 
requirements do not take effect in an authorized State until the State 
adopts the requirements as State law, and EPA may not enforce them 
until it approves the State requirements as a revision to the 
authorized State program.
    The used oil management standards, 40 CFR Part 279, were 
promulgated under section 3014(a) of RCRA, a provision that predates 
the enactment of HSWA. As a result, the new standards took effect in 
the four States (Wyoming, Alaska, Hawaii and Iowa) that lack 
authorization to administer and enforce the RCRA programs for hazardous 
waste and used oil on March 8, 1993. See 57 FR 41566, 41605 (1992). In 
these States, as of December 29, 1995, today's document stays the 
provisions of 40 CFR 279.10(b)(2), and reinstates the regulatory 
requirements applicable to hazardous waste mixtures set forth in 40 CFR 
261.3 (a)(2) and (d)(1), and other applicable provisions, as revised, 
including but not limited to the 40 CFR Part 268 LDRs, until the Agency 
completes a new rulemaking addressing 40 CFR 279.10(b)(2).
    In States authorized to administer the RCRA programs for hazardous 
waste and used oil, the new Federal used oil requirements do not become 
applicable until the States revise their programs to adopt equivalent 
requirements under State law. The used oil mixture rule, unlike most 
provisions of the used oil management standards, generally is less 
stringent than preexisting Federal regulatory requirements applicable 
to mixtures containing characteristic hazardous waste. Compare 40 CFR 
279.10(b)(2) with 40 CFR 261.3 (a)(2) and (d)(1). As a result, at the 
time the used oil management standards were promulgated, States with 
authorized programs had regulatory requirements in place applicable to 
mixtures of used oil and characteristic hazardous wastes similar to the 
preexisting, more stringent Federal requirements.
    For authorized States in which no statutory change was required to 
modify their hazardous waste and used oil programs, the State programs 
were to be modified to reflect the new Federal used oil requirements by 
July 1, 1994. See 57 Fed. Reg. 41566, 41605 (1992). For authorized 
States in which a statutory change was required to modify their 
programs to reflect the new Federal used oil requirements, new State 
requirements were to become effective by July 1, 1995. Id.
    To date, only a limited number of authorized States have modified 
their programs to reflect the new Federal used oil management 
standards. In those States, today's stay has the effect of requiring 
them to remodify their programs to reinstate the more stringent 
requirements of the preexisting regulations within the time frame set 
out in 40 CFR 271.21(e)(2). These time frames may be extended in 
certain cases under 40 CFR 271.21(e)(3), and, of course, may be 
affected by the completion of the new rulemaking addressing the used 
oil mixture rule to be initiated in the near future. In the remaining 
authorized States, today's stay has the effect of requiring these 
States to maintain their preexisting regulations, which should be no 
less stringent than the EPA regulations governing mixtures containing 
characteristic hazardous wastes applicable prior to promulgation of the 
used oil mixture rule, until the Agency completes a new rulemaking 
addressing 40 CFR 279.10(b)(2).

V. Executive Order 12866 8

    Under Executive Order 12866, the Agency must determine whether a 
regulatory action is ``significant'' and therefore subject to OMB 
review and the requirements of the Executive Order. That Order defines 
``significant regulatory action'' as one that is likely to result in a 
rule that may:

    \8\ EPA has evaluated the applicability of Executive Order 12866 
to the administrative stay even though, as noted above, the Agency 
does not regard the stay as a rule.
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    (1) Have an annual effect on the economy of $100 million or more or 
adversely affect in a material way the economy, a sector of the 
economy, productivity, competition, jobs, the environment, public 
health or safety, or State, local, or tribal governments or 
communities;
    (2) Create a serious inconsistency or otherwise interfere with an 
action taken or planned by another agency;
    (3) Materially alter the bugdetary impact of entitlements, grants, 
user fees, or loan payments or the rights and obligations of recipients 
thereof; or
    (4) Raise novel legal or policy issues arising out of legal 
mandates, the President's priorities, or the principles set forth in 
the Executive Order.
    It has been determined that this rule is not a ``significant 
regulatory action'' under the terms of Executive Order 12866 and is 
therefore not subject to OMB review.

VI. Paperwork Reduction Act

    This action does not contain any new information collection 
requirements subject to Office of Management and Budget (``OMB'') 
review under the 

[[Page 55206]]
provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act, 44 U.S.C. 3501, et seq. 
Today's action reinstates preexisting information collection 
requirements imposed under existing RCRA regulations. These 
requirements have been approved by OMB under the Paperwork Reduction 
Act and have been assigned OMB Control Number 2050-0085 (see ICR 
#1442.04, land-disposal restrictions for newly listed waste and 
hazardous debris; ICR #1442.05, land-disposal restrictions for 
ignitable and corrosive characteristic wastes; ICR #1442.06, land-
disposal restrictions for newly listed and identified wastes; and ICR 
#1442.07, land-disposal restrictions for decharacterized wastewaters, 
carbomate, and organobromine waste and spent aluminum potliners).

List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 279

    Environmental protection, Petroleum, Recycling, Reporting and 
recordkeeping requirements, Used oil.

    Dated: October 3, 1995.
Carol M. Browner,
Administrator.
    For the reasons set out in the preamble, title 40 of the Code of 
Federal Regulations is amended as follows:

PART 279--STANDARDS FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF USED OIL

    1. The authority citation for part 279 continues to read as 
follows:

    Authority: Sections 1006, 2002(a), 3001 through 3007, 3010, 
3014, and 7004 of the Solid Waste Disposal Act, as amended (42 
U.S.C. 6905, 6912(a), 6921 through 6927, 6930, 6934, and 6974); and 
Sections 101(37) and 114(c) of CERCLA (42 U.S.C. 9601(37) and 
9614(c)).

    2. Section 279.10(b)(2) is amended by adding the following note 
immediately after paragraph (b)(2)(iii) to read as follows:


Sec. 279.10  Applicability.

* * * * *
    (b) * * *
    (2) * * *

    Note to paragraph (b)(2) of this section: The regulatory 
requirements set forth in 40 CFR 279.10(b)(2) for mixtures of used 
oil and hazardous waste that solely exhibits one or more of the 
hazardous waste characteristics identified in subpart C of 40 CFR 
Part 261, and mixtures of used oil and hazardous waste that are 
listed in subpart D of 40 CFR Part 261 solely because it exhibits 
one or more of the characteristics of hazardous waste identified in 
subpart C, are administratively stayed as of December 29, 1995. The 
effect of the stay is to reinstate for such mixtures the regulatory 
requirements otherwise applicable to hazardous waste mixtures, 
including but not limited to those set forth in 40 CFR Parts 260-
266, 268, 270, and 271, until the Agency completes a new rulemaking 
addressing that provision.
* * * * *
[FR Doc. 95-26459 Filed 10-27-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P