The April 29, 1996 Federal Register contained the second of the two-part HWIR proposal from U.S. EPA. The second proposal would establish new regulations for contaminated media, including contaminated soils, ground water and sediments, that are managed during government-overseen remedial actions. The proposed rule would address contaminated media that are currently subject to regulation as "hazardous waste" under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). The rule's purpose, according to U.S. EPA's summary of the proposed rule, is to develop more flexible management standards for media and wastes generated in the course of site cleanups.

This supporting document, contains the final position statement, as developed by the RCRA Task Force and approved by the Government Affairs Committee, relative to the second April 29, 1996 U.S. EPA HWIR-Media proposal.

Recommended Position:

• The NGWA strongly supports and applauds the U.S. EPA's efforts to develop more flexible management standards for media and wastes generated in the course of site cleanups.

• The NGWA is most impressed and in agreement with the proposed unitary approach to the management of all remediation waste (FR vol. 61, No. 83, Page 18788). The NGWA believes that the "conditional exclusion" theory, which would exempt all remediation wastes from Subtitle C regulation, is valid. The conditional exclusion theory is based upon U.S. EPA's understanding, and NGWA's concurrence, that RCRA provides the U.S. EPA and the States the discretion to determine that a waste need not be defined as "hazardous" where restrictions are placed on management such that no improper management could occur that might threaten human health or the environment.

  The NGWA believes that site cleanups conducted under U.S. EPA and/or State regulatory authority assures the proper management of remediation waste and thus RCRA Subtitle C regulations should not apply to remediation waste. The NGWA agrees with the U.S. EPA that allowing all contaminated media or remediation wastes to exit RCRA Subtitle C could avoid many of the complexities that come with regulations within the hazardous waste regulatory system. We concur that overseeing agencies would have much more flexibility to prescribe inclusive, site wide solutions for contaminated media, rather than a limited series of separate approaches.

  We also agree that using a conditional exclusion theory without dividing remediation wastes and media, and without dividing media above and below the Bright Line, could also allow all cleanup wastes at a site to be covered under a single regulatory regime. This would be more straightforward to implement and easier to comply with and understand.