[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 171 (Friday, September 1, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 53298-53299]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-22521]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-6863-6]


Regulatory Reinvention (XL) Pilot Projects

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of Availability of the Project XL Draft Final Project 
Agreement: IBM East Fishkill Facility--F006 Sludge Recycling Project.

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SUMMARY: EPA is requesting comments on a draft Project XL Final Project 
Agreement (FPA) for the International Business Machines Corporation's 
(hereafter ``IBM'') East Fishkill semiconductor manufacturing facility 
in Hopewell Junction, NY. The FPA is a voluntary agreement developed 
collaboratively by IBM, the New York State Department of Environmental 
Conservation (NYSDEC), EPA and interested stakeholders. Project XL, 
announced in the Federal Register on May 23, 1995 (60 FR 27282), gives 
regulated entities the opportunity to develop alternative strategies 
that will replace or modify specific regulatory or procedural 
requirements on the condition that they produce greater environmental 
benefits.
    In the draft FPA, IBM proposes to determine whether the wastewater 
treatment sludge resulting, in part, from the treatment of wastewaters 
generated from electroplating operations at the facility and therefore 
designated F006 Hazardous Waste, should be subject to full regulatory 
controls pursuant to the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) 
when it is to be used as an ingredient to produce a product (cement) 
that is used in a manner constituting disposal (i.e., placement on the 
land).
    Under current RCRA regulations, a hazardous secondary material 
(i.e., a term of art used to describe materials that are not virgin raw 
materials or products, and therefore may or may not be considered solid 
wastes, depending on how they are recycled) that is used as an 
ingredient to produce a product is excluded from the definition of 
solid waste (and thus, RCRA jurisdiction). However, this exclusion is 
not available if the product being produced is used in a manner 
constituting disposal. This XL project involves the use of the IBM 
wastewater treatment sludge as a substitute for ingredients normally 
used in the production of cement. Cement is a product that is presumed 
to be used in a manner constituting disposal. IBM believes the sludge 
that is the focus of this XL project does not require RCRA regulatory 
oversight to ensure that it is protective of human health and the 
environment, and that such oversight (and regulatory requirements for 
the proper permits and use of a hazardous waste manifest) effectively 
precludes such sludge from being recycled in a manner that is 
beneficial to the environment and society as a whole. EPA and the 
NYSDEC agree that IBM's sludge is comparable to the normal raw 
ingredients typically used to produce cement and believe this XL 
project is useful in exploring a potential approach to an overall 
strategy for addressing the appropriate management of a large-volume 
wastestream.
    IBM has posed that EPA remove the wastewater treatment sludge from 
RCRA regulatory controls, and thus encourage (or at least not 
discourage) its recycling as an ingredient in cement manufacture. The 
draft FPA being noticed today as available in the RCRA docket presents 
a detailed description of the IBM East Fishkill facility, the XL 
project itself, and the intents and commitments on the part of 
signatories to the agreement. EPA expects to propose in a separate 
Federal Register notice a regulatory modification of the current 
regulations in the near future to allow for this XL project to be 
implemented (a regulatory change, subject to applicable regulatory 
procedures is required). NYSDEC also agrees to adopt an appropriate 
legal implementing mechanism to implement this XL project once EPA has 
promulgated its final rule that will implement the project.
    Project XL was chosen as the vehicle for this project because IBM 
is asking EPA to reconsider a historical view of RCRA jurisdiction 
(i.e., hazardous secondary materials that are recycled through use 
constituting disposal) and determine whether some identifiable subset 
of such hazardous secondary materials may protectively be removed from 
RCRA regulatory control when recycled as an ingredient in cement. This 
XL project may provide the Agency with a new approach for encouraging 
the environmentally sound recycling of a hazardous waste, and support a 
broader effort to address the proper management of a large-volume, but 
diverse wastestream (i.e., F006) on a national level.

DATES: The period for submission of comments on the draft FPA ends on 
September 15, 2000.

ADDRESSES: All comments on the draft Final Project Agreement should be 
sent to: Sam Kerns, EPA Region II, 290 Broadway, New York, NY 10007-
1866. Comments may also be faxed to Mr. Kerns at (212) 637-4949. 
Comments may also be received via electronic mail sent to: 
[email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To obtain a copy of the draft Final 
Project Agreement, contact: Sam Kerns, U.S. EPA Region II, 290 
Broadway, New York, NY 10007-1866, or Mitch Kidwell, U.S. EPA (1802), 
1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20460. The FPA and related 
documents are also available via the Internet at the following 
location: http://www.epa.gov/ProjectXL. Questions to EPA regarding the 
documents can be directed to Sam Kerns at (212) 637-

[[Page 53299]]

4139, or Mitch Kidwell at (202) 260-2515. For information on all other 
aspects of the XL Program, contact Christopher Knopes at the following 
address: Office of Policy, Economics and Innovation, U.S. EPA (1802), 
1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20460. Additional 
information on Project XL, including documents referenced in this 
notice, other EPA policy documents related to Project XL, regional XL 
contacts, application information, and descriptions of existing XL 
projects and proposals, is available via the Internet at http://
www.epa.gov/projectxl.

    Dated: August 28, 2000.
Elizabeth A. Shaw,
Director, Office of Environmental Policy Innovation.
[FR Doc. 00-22521 Filed 8-31-00; 8:45 am]
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