[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 156 (Thursday, August 13, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 43588-43590]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-21672]



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Part IV





Environmental Protection Agency





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Project XL Final Project Agreement for Molex Inc., and Response to 
Comments on Withdrawn Direct Final Rule for Project XL Lincoln, NE; 
Availability of Massachusetts Environmental Results Program Project XL 
Draft Umbrella Final Project Agreement; Notices

  Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 156 / Thursday, August 13, 1998 / 
Notices  

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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-6143-2]


Project XL Final Project Agreement for Molex Inc, 700 Kingbird 
Road Facility, Lincoln, Nebraska

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency.

ACTION: Notice of Project XL Final Project Agreement.

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SUMMARY: The EPA is implementing a project under the Project XL program 
for the Molex, Inc. (Molex) facility located at 700 Kingbird Road, 
Lincoln, NE. The terms of the project are defined in a Final Project 
Agreement (FPA) which is being made available in its final form today 
by this document. Also, with this document, EPA is notifying the public 
for informational purposes that the Nebraska Department of 
Environmental Quality intends to sign a temporary variance necessary 
for implementation of the project. A draft project agreement and 
proposed site specific rule were published in the Federal Register on 
November 3, 1997 (FRL-5916-3; 62 FR 59287). EPA received adverse 
comments. As a result of the comments, EPA decided to withdraw the site 
specific rule and proceed under the authority of the Nebraska RCRA 
program. The Withdrawal of the Direct Final rule was published in the 
Federal Register on December 30, 1997 (FRL 5942-5; 62 FR 67736). A 
summary of the comments and the changes to the Project that EPA 
undertook as a result of receiving the comments is included in the 
Rules and Regulations Section of today's Federal Register.
    The Molex Project XL provides flexibility to the facility in 
managing their waste sludges. The facility has decided to segregate 
waste streams which had previously been co-mingled into a single waste 
stream. By changing the process lines to generate separate waste 
streams (nickel, copper, tin/lead), the facility can optimize the 
precipitation of each metal more effectively before the effluent is 
sent to the Publicly Owned Treatment Works (POTW).
    The environmental benefit results in a substantial reduction in the 
mass loading of metals entering the City of Lincoln's POTW. In 
addition, the resultant mono-metal sludges will be commodity-like 
materials suitable for recycling by reclaimers. A secondary 
environmental benefit will be an increase in recycling and a reduction 
in the amount of material that would otherwise be landfilled. The 
Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality is giving Molex a 
temporary variance from classifying as solid waste nickel, copper, and 
tin/lead non-precious metals containing sludges.

DATES: The actions are effective August 13, 1998. Additional 
information is provided in the section entitled ADDRESSES.

ADDRESSES: The complete administrative record is maintained at EPA 
Region VII. Questions and comments should be submitted to: Mr. David 
Doyle, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region VII, Air, RCRA & 
Toxics Division, 726 Minnesota Avenue, Kansas City, KS 66101, (913) 
551-7667.
    Docket. A docket containing supporting information used in 
developing this final rulemaking is available at U.S. EPA Headquarters 
US EPA, 401 M Street SW (1802), Washington, DC 20460, (202) 260-7434; 
or EPA Region VII, Air, RCRA & Toxics Division, 726 Minnesota Avenue, 
Kansas City, KS 66101, (913) 551-7667. File information is available 
from the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality, Lincoln, NE, 
(402) 471-4217.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. David Doyle, U.S. Environmental 
Protection Agency, Region VII, Air, RCRA & Toxics Division, 726 
Minnesota Avenue, Kansas City, KS 66101, (913) 551-7667.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Outline of This Document

I. Background
    A. Overview of Project XL
    B. Overview of the Molex XL Project
II. Summary of Final Project Agreement
III. Summary of state-issued Variance

