By Jeryl L. Olson and Patrick D. Joyce
Our retail clients with stores and warehouse facilities in the State of New York are warned that the State of New York Department of Environmental Conservation (NYDEC) has announced that it will begin enforcing regulations relating to hazardous waste against big boxes, supermarkets, pharmacies and other retailers which generate waste materials
Continue Reading Warning! Retailers’ Environmental Enforcement Initiative in New York
In follow-up to our blog earlier this week on the EPA’s January 13, 2015 new Final Rule on the Definition of Solid Waste (DSW rule), this is to discuss the new “remanufacturing exclusion” as it relates to certain solvents under 40 CFR § 261.4(a)(27).
The § 261.4(a)(27) exclusion is specifically addressed at certain “higher
Continue Reading Remanufacturing Exclusion for Solvents Under New Definition of Solid Waste Rules
By Patrick D. Joyce, Philip L. Comella, and Craig B. Simonsen
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s struggle to distinguish between a waste and a recyclable material, dating back to its original May 19, 1980 rulemaking under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, takes its latest turn in the now-final Definition of Solid Waste rule (DSW rule), signed by Administrator
Continue Reading EPA Publishes Massive Final Definition of Solid Waste Rule
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today released a proposed rule that would update air standards for new municipal solid waste landfills (landfills). 79 Fed. Reg. 41796 (July 17, 2014).
The Whitehouse had, earlier this year, issued an update to President Obama’s Climate Action Plan “Strategy to Reduce Methane Emissions.” The update specified that in the
Continue Reading EPA Proposes Updated Methane Limits for New Municipal Landfills and Requests Comment on Whether and How to Update Emissions Guidelines for Existing Landfills
By Philip L. Comella and Craig B. Simonsen
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently published its final rule for the national electronic manifest (e-Manifest) system, which upgrades the current paper-based system of tracking hazardous waste shipments and disposal. 79 Fed. Reg. 7518 (February 7, 2014).
The rule indicates that it affects approximately 160,000 entities in at least forty-five industries that
Continue Reading EPA Final Rule for Modification of the Hazardous Waste Manifest System
By Jeryl L. Olson and Craig B. Simonsen
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) yesterday released a Notice of Data Availability for “Hazardous Waste Management in the Retail Sector.” 79 Fed. Reg. 8926 (February 14, 2014).
An impetus for the Notice was President Obama’s Executive Order 13563, Improving Regulation and Regulatory Review, “which charges federal agencies to monitor regulatory
Continue Reading EPA Rulemaking on Hazardous Waste Management in the Retail Sector
Philip L. Comella, and Catherine McCord, of Heritage-Crystal Clean LLC, will co-present a Bloomberg BNA environmental webinar, on “The EPA’s New E-Manifest: Understanding the Changes to RCRA’s Cradle-to-Grave System”.
We had previously blogged about the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s public hearings on this topic, and about its subsequent request for information about e-manifest systems. For the past 33
Continue Reading EPA’s New E-Manifest: Understanding the Changes to RCRA’s Cradle-to-Grave System
By Jeryl L. Olson and Philip L. Comella
After more than 10 years of negotiations with U.S. EPA, industry can claim a victory in exempting from full RCRA regulation, solvent-contaminated industrial wipes used to clean equipment or spills.
The victory comes in the form of a Final Rule issued by EPA on July 22, 2013 which provides an exclusion from
Continue Reading Victory For Industry – EPA Excludes Most Solvent Contaminated Wipes From RCRA
By Philip L. Comella and Craig B. Simonsen
We had previously blogged about the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s announced public meetings to “obtain public input from stakeholders” on a national electronic manifest (e-manifest) database system intended to capture information on shipments of hazardous wastes.
The Agency has now published a Request for Information (RFI) on the concept of
Continue Reading EPA Request for Information on Electronic Manifest (E-Manifest) Systems
It’s an all too familiar scenario. You learn that your drinking water supply has been contaminated by a defunct manufacturing operation on adjacent property.
In response, you file a lawsuit involving RCRA’s citizen suit provisions to allege that the former owner or operator violated RCRA’s substantive requirements by disposing of hazardous waste without a permit. 42
Continue Reading When Can a Former Owner or Operator be Sued for Past Substantive RCRA Violations?