EXECUTIVE SUMMARYEXECUTIVE SUMMARY
EPA has prepared this
Economic Assessment
toaccompany the Agency's proposed rulemaking to revise thehazardous waste identification rules for contaminated media(HWIR-Media) under Subtitle C of the Resource Conservationand Recovery Act (RCRA). The proposed rule authorizesEPA and states to remove certain lower-risk contaminatedmedia from most regulation as hazardous waste andmodifies the treatment standards and permitting proceduresfor higher-risk contaminated media, which remain subject tohazardous waste regulations.This
Economic Assessment
has been submitted to theOffice of Management (OMB) in accordance with ExecutiveOrder 12866, which requires EPA to provide an assessmentof the costs and benefits of significant regulatory actions.EPA has determined that the proposed rule is a significantregulatory action because it would have an annual effect onthe economy, through costs savings, of greater than $100million per year.This Executive Summary is organized into the followingsections:ES.1: Description of the HWIR-Media ProposalES.2: Potential Cost SavingsES.3: Sensitivity AnalysesES.4: Nonmonetary EffectsES.5: Potential Industry ImpactsES.6: Regulatory IssuesThe results are summarized in Exhibit ES-1 below.
ES.1ES.1DESCRIPTION OF THE HWIR-MEDIA PROPOSALDESCRIPTION OF THE HWIR-MEDIA PROPOSAL
HWIR-Media will address an important limitation of thecurrent RCRA Subtitle C program. The Subtitle C regulatoryframework was designed primarily to ensure the safecradle-to-grave management of currently-generatedhazardous waste and thereby prevent releases, and tominimize the generation and maximize the legitimate reuseand recycling of hazardous waste. Subtitle C regulationsconsequently contain many detailed procedural andsubstantive management requirements that, when applied tothe cleanup of contaminated media, create incentives toleave contaminated media in place or to select remediesthat otherwise minimize the applicability of RCRAregulations.
The proposed rule would revise existing RCRA SubtitleC regulations by creating a new decision process foridentifying and managing contaminated media: soil,sediment (excluding navigational sediment), ground water,and surface water. Under this framework, a risk-based setof hazardous constituent concentration levels would define a"bright line" separating high and low levels of contamination.Media (excluding non-navigational sediment) containing oneor more hazardous constituents with concentrations abovethe bright line would be required to be managed as"hazardous contaminated media" under
Exhibit ES-1. Summary of Potential Impacts of HWIR-MediaExhibit ES-1. Summary of Potential Impacts of HWIR-MediaOptionsOptions
Proposed Bright LineProposed Bright LineExpanded Bright LineExpanded Bright LineOptionOptionOptionOptionRemedialRemedial
78 percent of all76 percent of all
WastesWastes
contaminated mediaremedial wastes
EligibleEligible
(excluding ground water)(excluding ground water
forfor
are potentially eligible forand debris) are
ExemptioExemptio
exclusion from Subtitle C:potentially eligible for
nn
-Soil: 78 percentexclusion from Subtitle C:-Sediment: 81 percent-Media: same as(by applying soilProposed Optionbright line)-Old waste: 63%-Ground water: 5-Debris: Notpercent of sites usingestimatedland placement oftreated ground waterPortion of soil potentiallyeligible for exclusion islarger for RCRAcorrective actions thanfor CERCLA remedialactions.
PotentialPotential
Soil: $1,050 million/yearMedia: $1,230
AnnualAnnual
Sediment: $60million/year (same as
CostCost
million/yearProposed Option)
SavingsSavings
Ground water: $120Old waste: $220million/yearmillion/yearTotal: $1,230Debris: $90 million/yearmillion/yearTotal: $1,540Potential soil andsediment savings wouldPotential soil anddecline by $640sediment savings wouldmillion/year if CAMU ruledecline by $640was effective in themillion/year if CAMU rulebaseline.was effective in baseline.Estimates representEstimates representmaximum potentialmaximum potentialannual savings over theannual savings over thenext few years.next few years.Limited state adoptionLimited state adoptionwould reduce potentialwould reduce potentialsavings.savings.million/year
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Environmental Protection Agency: execsum
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| Upload Date: | 01/28/2008 |
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