I. Background

A. Overview of Project XL

    Project XL--for ``eXcellence and Leadership''--was announced on 
March 16, 1995, as a central part of the National Performance Review's 
and EPA's effort to reinvent environmental protection. See 60 FR 27282 
(May 23, 1995). In addition, on April 22, 1997, EPA modified its 
guidance on Project XL, solicited new XL proposals, clarified EPA 
definitions, and described changes intended to bring greater efficiency 
to the process of developing XL projects. See 62 FR 19872 (April 22, 
1997). Project XL provides a limited number of private and public 
regulated entities an opportunity to develop their own pilot projects 
to provide regulatory flexibility that will result in environmental 
protection that is superior to what would be achieved through 
compliance with current and reasonably anticipated future regulations. 
These efforts are crucial to the Agency's ability to test new 
regulatory strategies that reduce regulatory burden and promote 
economic growth while achieving better environmental and public health 
protection. The Agency intends to evaluate the results of this and 
other Project XL projects to determine which specific elements of the 
project, if any, should be more broadly applied to other regulated 
entities to the benefit of both the economy and the environment.
    In Project XL, participants in four categories--facilities, 
industry sectors, governmental agencies and communities--are offered 
the flexibility to develop common sense, cost-effective strategies that 
will replace or modify specific regulatory requirements, on the 
condition that they produce and demonstrate superior environmental 
performance. To participate in Project XL, applicants must develop 
alternative pollution reduction strategies pursuant to eight criteria--
superior environmental performance; cost savings and paperwork 
reduction; local stakeholder involvement and support; test of an 
innovative strategy; transferability; feasibility; identification of 
monitoring, reporting and evaluation methods; and avoidance of shifting 
risk burden. They must have full support of affected Federal, state and 
tribal agencies to be selected. The XL program is intended to allow EPA 
to experiment with untried, potentially promising regulatory 
approaches, both to assess whether they provide benefits at the 
specific facility affected, and whether they should be considered for 
wider application. Such pilot projects allow EPA to proceed more 
quickly than would be required to undertake changes on a nationwide 
basis. As part of this experimentation, EPA may try out approaches or 
legal interpretations that depart from or are even inconsistent with 
longstanding Agency practice, so long as those interpretations are 
within the broad range of discretion enjoyed by the Agency in 
interpreting statutes that it implements. EPA may also modify rules 
that represent one of several possible policy approaches within a more 
general statutory directive, so long as the alternative being used is 
permissible under the statute. Adoption of such alternative approaches 
or interpretations in the context of a given XL project does not, 
however, signal EPA's willingness to adopt that interpretation as a 
general matter, or even in the context of other XL projects. It would 
be inconsistent with the forward-looking nature of these pilot projects 
to adopt such innovative

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approaches prematurely on a widespread basis without first finding out 
whether or not they are viable in practice and successful in the 
particular projects that embody them.
    Furthermore, as EPA indicated in announcing the XL program, the 
Agency expects to adopt only a limited number of carefully selected 
projects. These pilot projects are not intended to be a means for 
piecemeal revision of entire programs. Depending on the results in 
these projects, EPA may or may not be willing to consider adopting the 
alternative interpretation again, either generally or for other 
specific facilities.
    EPA believes that adopting alternative policy approaches and 
interpretations, on a limited, site-specific basis and in connection 
with a carefully selected pilot project, is consistent with the 
expectations of Congress about EPA's role in implementing the 
environmental statutes (so long as the Agency acts within the 
discretion allowed by the statute). Congress' recognition that there is 
a need for experimentation and research, as well as ongoing 
reevaluation of environmental programs, is reflected in a variety of 
statutory provisions, such as sections 101(b) and 103 of the Clean Air 
Act. In some cases, as in this XL project, such experimentation 
requires an alternative regulatory approach that, while permissible 
under the statute, was not the one adopted by EPA historically or for 
general purposes.

B. Overview of Molex Project

    Molex is a multinational company that operates several 
electroplating facilities worldwide. Molex as part of its XL proposal 
has upgraded its facility in Lincoln, Nebraska by changing its waste 
water treatment system to allow it to optimize the recovery of metals 
used in the electroplating processes. The primary environmental benefit 
will be the reduction of metals loading in the effluent discharges into 
the publicly owned treatment works (POTW). A secondary environmental 
benefit will be increased recycling and reducing the amount of material 
that would otherwise be disposed.
    The facility generates several metals-bearing wastewater streams 
that formerly were brought together for combined treatment. Metals 
recovery in such a system is limited because each metal has its own 
optimal set of treatment conditions. At its new facility Molex is 
operating a segregated treatment system that separately treats each 
metal waste stream to optimize the precipitation of each metal 
contaminant to more effectively remove metals from the effluent to the 
POTW. Molex has made its investment in the system in anticipation of 
its participation in the XL program and the regulatory relief it will 
provide. At the new facility Molex changed the process lines to 
generate separate treatment sludges for nickel, copper, and tin/lead. 
The environmental benefit will be a substantial reduction in the mass 
loading of metals entering the City of Lincoln's POTW. In addition, the 
resultant mono-metal sludges are more suitable for direct recycling by 
reclamation facilities. However, the segregated system costs more to 
operate than a combined treatment system. Additionally, the segregated 
system will result in increased costs from compliance with the current 
regulations for handling the resultant sludges. Currently, Molex is 
handling the sludges as hazardous wastes. The regulatory flexibility 
provided by this project helps Molex financially justify the continued 
operation of the segregated system.
    The NDEQ hazardous waste program has been authorized by EPA 
pursuant to the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) 
Sec. 3006(b), to carry out the Nebraska program in lieu of the Federal 
Program. Sludges from the former combined treatment system contain 
copper, nickel, tin, lead, and gold. The gold content of the materials 
has allowed Molex to handle the combined treatment sludge as 
``recyclable materials'' from which precious metals are reclaimed under 
Title 128, Rules and Regulations Governing Hazardous Waste Management 
in Nebraska, Chapter 7, Section 010.
    The sludges at the new facility do not contain precious metals and 
therefore will not qualify as ``recyclable material'' from which 
precious metals are reclaimed. As such, in the absence of this proposed 
regulatory relief, the materials will be subject to the NDEQ Title 128 
generator requirements for storage and shipment of hazardous wastes, at 
considerably greater expense for storage, shipment and disposal/
recycling as compared to the precious metals exemption. With the 
proposed regulatory relief, including a variance granted by NDEQ, Molex 
will be allowed to handle the non-precious mono-metals sludges with 
substantially reduced regulatory compliance costs.
    The Final Project Agreement (FPA), and the Nebraska Department of 
Environmental Quality temporary variance have been developed by the 
Molex XL stakeholder group, namely Molex, Inc. (Molex), EPA, Nebraska 
Department of Environmental Quality (NDEQ), Lincoln/Lancaster County 
Health Department and the City of Lincoln, NE. The FPA and NDEQ 
variance are maintained in the docket are also available on the world 
wide web at http://www.epa.gov/ProjectXL. The FPA outlines how the 
project addresses the eight Project XL criteria, in particular how the 
project will produce, measure, monitor, report, and demonstrate 
superior environmental benefits. The NDEQ temporary variance is the 
implementation mechanism for the project.

