[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]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
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.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
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