[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 58 (Friday, March 24, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 15904-15906]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-7326]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-6564-4]


Announcement of Schedule for Resource Conservation & Recovery Act 
(RCRA) Corrective Action Guidance Documents and Request for Feedback on 
RCRA Cleanup Reforms

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice .

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SUMMARY: The intent of this notice is to announce a schedule and invite 
comment on three upcoming RCRA Cleanup Reforms draft guidance documents 
and invite additional feedback on the Resource Conservation & Recovery 
Act (RCRA) Cleanup Reforms announced on July 8, 1999. By inviting 
additional feedback and giving advanced notice of when we expect these 
draft guidance documents to be

[[Page 15905]]

available for review and comment, we hope to encourage greater 
involvement by states, industry, and the public.

ADDRESSES: There will be a 60-day public comment period for each of 
three RCRA Corrective Action draft guidance documents. Brief 
descriptions of each of these draft guidance documents are included 
under Supplemental Information later in this Notice. The first draft 
guidance document that will be available is called the Handbook of 
Groundwater Policies for RCRA Corrective Action. The Agency expects it 
will be available for public review and comment in April 2000. If you 
would like to receive a copy, please call the RCRA Hotline at 800-424-
9346 or TDD 800-553-7672 (hearing impaired).
    Brief Federal Register Notices will announce the other two draft 
guidance documents when they become available later this spring. The 
Agency also intends to post these documents on the Corrective Action 
website http://www.epa.gov/correctiveaction.
    If you wish to comment on the above draft guidance documents when 
they become available or provide feedback on the RCRA Cleanup Reforms 
in general, you should send an original and two copies of your 
comments, referencing docket number F-2000-CURA-FFFFF. If using regular 
US Postal Service mail to: RCRA Docket Information Center, U.S. 
Environmental Protection Agency Headquarters (EPA HQ), Office of Solid 
Waste, Ariel Rios Building (5305G), 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, 
Washington, DC 20460-0002. If using special delivery such as overnight 
express service send to: RCRA Docket Information Center (RIC), Crystal 
Gateway I, 1235 Jefferson Davis Highway, First Floor, Arlington, VA 
22202. Hand deliveries of comments should be made to the Arlington, VA, 
address above. You may also submit comments electronically through the 
Internet to: [email protected]. Comments in electronic format must 
also reference the docket number F-2000-CURA-FFFFF. If you choose to 
submit your comments electronically, you should submit them as an ASCII 
file and should avoid the use of special characters and any form of 
encryption.
    You should not submit electronically confidential business 
information (CBI). You must submit an original and two copies of CBI 
under separate cover to: RCRA CBI Document Control Officer, Office of 
Solid Waste, U.S. EPA, Ariel Rios Building (5305W), 1200 Pennsylvania 
Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20460-0002.
    Any public feedback we receive and supporting materials will be 
available for viewing in the RCRA Information Center (RIC), located at 
Crystal Gateway I, First Floor, 1235 Jefferson Davis Highway, 
Arlington, VA. The RIC is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through 
Friday, excluding federal holidays. To review docket materials, we 
recommend that you make an appointment by calling 703-603-9230. You may 
copy a maximum of 100 pages from any regulatory docket at no charge. 
Additional copies cost $0.15/page. The index and some supporting 
materials are available electronically. See the SUPPLEMENTARY 
INFORMATION section of this Federal Register notice for information on 
accessing the index and these supporting materials.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For general information or to obtain 
copies of the draft guidance documents when they become available and 
RCRA Cleanup Reforms information, contact the RCRA Hotline at 800-424-
9346 or TDD 800-553-7672 (hearing impaired). In the Washington, DC, 
metropolitan area, call 703-412-9810 or TDD 703-412-3323.
    For more detailed information on specific aspects of the draft 
guidance documents, contact Andrew Baca, Office of Solid Waste, 5303W, 
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, 
Washington, DC 20460, (703-308-6787), ([email protected]). For more 
detailed information on the RCRA Cleanup Reforms, contact Kevin 
Donovan, Office of Solid Waste, 5303W, U.S. Environmental Protection 
Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20460, (703-308-
8761), ([email protected]).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The draft guidance documents will be 
available on the Internet at: http://www.epa.gov/correctiveaction.
    Information on the RCRA Cleanup Reforms (RCRA Cleanup Reforms Fact 
Sheet, RCRA Cleanup Baseline, Environmental Indicator Guidance, and 
additional Corrective Action Information) is available electronically 
at: http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/osw/cleanup.htm.
    The official record for this notice will be kept in paper form. 
Accordingly, we will transfer all feedback and input received 
electronically into paper form and place them in the official record, 
which will also include all comments submitted directly in writing. The 
official record is the paper record maintained at the RCRA Information 
Center.
    All input will be thoroughly and seriously considered by EPA. Based 
on stakeholder input and our ongoing assessment of the program, we will 
continue to refine the RCRA Cleanup Reforms, add reforms as needed, and 
communicate program changes including those resulting from stakeholder 
input. We will provide periodic updates on the RCRA Cleanup Reforms and 
solicit input from stakeholders through several means including focus 
meetings, Federal Register Notices, the RCRA Corrective Action 
Newsletter (RCRA CAN), Internet postings, and press releases. EPA will 
not immediately reply to commenters electronically other than to seek 
clarification of electronic comments that may be garbled in 
transmission or during conversion to paper form, as discussed above.
    The contents of today's notice are listed in the following outline:

