[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 113 (Monday, June 13, 2011)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 34200-34202]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-14592]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Parts 268 and 271

[EPA-HQ-RCRA-2008-0332; FRL-9318-3]
RIN 2050-AG65


Land Disposal Restrictions: Revision of the Treatment Standards 
for Carbamate Wastes

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency.

ACTION: Proposed rule.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or the Agency) is 
proposing to revise the Land Disposal Restrictions (LDR) treatment 
standards for hazardous wastes from the production of carbamates and 
carbamate commercial chemical products, off-specification or 
manufacturing chemical intermediates and container residues that become 
hazardous wastes when they are discarded or intended to be discarded. 
Currently, under the LDR program, most carbamate wastes must be treated 
to meet numeric concentration limits before they can be land disposed. 
However, the lack of readily available analytical standards makes it 
difficult to measure whether the numeric LDR concentration limits have 
been met. Therefore, we are proposing as an alternative the use of the 
best demonstrated available technologies (BDAT) for treating these 
wastes. In addition, this action proposes to remove the carbamate 
Regulated Constituents from the table of Universal Treatment Standards.

DATES: Written comments must be received by July 13, 2011.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-
RCRA-2008-0332, by one of the following methods:
     http://www.regulations.gov: Follow the on-line 
instructions for submitting comments.
     E-mail: [email protected] and [email protected]. 
Attention Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-RCRA-2008-0332.
     Fax: 202-566-9744. Attention Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-RCRA-
2008-0332.
     Mail: RCRA Docket (28221T), U.S. Environmental Protection 
Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20460. Attention 
Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-RCRA-2008-0332. Please include a total of 2 
copies.
     Hand Delivery: Please deliver 2 copies to the EPA Docket 
Center (EPA/DC), EPA West, Room 3334, 1301 Constitution Ave., NW., 
Washington, DC. Such deliveries are only accepted during the Docket's 
normal hours of operation, and special arrangements should be made for 
deliveries of boxed information.
    Instructions: Direct your comments to Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-RCRA-
2008-0332. EPA's policy is that all comments received will be included 
in the public docket without change and may be made available online at 
http://www.regulations.gov, including any personal information 
provided, unless the comment includes information claimed to be 
Confidential Business Information (CBI) or other information whose 
disclosure is restricted by statute. Do not submit information that you 
consider to be CBI or otherwise protected through www.regulations.gov 
or e-mail. The http://www.regulations.gov Web site is an ``anonymous 
access'' system, which

[[Page 34201]]

means EPA will not know your identity or contact information unless you 
provide it in the body of your comment. If you send an e-mail comment 
directly to EPA without going through www.regulations.gov, your e-mail 
address will be automatically captured and included as part of the 
comment that is placed in the public docket and made available on the 
Internet. If you submit an electronic comment, EPA recommends that you 
include your name and other contact information in the body of your 
comment and with any disk or CD-ROM you submit. If EPA cannot read your 
comment due to technical difficulties and cannot contact you for 
clarification, EPA may not be able to consider your comment. Electronic 
files should avoid the use of special characters, any form of 
encryption, and be free of any defects or viruses. For additional 
information about EPA's public docket, visit the EPA Docket Center 
homepage at http://www.epa.gov/epahome/dockets.htm.
    Docket: All documents in the docket are listed in the http://www.regulations.gov index. Although listed in the index, some 
information is not publicly available, e.g., CBI or other information 
whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Certain other material, such 
as copyrighted material, will be publicly available only in hard copy. 
Publicly available docket materials are available either electronically 
in www.regulations.gov or in hard copy at the HQ-Docket Center, Docket 
ID No. EPA-HQ-RCRA-2008-0332, EPA West, Room 3334, 1301 Constitution 
Ave., NW., Washington, DC. The EPA Docket Center is open from 8:30 a.m. 
to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding legal holidays. The 
telephone number for the Public Reading Room is (202) 566-1744, and the 
telephone number for the RCRA Docket is (202) 566-0270. A reasonable 
fee may be charged for copying docket materials.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For more information on this proposed 
rulemaking, contact Mary Jackson, Office of Resource Conservation and 
Recovery (MC: 5304P), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 
Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460. She can also be reached 
by telephone on 703-308-8453 or by e-mail at [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Why is EPA issuing this proposed rule?

