Environmental Regulations

1
CHAPTER 4

• Environmental Regulations

2
Growth of Major Environmental Laws in the U.S.
3
Changes in U.S. Environmental Regulations
4
Regulatory Process

• Laws are developed by Congress and ratified by
  the President
• Federal statutory law compiled in the United
  States Code of Federal Regulations (CFR)
• Statutes are general in content
• Details are provided by the implementing
  regulatory agencies in regulations which are
  published in Federal Register and compiled in the
  CFR

5
What is Environmental Law?

• Environmental Law encompasses all the
  protections for our environment that emanate from
  the
• United States Constitution
• State Constitution
• Federal, state, local ordinances
• Federal, state, local regulations
• court decisions interpreting these laws
  regulations
• the common law

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Laws Affecting The Production And Use Of A Product
7
Clean Air Laws

• Air Pollution Control Research and Technical
  Assistance Act 1955, no regulatory authority
• research on the effects of air pollution by PHS
• provision of technical assistance to the states
  by the Federal government
• training of individuals in the area of air
  pollution
• Clean Air Act 1963, 67, 70, 77, 90
• protect and enhance air quality so as to promote
  the public health and welfare and the productive
  capacity of the general population

8
Clean Air Act63

• Recognized the need for federal control
• Acceleration of research and training program
• Matching grants to states and local agencies for
  air pollution regulation programs
• Developing air quality criteria
• Initiating efforts to control air pollution from
  all federal facilities
• Federal authority to abate interstate air
  pollution
• Encouraged efforts on the part of automotive
  companies and the fuel industries to prevent air
  pollution

9
Clean Air Act65

• addition of Title II, The Motor Vehicle Air
  Pollution Control Act (PL 89-272, 79 Stat. 991)
• federal emission standards for new vehicles

10
Clean Air Act70

• Clean air throughout the nation by July 1975
• Additional money to conduct research
• NAAQS established by EPA
• Designation of AQCRs
• SIPs implemented within 3 yrs
• NESHAPS established
• Industry required to monitor and maintain
  emission records. EPA given right to entry and
  data review.
• Fines and criminal penalties for air pollution
  violations imposed
• Automotive emissions 90 reduction of CO for
  1975 models, 90 reduction in NOx by 1976 model
  cars
• Aircraft emissions standards were established
• Citizen suits allowed
• EPA authorized to study noise pollution

11
Clean Air Act77

• Non-attainment areas to submit revised SIP by
  July 1,1979 so as to be in attainment by Dec. 31,
  1982
• NSPS established
• PSD established
• EPA permit system introduced and banking allowed
• Non-attainment regulations introduced

12
Decreases In Emissions, 86-95
Decreases in ambient air Decreases in
emissions concentration Pollutant
()
() Carbon monoxide 16
37 Lead 32 78 Nitrogen oxides 3
14 Ozone - 6 Particulates 17
22 Sulfur dioxide 18 37
13
National Ambient AirQuality Standards
Pollutant Value Type Ozone 0.12 ppm (1-hr
ave.) Primary secondary Carbon monoxide 9 ppm
(8-hr ave.) Primary 35 ppm (1-hr
ave.) Primary Particulates 50 ug/m3 (annual
mean) Primary secondary Sulfur dioxide 0.14
ppm (24-hr ave.) Primary 0.03 ppm (annual
mean) Primary 0.50 ppm (3-hr
ave.) Secondary Nitrogen dioxide 0.053 ppm
(annual mean) Primary Secondary Lead 1.5
ug/m3 (quarterly ave.) Primary Secondary
14
Toxic Air Pollution Emissions in the U.S. by
Source, 1990
15
Phase-out Schedule for Ozone-Destroying Chemicals
16
Clean Air Act90

• Divided into 11 different titles
• Nonattainment
• Mobile Sources
• Air Toxics
• Acid Rain
• Permits
• Stratospheric Ozone Protection
• Enforcement
• Miscellaneous Provisions
• Clean Air Research
• Reserved
• Employment Transition Assistance (NEW Provision)
• New provisions for Ozone and PM2.5

17
Water Laws

• Federal Water Pollution Control Act is the
  primary legislation
• Originally passed in 1948, but totally rewritten
  in 1972
• Modified in 1977 to include toxic water
  pollutants and renamed as Clean Water Act
• CWA revised in 81, 87 (water quality act added)
  and is presently under review

18
Clean Water Act

• Act has five main elements
• a permit program
• a system of minimum national effluent standards
  for each industry
• water quality standards
• provisions for special problems such as toxic
  chemicals, oil spills etc.
• a construction grant program for POTWs

