Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments in the United States

Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments (HSWA) in Environmental Law

A major revision to the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act passed in 1984 to address concern that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was not adequately dealing with hazardous waste. Unlike many environmental statutes, which leave the details to the EPA, HSWA added numerous specific requirements to the statute itself. Congress included provisions to force the EPA to deal with small quantity generators of hazardous waste, phase out use of land disposal for hazardous waste, and control underground injection and boilers using hazardous waste. It also added a comprehensive program to regulate underground storage tanks.

The Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments broadened the EPA’s authority to require cleanup of hazardous waste facilities, brought many more people under the requirements, and authorized citizen suits. The law set deadlines for regulations and then created provisions that would take effect if the EPA had not acted by the deadlines. Called hammer provisions, they were more stringent than the EPA would have pushed through the system. The hammer provisions put pressure on the agency by forcing more interested parties into the regulatory process.

An example of lesser known hammer provisions in HSWA involved small quantity generators. The EPA had been unable to come up with regulations under the 1976 RCRA, so it did not regulate persons who create hazardous waste in amounts between 100 and 1,000 kg per month. HSWA required the EPA to promulgate regulations for small quantity generators by 31 March 1976, or all small quantity generators would have to prepare manifests (documents for transportation and disposal of hazardous waste), retain copies of them, and file reports if the manifests did not return to them signed. It was estimated the number of regulated small quantity generators would increase from approximately 60 thousand to 130 thousand when these hammer provisions took effect, since they had not been covered by the existing regulations.

Congress also created a hammer provision related to minimizing or eliminating land disposal of hazardous waste [see land disposal restrictions], It therefore created a scheme to prohibit land disposal of liquids, imposed minimum technical requirements for existing and new landfills and surface impoundments, and phased in restrictions on disposal of certain wastes in land disposal units. This provision is the most famous hammer in the statute.

The land disposal restrictions were to be phased in on certain dates, with an absolute prohibition of land disposal unless the waste met treatment standards established by the EPA, the EPA granted an exemption, or the disposer could demonstrate the waste would not migrate during the time it remained hazardous. Since EPA had not developed treatment standards (or considered exemptions) when the law was enacted, this provision forced them to act or deal with the consequences.

HSWA also brought millions of underground storage tank owners under federal regulation. Over time, underground storage tanks have been the favored method of storing petroleum products such as gasoline, diesel fuel, and oil. Older tanks were usually made of bare steel, which corrodes and attracts electricity, weakening the structure. Eventually, they leak and may contaminate not only the soil, but both groundwater and surface water.

In 1984, the number of underground storage tanks was estimated at between 2.8 and 5 million. In 1985, 100,000 of them were thought to be leaking, and 350,000 were projected to leak in the future. The first order of business for the EPA was to determine where underground storage tanks were located. Tank owners were required by HSWA to file a notice with the EPA about the tanks they owned. The EPA was then directed to develop regulations for management of underground storage tanks and their contents.

Corrective action was another important addition to the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act through HSWA. Abandoned hazardous waste facilities are addressed under a different law, the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act. However, many facilities remain open, closing only a unit that is full and moving on to a new one.

HSWA states that all permits for a treatment/storage/disposal facility, except those classified as interim status facilities, must compel corrective action. (The law gives the EPA the right to order corrective action, even for interim facilities.) That condition means that releases of hazardous waste must be cleaned up as the need arises, not simply after the facility is closed and the owner moves on. If a waste unit has caused damage off the property, the EPA may order cleanup there as well. See solid waste management unit.
Based on “Environment and the Law. A Dictionary”.