II. Summary of Final Project Agreement

    The Project XL Final Project Agreement (FPA or Agreement) is 
entered into by the United States Environmental Protection Agency 
(EPA), the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality (NDEQ), and 
Molex, Inc. (Molex). The Agreement states the intentions of the parties 
to undertake certain actions necessary to implement an alternative 
strategy for environmental compliance at the Molex electroplating 
facility located at 700 Kingbird Road, Lincoln, Nebraska. The FPA is 
intended to be a joint statement of the parties' plans and intentions 
with regard to the Molex, Inc. XL Project. The FPA is intended to 
clearly state the plans of the various participants to carry out the 
project. The agreement is not, however, intended to create legal rights 
or obligations and is not a contract, or a regulatory action such as a 
permit or rule, although some provisions in this Agreement will be 
implemented through a state variance which will be legally enforceable. 
This agreement does not give any of the parties a right to sue other 
parties for any alleged failure to implement its terms, either to 
compel implementation or to recover damages.
    The project is an alternative environmental compliance strategy 
that encompasses technical changes to the facility's wastewater 
treatment system, environmental improvements in the effluent to the 
POTW, regulatory relief for the facility for storage and shipment of 
wastes, and documentation of the technical, environmental and economic 
impacts of the alternative strategy. The full and signed Final Project 
Agreement is available on the EPA Project XL website at http://
www.epa.gov/ProjectXL. It is also on file at EPA Region VII with Mr. 
David Doyle, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region VII, Air, 
RCRA & Toxics Division, 726 Minnesota Avenue, Kansas City, KS 66101, 
(913) 551-7667.

III. Summary of Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality 
Temporary Variance

    The Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality is authorized to

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grant a variance to Molex, Inc. pursuant to Title 128, Rules and 
Regulations Governing Hazardous Waste Management in Nebraska, chapter 
5, section 001.04. The variance for this XL project grants a temporary 
exemption from the classifying as solid waste of segregated sludges 
generated during wastewater treatment at the Molex Upland facility 
located at 700 Kingbird Road, Lincoln, Nebraska. The purpose of the 
temporary variance is to allow Molex sufficient time to collect 
information to demonstrate that segregation and separate treatment of 
various wastestreams at its facility results in a significantly reduced 
metals content in its wastewater effluent discharge to the City of 
Lincoln's publicly owned treatment works (POTW) and produces a readily 
recyclable sludge with market value. The variance is necessary to 
remove a regulatory barrier which would otherwise classify the sludges 
generated from the segregation and treatment of wastewater from Molex's 
electroplating operation as a solid waste and a listed hazardous waste. 
The sludge generated from wastewater treatment at the Molex facility, 
prior to the implementation of process changes to segregate and 
separately treat wastestreams, was considered a recyclable material 
utilized for precious metals recovery subject to reduced management 
requirements under title 128, chapter 7, section 010. The Director of 
NDEQ has investigated the claims made by the applicant and the 
interests of others likely to be affected and the general public and 
has decided to proceed with the temporary variance which is posted on 
the Project XL website at http://www.epa.gov/ProjectXL. It is also 
available from the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality, 1200 N 
Street, Suite 400, Lincoln, Nebraska 68509, (402) 471-2186.

    Dated: August 6, 1998.
Lisa Lund,
Deputy Associate Administrator, Office of Reinvention Programs, Office 
of Reinvention.
[FR Doc. 98-21672 Filed 8-12-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P