Key Rulemakings and Regulations for the Hazardous Waste Cleanup Program

On this page:

• Timeline of Key Rulemakings
• Key Regulations

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Timeline of Key Rulemakings

• In July 1985, EPA codified new standards for permitted facilities containing solid waste management units. The term ‘SWMU’ was first defined in the First Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments Codification Rule, which was based on the legislative history of RCRA section 3004(u).
• In December 1987, EPA codified changes to the existing regulations which implement the HSWA provisions relating to corrective action and permitting for RCRA facilities. This rule included provisions to implement the statutory requirements pertaining to corrective action for releases beyond the facility boundary, and to corrective action for hazardous waste injection wells. The rule codified the 3004(v) provision about off-site contamination.
• In 1990, EPA proposed a regulatory structure for the RCRA Corrective Action program, but that proposed rule never became final in its entirety. Instead, it serves as guidance for the Corrective Action program. The proposed structure was designated as Subpart S within Title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations, part 264, and titled Corrective Action for Solid Waste Management Units.
• In 1993, EPA finalized regulations in 40 CFR Subpart S for two types of units, corrective action management units and temporary units, used to facilitate remediation waste management activities during RCRA corrective action.
• In 1996, EPA promulgated amendments to the regulations governing Corrective Action Management Units "CAMUs". CAMUs are special units created under RCRA to facilitate treatment, storage, and disposal of hazardous wastes managed for implementing cleanup, and to remove the disincentives to cleanup that the application of RCRA to these wastes can sometimes impose. The original CAMU regulations were promulgated on February 16, 1993.
• In 1998, EPA finalized the Hazardous Remediation Waste Management Requirements (HWIR-Media) rule establishing new requirements for RCRA hazardous waste remediation wastes treated, stored or disposed of during cleanup actions including creating a unit called a "staging pile" that allows more flexibility in storing remediation waste during cleanups and a special form of RCRA permit, a remedial action plan or RAP.
• In 1999, EPA withdrew most provisions of the 1990 proposed rule.
• In 2002, EPA amended the 1993 CAMU rule in six ways:
  • To establish a specific definition, distinct from the definition of remediation waste.
  • To govern the types of wastes that are eligible for placement in CAMUs.
  • To establish more detailed minimum design and operating standards for CAMUs in which waste will remain after closure.
  • To establish treatment requirements for wastes that are placed in CAMUs, including minimum treatment standards, with opportunities to adjust treatment requirements under certain circumstances.
  • To establish more specific information requirements for CAMU applications and explicitly require that the public be given notice and a reasonable opportunity for public comment before final CAMU determinations are made.
  • To establish new requirements for CAMUs that will be used only for treatment and storage.
  • To ‘‘grandfather’’ certain types of existing CAMUs and allow them to continue to operate under the 1993 rule.
• In 2006, EPA finalized the Site Remediation Maximum Achievable Control Technology rule, implementing the Clean Air Act section 112(d) to control hazardous air pollutants emissions at major sources where remediation technologies and practices are used at the site to clean up contaminated environmental media (e.g., soil, groundwater, or surface water) or certain stored or disposed materials that pose a reasonable potential threat to contaminate environmental media.

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Key Regulations