19
Clean Water Act(Goals Objectives)

• Achieve a level of water quality which provides
  for the protection and propagation of fish,
  shellfish, and wildlife, and for recreation in
  and on all waters by 1 July 1983
• Eliminate the discharge of pollutants into US
  waters by 1985 (section 101)

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National Priority Drinking Water Standards
21
National Priority Drinking Water Standards
22
National Priority Drinking Water Standards
23
National Priority Drinking Water Standards
24
Clean Water Act(Mechanisms)

• NPDES
• A permit program requiring dischargers to
  disclose the volume and nature of their
  discharges, authorizing EPA to specify the
  limitations to be imposed on such discharges,
  imposing on dischargers an obligation to monitor
  and report as to their compliance or
  non-compliance with the limitations so imposed,
  and authorizing EPA and citizen enforcement in
  the event of non-compliance.

25
Clean Water Act(Mechanisms cont.)

• POTWs
• A two stage system of technology-based effluent
  limits establishing minimum treatment required to
  be achieved by direct industrial dischargers and
  public owned treatment works and a complementary
  system or pretreatment requirements applicable to
  dischargers to POTWs
• Permits
• A program for imposing more stringent limits in
  permits where such limits are necessary to
  achieve water quality standards or objectives

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Clean Water Act(Mechanisms cont.)

• Specific Provisions
• applicable to certain toxic and other pollutant
  discharges of particular concern (e.g. oil
  spills, non-process discharges, say from a
  contaminated plant site runoff).
• Grants
• A grant program to help fund POTW attainment of
  the applicable requirements

27
Oil Pollution Act 1990

• The OPA is a comprehensive statute that amends
  section 311 of the Federal Water Pollution
  Control Act (the Clean Water Act) and is designed
  to expand oil spill prevention, preparedness, and
  response capabilities of the Federal government
  and industry. The Act establishes a new
  liability and compensation regime for oil
  pollution incidents in the aquatic environment
  and provides the resources necessary for the
  removal of discharged oil.

28
National Environmental Policy Act

• Declares a national policy which will encourage
  productive and enjoyable harmony between man and
  his environment to promote efforts which will
  prevent or eliminate damage to the environment
  and biosphere and stimulate the health and
  welfare of man to enrich the understanding of
  the ecological systems and natural resources
  important to the Nation and to establish a
  Council on Environmental Quality.

(Pub. L. 91-190, Sec. 2, Jan. 1, 1970, 83 Stat.
852.)
29
Safe Drinking Water Act
Use this slide or next two Choose

• SDWA was originally enacted in 1974 as an
  amendment to the Public Health Service Act
• intended to assure safe drinking water supplies,
  protect especially valuable aquifers, and protect
  drinking water sources from contamination from
  underground injection of contaminants
• amended in 1986 and again in 1995 and 1996
• 1986 amendment
• required EPA to regulate 83 contaminants in 1982
  and 83 Advance Notices of Proposed Rulemaking
  47 FR 9352 48 FR 45502. See SDWA 1412(b)(1)
• Maximum Contaminant Level Goals (MCLGs) and
  National Primary Drinking Water Regulations
  (NPDWRs) must be promulgated by June 1987 for
  nine listed contaminants, by June 1988 for an
  additional forty, and the remaining contaminants
  by June 1989

30
Safe Drinking Water Act

• SDWA passed by Congress in 1974
• Intended to monitor and increase the safety of
  all commercially and publicly supplied drinking
  water
• Amended in 1986
• establish Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCL),
  Maximum Contaminant Level Goals (MCLG), and Best
  Available Technology (BAT) treatment techniques
• Amended again in 1996

31
Toxic Substances Control Act

• Toxic Substance Control Act of 1976 (TSCA)
  provides for testing of manufactured substances
  to determine toxic or otherwise harmful
  characteristics and regulation of the
  manufacture, distribution, use, and disposal of
  regulated substances
• The only TSCA-regulated compounds in significant
  quantities are polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)
  contained in electrical capacitors and
  transformer oil and PCB-contaminated sludge
• regulations provide detailed requirements for use
  and disposal of materials containing
  concentrations of PCBs above 50 ppm
• Amended in 1986 to include Asbestos Hazard
  Emergency Response Act
• 1990 amendment extended the act to cover all
  public and commercial buildings.

