OCEAN INCINERATION REGULATION

EPA has proposed regulations that would allow certain hazardous wastes to be burned at sea. By October 1987, EPA is scheduled to issue final regulations on designating sites for burning hazardous waste at sea. Final regulations on ocean incineration will be promulgated in late 1988. These ocean incineration regulations will apply exclusively to liquid organic wastes and exclude solid wastes.

About 4 MMT of liquid organic hazardous wastes are managed annually. Approximately 1.7 MMT of these wastes is burned in on-site hazardous waste incinerators and 0.4 MMT is incinerated at commercial hazardous wastes facilities. The remainder is recycled or used as fuel. Demand for hazardous waste incineration capacity could change based on the following circumstances.

The land disposal restrictions may divert liquid incinerable wastes currently land disposed to incineration.

A small amount of wastes presently burned in boilers could shift to incineration. The Deep-Well Injection regulations now being developed could shift some concentrated wastes currently deep-well injected to incineration.

Increased Superfund and RCRA cleanup activities could increase the volume of hazardous wastes that require incineration. Most of these wastes are likely to be contaminated soils and sludges. It is difficult to estimate the extent to which the RCRA corrective action program and Superfund's selection of remedy policy will change the demand for incineration capacity.

The extent to which ocean incineration is used will depend upon need, cost and risk considerations. The availability and cost of land based incineration units will affect demand for ocean incineration. Other major factors affecting ocean incineration are the ability to designate sites, to obtain permits for portside support facilities, and to permit ocean incinerator ships. Additionally, the cost of transporting and incinerating wastes in land based versus ocean incinerators would affect utilization rates for each technology. Finally, managing risk to satisfy the public is an issue which affects both land and sea incineration of hazardous wastes.

CORRECTIVE ACTION POLICIES

Corrective action involves cleaning up soils, sludges and groundwater contaminated with hazardous wastes at hundreds of RCRA facilities. Corrective actions may be required where hazardous waste releases have occurred at hazardous waste treatment, storage, and disposal facilities (TSDs) and solid waste management units (SWMUS). Early estimates suggest there are about 7 SWMUS per TSD facility. Corrective action may be required at many of these facilities.

Leaking underground storage tanks represent another potentially large universe for corrective action projects. There are approximately one million underground storage tanks, approximately 5-20 percent may be leaking.

The volume of waste that will be generated from corrective action projects could be large. Although most waste probably will be treated on-site, some concentrated wastes may require off-site treatment. These wastes will likely compete for existing commercial treatment and land disposal capacity.

SUPERFUND OFF-SITE POLICY AND CLEAN-UP STANDARDS

The Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA) establishes standards for Superfund clean-up actions and also stipulates the conditions for disposing of Superfund wastes off-site. These provisions could change the proportions of hazardous waste managed on-site and off-site.

The new clean-up standards provided for in SARA require that Superfund remedies must be protective of human health and the environment, cost-effective, and utilize permanent solutions, alternative treatment technologies and resource recovery to the maximum extent practicable. The on-site remedies must also meet applicable or relevant and appropriate regulations (ARARS) of other federal statutes including: RCRA, TSCA, SDWA, CAA, and CWA. And, where state standards are more stringent than federal standards, state standards must be met. For wastes remaining on-site, the remedial actions are reviewed every 5 years.

The new clean-up standards are expected to increase the use of mobile treatment units and stabilization techniques to manage waste on-site. However, some concentrated hazardous wastes will likely require off-site treatment and disposal. This could increase the demand for commercial capacity.

The off-site disposal provision in SARA restricts disposal of Superfund wastes to those facilities in compliance with RCRA and TSCA and applicable state requirements. Specifically, the unit receiving Superfund wastes must not be releasing any hazardous wastes and releases from other units at the facility must be controlled by a corrective action program. Several Superfund sites have experienced difficulties locating a commercial facility eligible to accept their waste.

Currently, 4 percent of all hazardous waste is managed off-site by commercial facilities. The amount of waste taken off-site could increase substantially in the near-term. This increase is partially attributed to the new clean-up standards and the off-site disposal provision of SARA. This could stress the nation's commercial capacity to handle Superfund contaminated soils and sludges.