I. What are the RCRA Cleanup Reforms?
II. What guidance documents are discussed in this notice?
    A. Results-Based Approaches to Corrective Action
    B. Corrective Action Completion Guidance
    C. Handbook of Groundwater Policies for RCRA Corrective Action
III. Why are these guidance documents significant?
IV. What is the proposed schedule?
    A. Guidance Document review
    B. Feedback on RCRA Reforms
V. How Can I Influence EPA's Thinking on the RCRA Corrective Action 
Program?

I. What Are the RCRA Cleanup Reforms?

    On July 8, 1999 EPA announced that it is implementing a set of 
administrative reforms, known as the RCRA Cleanup Reforms, to the 
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) Corrective Action 
Program. The reforms are designed to achieve faster, more efficient 
cleanups at RCRA sites that have actual or potential contamination. The 
Reform areas are:

--Provide new results-oriented guidance with clear objectives,
--Foster maximum use of program flexibility and practical approaches 
through training, outreach, and new uses of enforcement tools, and
--Enhance community involvement including greater public access to 
information on cleanup progress.
    See the previous section entitled FOR FURTHER INFORMATION * * * on 
how to get additional detail and information on the RCRA Cleanup 
Reforms.

II. What Guidance Documents Are Discussed in This Notice?

    Three draft guidance documents for the RCRA Corrective Action 
program are discussed below. Please note that the titles of these draft 
guidances may have changed slightly since the RCRA

[[Page 15906]]

Cleanup Reforms announcement on July 8, 1999 as a result of the 
Agency's current thinking.

A. Results-Based Approaches to Corrective Action

    This guidance will take the form of an overview and supporting 
documents. The ``Overview to Results-Based Approaches to Corrective 
Action'' defines results-based corrective action and lists some of the 
approaches recommended to help stakeholders achieve program goals. 
These approaches include tailored oversight, procedural flexibility, 
holistic approach, presumptive remedies, performance standards, use of 
innovative technologies, targeted data collection, and owner/operator 
initiated corrective action. The first supporting document focuses on 
implementing tailored oversight. It provides a recommended framework 
for project managers and owner/operators to develop an oversight plan 
tailored to site-specific conditions.

B. Corrective Action Completion

    This document will guide the Regions and the authorized States 
through issues that arise at the end of the corrective action process 
at RCRA treatment, storage, and disposal facilities (TSDF). Formal 
recognition that corrective action activities are complete provides 
assurance to the owner or operator that EPA intends no further 
imposition of RCRA corrective action requirements at the site unless 
the facility continues to operate as a TSDF and there is a subsequent 
release. Providing this assurance can help communities return 
previously used commercial and industrial properties, such as 
``brownfields,'' to productive use.
    It is important that EPA Regions and the authorized States 
understand the issues related to corrective action completion. This 
guidance will provide useful information, and will encourage 
appropriate and timely action on the part of regulators.

