Standardized permit for RCRA hazardous waste facilities finalized

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is finalizing revisions to the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) hazardous waste permitting program, originally proposed on October 12, 2001, to allow for a “standardized permit.”

The standardized permit will be available to RCRA treatment, storage, and disposal facilities (TSDs) otherwise subject to RCRA permitting that generate and then store or non-thermally treat hazardous waste on-site in tanks, containers, and containment buildings.

The standardized permit will also be available to facilities which receive hazardous waste generated off-site by a generator under the same ownership as the receiving facility, and which then store or non-thermally treat the hazardous waste in containers, tanks, or containment buildings. The standardized permit will streamline the permitting process by allowing facilities to obtain and modify permits more easily, while still achieving the same level of environmental protection as individual permits.

This rule finalizes the proposal, with changes based on public comments. In the preamble to proposed rule, the Agency also requested comments on other permitting-related topics including: how cleanups under non-RCRA state cleanup programs might be reflected in RCRA permits; the conclusions about captive insurance in a March, 2001 report by EPA’s Inspector General; and whether insurers that provide financial assurance for hazardous waste and PCB facilities have a minimum rating from commercial rating services. The Agency is not taking action at this point on these questions.

This rule is effective on October 11, 2005. The incorporation by reference of certain publications listed in the rule is approved by the director of the Federal Register as of October 11, 2005.

EPA has established a docket for this action under Docket ID No. RCRA-2001-0029. All documents in the docket are listed in the Docket index at www.epa.gov/edocket.

Although listed in the index, some information is not publicly available, i.e., CBI or other information whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Certain other material, such as copyrighted material, is not placed on the Internet and will be publicly available only in hard copy form.

Publicly available docket materials are available either electronically in DOCKET or in hard copy at the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) Docket, EPA/DC, EPA West, Room B102, 1301 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, DC.