The Government Affairs Committee at its October 30, 1995 meeting approved the Ground Water Protection and Management Subcommittee's recommendation that NGWA comment on HWIR when U.S. EPA proposes it. The RCRA Task Force was charged with monitoring this rulemaking and developing a proposed position.

This supporting document contains the recommended position statement, as developed by the RCRA Task Force and approved by the Ground Water Protection and Management Subcommittee, relative to the initial December 21, 1995 U.S. EPA HWIR proposal. The RCRA Task Force in reviewing the U.S. EPA proposal focused on those issues which would have an impact on ground water protection and/or the ground water industry.

The RCRA Task Force will continue to monitor the second portion of the HWIR rulemaking process in completion of its initial Government Affairs Committee charge.

Recommended Position:

• The NGWA supports the concept of utilizing the risk assessment process in establishing constituent specific exit levels for low risk solid wastes that are designated as hazardous because they are listed, or have been mixed with, derived from, or contain listed hazardous waste.

• Due to response time constraints, NGWA has not reviewed in detail USEPA's risk assessment methodology and assumptions. Based on a preliminary review, the following comments have been generated for USEPA's consideration.
  • NGWA believes that the USEPA should consider biodegradation in the modeling of ground water.
  • NGWA believes that the USEPA's risk analysis should consider the effects on ground water from exit level wastes which are disposed of in underground injection wells.
  • NGWA believes that the USEPA should use maximum contaminant levels (for those constituents for which they have been established), rather than reference doses, for setting human health based levels for carcinogens and noncarcinogens in routes of exposure involving water ingestion.

• In regards to determining background concentrations in soils, NGWA supports the use of site-specific determinations over the use of national mean levels. We also support the use of statistical techniques to compare waste concentration levels to background soil concentration levels.

• In regards to notification requirements under the proposed rules, NGWA believes that receiving facilities should be notified prior to receiving exited waste.