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Toxicity Characteristics
33
Toxicity Characteristics
34
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act

• Until 1976, hazardous wastes were regulated under
  SWDA of 1965, which primarily dealt with the
  disposal of non-hazardous wastes
• RCRA enacted on October 21, 1976
• RCRA is basically a regulatory statute, designed
  to provide cradle-to-grave management of
  hazardous waste by imposing management
  requirements on generators and transporters of
  hazardous materials and upon owners and operators
  of treatment, storage and disposal facilities
• Does not address problem of abandoned or inactive
  sites

35
RCRA (cont.)

• Originally amended the Solid Waste Disposal Act
  (1965).
• Reauthorized in 1984 with the Hazardous and
  Solid Waste Amendments, and was amended in 1988
  to include the management of infectious waste.
• FFCA (October 1992) an amendment to RCRA brings
  all federal facilities into compliance with
  applicable federal and state hazardous waste
  laws. FFCA requires DOE to develop treatment
  plans for mixed hazardous and radioactive waste.
• Waives federal immunity for violation of
  hazardous waste requirements. By October of
  1995, DOE's regulators must issue compliance
  orders to implement the treatment plans.

36
Hazardous Waste Definition RCRA (Subtitle A)

• Any garbage, refuse, sludge, from a waste
  treatment plant, water supply treatment plant or
  air pollution control facility and other
  discarded material including solid, liquid,
  semisolid, or contained gaseous materials
  resulting from industrial, commercial, mining and
  agricultural activities and from commuinity
  activities but does not include solid or
  dissolved material in domestic sewage, or solid
  or dissolved materials in irrigation return flows
  or industrial discharges which are point sources
  subject to permits under section 402 of the
  Federal Water Control Act, as amended, or source,
  special nuclear, or byproduct material as defined
  by the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended.

(68 Stat. 923)
37
Identification of Hazardous Wastes

• Is it solid waste? solid waste includes any
  discarded material that is not otherwise subject
  to regulatory exclusion or a specific variance
  granted by EPA or an authorized state (40 CFR
  261.2(a), 50 FR 664 (Jan.4, 985)
• If yes, is it hazardous waste?
• if not on the exclusion list
• listed in 40 CFR part 261, Subpart D
• exhibits any of the four hazardous waste
  characteristics (40 CFR part 261, Subpart C)
• a mixture of a listed waste and a solid waste

38
Exclusion List

• household waste
• agricultural wastes returned to the ground as
  fertilizer
• mining overburden returned to the mine site
• utility wastes from coal combustion
• oil and natural gas exploration drilling waste
• wastes from extraction, benefaction ,and
  processing of ores and minerals, including coal
• cement kiln dust wastes
• arsenical-treated wood wastes generated by end
  users of such wood
• certain chromium-bearing wastes
• radioactive wastes

39
Inclusion Lists

• F List hazardous wastes from non-specific
  sources
• K List wastes from specific sources
• F K list are for wastes generated by industrial
  processes
• P List acutely hazardous chemicals
• U list toxic chemicals
• P U list are used for products discarded by
  industry because they are off-specification or
  out of date

40
Mixture And Derived Rules

• Mixture Rule
• if a listed hazardous waste is mixed with
  non-hazardous waste, it is still a hazardous
  waste
• Derived-from Rule
• a waste generated from a hazardous waste TSD
  facility is categorically a hazardous waste

41
Important Sections of RCRA

• TSDFs
• Permit System (Manifest System)
• Notification of Hazardous Waste Activity
• Uniform Hazardous Waste Manifest
• Land Disposal Restrictions
• Land Disposal Program Flexibility Act 1996
• Underground Storage Tank Regulations
• leak detection
• corrosion and spill protection

42
Comprehensive Environmental Response,
Compensation, amd Liability Act

• also known as Superfund
• enacted in 1980 to provide funding and
  enforcement authority for responding to hazardous
  substance spills and for cleaning up the
  thousands of hazardous waste sites that have been
  created in the US over the past decades
• amended in 1986 by the Superfund Amendments and
  Reauthorization Act (SARA)

43
CERCLA (cont.)

• The National Oil and Hazardous Substances
  Contingency Plan (NCP) is found within SARA.
• The NCP assigns responsibilities to Federal
  agencies, including DoD, to act in two kinds of
  situations it authorizes immediate action to
  preserve human health or the environment for
  emergencies, such as an oil or hazardous waste
  spill and it authorizes long-term action to
  permanently remedy contamination from ongoing
  threats, such as leakage from a waste site into
  water supplies.