C. Handbook of Groundwater Policies for RCRA Corrective Action

    EPA is compiling in a single Handbook most policies concerning 
groundwater at facilities subject to corrective action under RCRA. This 
Handbook will help address concerns about time-consuming uncertainties 
and confusion about EPA's expectations for groundwater protection and 
clean up. It will help you as regulators and members of the regulated 
community, as well as the general public, find and understand EPA 
policies on groundwater use and the protection and clean up of 
groundwater at RCRA facilities. It will highlight the considerable 
flexibility in existing policies, particularly to those states that 
have distinguished the relative value and priority of their groundwater 
resources. The Handbook will also encourage States to take a lead role 
in protecting their groundwater resources.
    Topic areas that will be discussed in the guidance will include: 
Groundwater Use Designations, Short-Term Protectiveness Goals, Final 
Remediation Goals, Cleanup Levels, Point of Compliance, Source Control, 
Monitored Natural Attenuation, Technical Impracticability, and 
Completing Remedies.

III. Why Are These Guidance Documents Significant?

    The draft guidance documents discussed above are significant 
because EPA announced on October 7, 1999 (64 FR 54604) that it would 
not be finalizing the vast majority of the 1990 Proposed Subpart S 
regulations. EPA withdrew most of the proposed rule because we 
determined that such regulations are not necessary to carry out the 
Agency's duties under sections 3004 (u) and (v). Additionally, 
attempting to promulgate a comprehensive set of RCRA regulations could 
unnecessarily disrupt the State and Territorial programs already 
authorized to carry out the Corrective Action Program in lieu of EPA, 
as well as the additional State programs currently undergoing review 
for authorization. This decision ended uncertainty related to the 
Subpart S rulemaking for State regulators and owners and operators of 
hazardous waste management facilities. The guidance documents discussed 
in this notice will provide some further direction on performing the 
cleanup, or ``corrective action,'' of contamination at RCRA facilities.

IV. What Is the Proposed Schedule?

A. Guidance Document Review

    We anticipate that all the draft guidance documents will be 
available for public review and comment in spring 2000. These guidance 
documents are likely to become available at different times this 
spring. They will be available for review for a period of sixty (60) 
days for each draft guidance document. EPA is announcing the upcoming 
availability of the draft guidance documents for review and comment and 
information on how to obtain them when they are available and provide 
input on them to the Agency in this Federal Register and also on the 
following Websites: www.epa.gov/correctiveaction and www.epa.gov/epaoswer/osw/cleanup.

B. Feedback on RCRA Reforms

    We continue to seek feedback from all stakeholders on the need for 
additional reforms to the RCRA Corrective Action program.

V. How Can I Influence EPA's Thinking on the RCRA Corrective Action 
Program?

    In developing these upcoming draft guidances and the RCRA Cleanup 
Reforms, we are trying to address the key factors that may be impeding 
timely and cost-effective cleanups. We invite you to provide different 
views, or new approaches we haven't considered in trying to improve the 
pace and effectiveness of Corrective Action Cleanups. We welcome your 
views on the draft guidances and any aspect of the Reforms. Your 
feedback will be most effective if you follow the suggestions below:

--Explain your views as clearly as possible and why you feel that way,
--Provide solid technical and cost data to support your views,
--Tell us which parts you support, as well as those you disagree with,
--Provide solid technical and cost data to support your views,
--Tell us which parts you support, as well as those you disagree with,
--Provide specific examples to illustrate your point,
--Offer specific Reforms,
--Refer your comments to specific sections of the Reforms material, and
--Be sure to include the name, date, and docket number with your 
comments.

    EPA continues to seek feedback from all stakeholders on the need 
for additional reforms to the RCRA Corrective Action Program. Based on 
stakeholder input and our ongoing assessment of the program, we will 
continue to refine the RCRA Cleanup Reforms, add reforms as needed, and 
communicate program changes including those resulting from stakeholder 
input. EPA may need to seek clarification of electronic or written 
feedback, or feedback received over the telephone.

    Dated: March 17, 2000.
Elizabeth A. Cotsworth,
Director, Office of Solid Waste.
[FR Doc. 00-7326 Filed 3-23-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-U