    EPA is proposing to revise the Land Disposal Restrictions (LDR) 
treatment standards for hazardous wastes from the production of 
carbamates and carbamate commercial chemical products, off-
specification or manufacturing chemical intermediates and container 
residues that become hazardous wastes when they are discarded or 
intended to be discarded. This action is being taken because there may 
be no analytical standards readily available with which to measure 
compliance with the LDR requirements. An analytical standard is a 
reference material with a known concentration of a target chemical that 
is used to calibrate analytical instruments in order to confirm 
detection and quantification of that chemical.
    RCRA LDR-related statutory language prohibits the land disposal of 
hazardous wastes unless wastes meet treatment standards set as 
concentration-based limits or methods of treatment designed to 
substantially diminish a hazardous waste's toxicity and/or mobility. 
Currently under the LDR program, most carbamate hazardous wastes must 
be treated to meet numeric concentration limits before the wastes can 
be land disposed. The lack of readily available analytical standards 
makes it difficult to measure whether the numeric concentration limits 
have been met. Therefore, we are proposing as an alternative the use of 
the best demonstrated available technologies for treating these wastes. 
This will provide significant treatment to minimize threats to human 
health and the environment, while avoiding the problems that result 
from the lack of analytical standards when determining if the numeric 
concentration limits have been met.
    In addition, this action proposes to remove the carbamate Regulated 
Constituents from the table of Universal Treatment Standards at 40 CFR 
268.48. We are taking this action so that they are not classified as 
underlying hazardous constituents requiring treatment to meet numeric 
concentration limits in wastes that display the characteristic of 
ignitability, reactivity, corrosivity or toxicity at the point of 
generation.
    Today's proposed rule is necessary to allow hazardous waste 
management facilities to certify under 268.7 that carbamate-bearing 
wastes have been treated in compliance with the applicable LDR 
requirements. These facilities face potential curtailment of operations 
when they are unable to demonstrate waste and treatment residual 
concentrations meet the numerical LDR treatment standards through 
analytical testing.
    In the Rules and Regulations section of this Federal Register, we 
are taking Direct Final action on the proposed amendments because we 
view them as uncontroversial, and we anticipate no adverse comments. If 
we receive no adverse comments, we will take no further action on the 
proposed amendments and the Direct Final Rule will become effective as 
provided in that section. If we receive adverse comments, however, we 
will withdraw those amendments for which adverse comment was received. 
We will publish a timely withdrawal in the Federal Register indicating 
the amendments being withdrawn. If any of the Direct Final Rule 
amendments in the Rules and Regulations section of this Federal 
Register are withdrawn, all comments will be addressed in a subsequent 
final action based on the proposed amendments. We will not institute a 
second proposal or allow for a comment period on the subsequent final 
action. Therefore, any parties interested in commenting must do so at 
this time.
    The regulatory text for the proposal is identical to that for the 
Direct Final Rule published in the Rules and Regulations section of 
this Federal Register. For further supplementary information, see the 
Direct Final Rule.
    Tips for Preparing Your Comments. When submitting comments, 
remember to:
     Identify the rulemaking by docket number and other 
identifying information (subject heading, Federal Register date and 
page number).
     Follow directions--The agency may ask you to respond to 
specific questions or organize comments by referencing a Code of 
Federal Regulations (CFR) part or section number.
     Explain why you agree or disagree; suggest alternatives 
and substitute language for your requested changes.
     Describe any assumptions and provide any technical 
information and/or data that you used.
     If you estimate potential costs or burdens, explain how 
you arrived at your estimate in sufficient detail to allow for it to be 
reproduced.
     Provide specific examples to illustrate your concerns, and 
suggest alternatives.
     Explain your views as clearly as possible.
     Make sure to submit your comments by the comment period 
deadline identified.

II. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

    For a complete discussion of all of the administrative requirements 
applicable to this action, see the Direct Final Rule in the Rules and 
Regulations section of today's Federal Register.

[[Page 34202]]

The Regulatory Flexibility Act

    The Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA) generally requires an agency 
to prepare a regulatory flexibility analysis of any rule subject to 
notice and comment rulemaking requirements under the Administrative 
Procedure Act or any other statute unless the agency certifies that the 
rule will not have a significant economic impact on a substantial 
number of small entities. Small entities include small businesses, 
small organizations, and small governmental jurisdictions.
    For purposes of assessing the impacts of today's rule on small 
entities, small entity is defined as (1) a small business that is 
primarily engaged in hazardous waste treatment and disposal as defined 
by NAICS code 562211 with annual receipts of less than 12.5 million 
dollars (based on Small Business Administration size standards); (2) a 
small governmental jurisdiction that is a government of a city, county, 
town, school district or special district with a population of less 
than 50,000; and (3) a small organization that is any not-for-profit 
enterprise which is independently owned and operated and is not 
dominant in its field.
    This rule will not have a significant economic impact on a 
substantial number of small entities because its merely establishes 
alternative treatment standards expressed as technologies that may be 
used to treat the carbamate hazardous waste under the LDR program. 
These carbamate hazardous wastes already are subject to numeric 
treatment standards under the LDR program, and thus, this rule will 
have no new impacts. Therefore, we hereby certify that this rule will 
not add any new regulatory requirements to small entities, and does not 
require a regulatory flexibility analysis.

List of Subjects

40 CFR Part 268

    Environmental protection, Hazardous waste, Land disposal 
restrictions.

40 CFR Part 271

    Environmental protection, Hazardous waste.

    Dated: June 7, 2011.
Lisa P. Jackson,
Administrator.
[FR Doc. 2011-14592 Filed 6-10-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P