44
CERCLA (cont.)

• The SARA amendments also require that
  installation operators are obligated to provide
  information pertaining to any regulated substance
  present on the facility to the appropriate state
  or local authorities.
• Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDSs) are prepared
  by the chemical manufacturer of any hazardous
  chemical and contain information on the chemical
  that could aid in minimizing the danger of a
  spill.

45
CERCLA (cont.)

• The Installation Restoration Program (IRP) is the
  major element in the Defense Environmental
  Restoration Program (DERP), established in
  accordance with CERCLA/SARA.
• The goal of the IRP is to locate potential
  contamination (hazardous waste) sites on DoD
  installations and formerly owned or used
  properties, determine the extent of contamination
  and the options for site decontamination, and, if
  required, perform the site decontamination.

46
Inactive Waste-Site Cleanup

• Under CERCLA, EPA is authorized to undertake
  removal or remedial action
• There is a distinction between Removal and
  Remedial Action
• removal is a short-term, limited response to a
  more manageable problem
• remedy is a longer term, more permanent and
  expensive solution for a more complex problem

47
Which Sites are Superfund Sites?

• State Contract or Cooperative Sites
• state agrees to finance 10 of the remedy
• in case of state-operated site, this values goes
  up to 50
• Sites listed on National Priorities List
• list of sites needing remedial actions which
  passed preliminary review, physical site
  inspection, and ranking according to hazard
  ranking system

48
Steps in the Remedial Process

• Superfund Comprehensive Accomplishments Plan
• for each fiscal year, it shows which stage of the
  clean up process (if any) is scheduled for each
  NPL site
• Remedial Investigation/Feasibility Study
• RI attempts to characterize with precision the
  conditions at a site (e.g. source and extent of
  contamination)
• FS looks at a series of specific engineering or
  construction alternatives for cleaning up a site
• For each major alternative, there is a detailed
  analysis of costs, effects, engineering
  feasibility and environmental impacts

49
Steps in the Remedial Process (cont.)

• Record of Decision
• ROD prepared after RI/FS
• announces and explains tentative selection from
  among the RI/FS options
• Design and Construction
• in design stage, detailed engineering plans are
  developed, site specifications calculated, and
  all site specific factors are incorporated
• construction contract is given out, including OM

50
Brownfields Initiative

• Brownfields are abandoned, idle or under-used
  industrial and commercial facilities where
  expansion or redevelopment is complicated by real
  or perceived environmental contamination.
• Initiative developed to empower states,
  communities, and others in economic redevelopment
  to work together in a timely manner to assess,
  safely cleanup, and sustainably reuse the site.

51
Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act

• Establishes procedures and requirements for
  community emergency planning for releases of
  extremely hazardous substances (EHS), reporting
  of spills and leaks of EHS, reporting of
  hazardous substances in the workplace, and annual
  reporting of toxic chemical releases. EPCRA was a
  part of CERCLA amendment III, but it is now a
  free standing and separate act and not codified
  as a part of CERCLA.

52
EPCRA Subtitles

• Emergency Planning and Notification
• establishes mechanisms to enable states and
  communities to prepare to respond to unplanned
  releases of hazardous materials
• Reporting Requirements
• requires submission on inventory related data at
  the site, and annual reporting to the EPA and the
  State on environmental releases of toxic
  chemicals manufactured,processed, or otherwise
  used at the facility
• General Provisions
• contains a variety of general provisions,
  including penalties for violations

53
Hazardous Materials Transportation Act

• Principal statute governing the transportation of
  hazardous materials. Regulates packaging and
  labeling, requires transportation manifests,
  establishes driver and vehicle standards, and
  imposes emergency response and reporting
  requirements. 1990 amendments (HMTUSA) establish
  hazardous materials employee training
  requirements, registration and permitting of
  certain transporters, and financial
  responsibility requirements

54
DOT Requirements
Waste Classification
Any material that meets the

49 CFR 171.8
definition of one or more DOT
49 CFR 173
hazard classes
Names published by DOT. Order of
Proper Shipping
priority is chemical name, chemical
group, end use, generic end use,
Name
and hazard class
49 CFR 172.101
49 CFR 173 Column 8 of Table
172.101 provides packaging
Selection of Packaging
requirements for specific types of
49 CFR 173, 178 and 179
materials Column 7 includes special
packaging requirements
Marking and Labeling
Labels provide an immediate indication
49 CFR 172.300 and
of hazards and precautions markings
49 CFR 172.400
include detailed information
Shipping papers may be in the form of a
Shipping Papers
bill of lading, shipping order, or
hazardous waste manifest provided
49 CFR 172.200
requirements of 40 CFR are met
Placards indicate the hazards of the
material in the vehicle with few
Placarding
exceptions, vehicles requiring placards
49 CFR 172.500
must affix two on each side, one on
front and one on back
Emergency response information must
Emergency
be provided and maintained during any
Preparedness
phase of transportation including loading
49 CFR 172.600
and storage
55
Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodent Act

