7.3 Government and laws on the environment  (Page 5/7)

Hazardous waste management facilities receiving hazardous wastes for treatment, storage or disposal are referred to as treatment, storage and disposal facilities (TSDFs). The EPA closely regulates the TSDFs so that they operate properly for protection of human health and the environment. TSDFs may be owned and operated by independent companies that receive wastes from a number of waste generators, or by the generators of waste themselves. TSDFs include landfills, incinerators, impoundments, holding tanks, and many other treatment units designed for safe and efficient management of hazardous waste. The EPA closely regulates the construction and operation of these TSDFs, where the operators of TSDFs must obtain a permit from the EPA delineating the procedures for the operation of these facilities. The operators must also provide insurance and adequate financial backing. The shipping of wastes to a TSDF or recycler is frequently less expensive than obtaining and meeting all the requirements for a storage permit.

The major amendment to Resource Conservation and Recovery Act was instituted in 1984 as the Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments (HSWA). The HSWA provides regulation for leaking underground storage tanks (leaking USTs) affecting groundwater pollution. The RCRA regulates USTs containing hazardous wastes. The HSWA added Subtitle I to RCRA to provide for regulation of new and existing UST systems, including corrosion protection for all USTs to prevent the leaking of hazardous waste from corroded USTs. As part of the Superfund Amendments Reauthorization Act (SARA, 1986), Subtitle I to RCRA was modified to provide for remedies and compensation due to petroleum releases from UST systems. In addition, the HSWA provides for regulation to prevent the contamination of groundwater by hazardous wastes, where the EPA restricts the disposal of hazardous wastes in landfills due to the migration of hazardous constituents from the waste placed in landfills.

Comprehensive environmental response, composition, and liability act (cercla)

The CERCLA (1980) also known as 'Superfund" aims to provide for liability, compensation and the cleanup of inactive or abandoned hazardous waste disposal sites, and for emergency response to releases of hazardous materials into the environment. CERCLA gives the EPA the power and the funding to clean up abandoned hazardous waste sites and to respond to emergencies related to hazardous waste releases. The Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA) of 1986 solidified many of the provisions of CERCLA such as increasing the authority of the EPA to respond to remediation of hazardous waste sites with a faster startup for cleanup of contaminated sites, and greatly increased the available trust fund for cleanup.

The EPA uses the National Priority List (NPL) to identify contaminated sites that present a risk to public health or the environment and that may be eligible for Superfund money. A numeric ranking system known as the Hazard Ranking System (HRS) has been established to determine the eligibility of contaminated sites for Superfund money, where sites with high HRS scores are most likely to be added to the NPL. The National Contingency Plan (NCP) provides guidance for the initial assessment and the HRS ranking of contaminated sites. After the initial assessment of a contaminated site, a remedial investigation is carried out where the NCP provides for a detailed evaluation of the risks associated with that site. A remedial investigation results in a work plan, which leads to the selection of an appropriate remedy referred to as a feasibility study. The feasibility study assesses several remedial alternatives, resulting in Record of Decision (ROD) as the basis for the design of the selected alternative. The degree of cleanup is specified by the NCP in accordance with several criteria such as the degree of hazard to the public health and the environment, where the degree of cleanup varies for different contaminated sites.