Waste Treatment Regulation To Exact Heavy Penalty on Industry

When Congress passed the 1984 amendments to the Resource Conservation & Recovery Act (RCRA), one thing it wanted to do was prevent future landfill problems. It did this by specifying that many industrial wastes would have to be treated to make them safe before they were discarded. The Environmental Protection Agency is in the process of issuing regulations to ensure industry compliance with that directive. Last week, EPA proposed what will be the most expensive hazardous waste treatment regulation under the RCRA amendments. This rule will affect 24 types of industrial waste streams, to be increased to 41 waste streams by an additional proposal in about one month. The rule requires that all the wastes be treated and stipulates exactly what the treatments will be. Companies have no choice in the matter. EPA estimates that the annual cost to comply with this rule will be between $650 million and $700 million. Sylvia K. Lowrance, director ...