• First pesticide control law,1910
• replaced with a law requiring pesticides products
  be registered with the Agriculture Department
• authority moved to EPA in 1970
• present law, FIFRA, enacted in 1972
• FIFRA amended in 1975, 78, 80, 90 94
• regulates distribution, sale and use of pesticides

56
FIFRA Features

• Regulates the registration, labeling,
  application, transportation, storage, disposal,
  and recall of pesticides.
• Classifies and regulates pesticides based on
  their threat to human health.
• Provides standards for the safety of workers
  exposed to pesticides on the job.
• Regulates design and handling of pesticide
  containers.
• Establishes extensive recordkeeping and public
  notice requirements.
• Provides for state-federal joint implementation
  of the pesticide regulatory program.

57
Occupational Safety and Health Law

• Passed in 1970, this Act made the government
  responsible for protecting the work force
• It signaled the beginning of a new era in
  Occupational Safety.
• Ended the differences in worker safety
  requirements and workmens compensation laws
  between states, although any state can use its
  own laws if they were equally effective as that
  of the Federal government.

58
OSHA (cont.)

• This Act established OSHA, whose objective was to
  inspect, regulate and enforce laws pertaining to
  hazardous conditions
• OSHA is within the Department of Labor and is
  entrusted with citing and penalizing those
  companies that do not comply with regulatory
  health standards.
• NIOSH (National Institute of Occupational Safety
  and Health), the research arm responsible for
  establishing standards for chemical and toxic
  exposures, was also set up.
• NIOSH functions within the jurisdiction of the
  Department of Health Human Services and
  recommends criterion to OSHA to utilize for
  framing regulations, and also provides
  professional education and delineation of health
  and safety information.

59
Pollution Prevention Act 1990

• The principal statute governing pollution
  prevention and waste reduction. Establishes an
  Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics at EPA.
  
• Creates a largely incentive, rather than
  regulatory, program to encourage pollution
  prevention and source reduction from polluting
  entities.
• Requires reporting of source reduction and
  recycling efforts within EPA

60
P2 (cont.)

• Declares it the national policy of the United
  States that pollution should be prevented or
  reduced at the source whenever feasible
  pollution that cannot be prevented should be
  recycled in an environmentally safe manner,
  whenever feasible pollution that cannot be
  prevented or recycled should be treated in an
  environmentally safe manner whenever feasible
  and disposal or other release into the
  environment should be employed only as a last
  resort and should be conducted in an
  environmentally safe manner.

61
Executive Orders

• EO are executed by the President without passage
  by Congress, but are binding on federal agencies
  and affiliated entities

62
ISO 14000

• ISO International Organization for
  Standardization
• ISO Mission
• promote the development of standardization and
  related activities in the world with a view to
  facilitate the international exchange of goods
  and services, and to develop cooperation in the
  areas of intellectual, scientific, technological
  and economic activity

63
ISO Objective

• Facilitate trade through enhanced product quality
  and reliability simplification for improved
  usability and improved health, safety and
  environmental protection, and reduction of waste.

64
What is ISO 14000?

• The ISO 14000 series of standards is comprised of
  several guideline standards and one compliance
  standard -- ISO 14001, Environmental Management
  Systems.
• Organizations meeting the requirements will be
  able to seek registration to the standard in a
  process similar to ISO 9000 registration.
• Modeled after the BS 7750 (Environmental
  Management Systems) originally published in 1992
  and updated in 1994. The BS 7750 standard has
  been the subject of a pilot implementation
  program involving nearly 500 participants from
  various industries.

65
Environment Management

• Environmental Management is a tool for an
  organization to keep aware of the interactions
  that its products and activities have with the
  environment and to achieve and continuously
  improve the desired level of environmental
  performance.

66
ISO 9000 v/s ISO 14000

• ISO 9000 is aimed at meeting customer
  requirements, control of the process and
  continuous improvement. ISO 14000 is aimed at
  these, and more customer requirements has
  expanded to include regulatory and other
  mandatory environmental requirements and
  continuous improvement is not only driven by
  customer expectations but also by priorities and
  objectives generated internally by the
  organization.