On March 25, 2002, the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published aproposed rule to conditionally exclude from the definition of solid waste established underthe Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), hazardous secondary oil-bearingmaterials from the petroleum refinery industry when the material are processed in agasification system to manufacture synthesis gas for use as a fuel. There were conditions tothe exclusion:1. The manufacturing system involved meets the definition of a gasificationsystem;2. The system generates a synthesis gas fuel meeting the specification ofexempted synthesis gas;3. Material generated by the gasification system cannot be placed on the land ifthey exceed the nonwastewater Universal Treatment Standards (UTS) forchromium, lead, nickel, vanadium, arsenic, and antimony shown in 40 CFR268.48; and4. Material are not placed on the land or speculatively accumulated prior to theirinsertion into the gasification system.The purpose of this proposal is two-fold: (1) to put the gasification of these secondarymaterials on the same regulatory footing, (i.e., excluded) as other hazardous materialsreturned to the petroleum refinery process; and (2) to allow the use of hazardous waste asfeedstock for gasification systems and, in doing so, turn these secondary materials (or wastes)into energy. It is envisioned that this regulatory change will meets EPA’s goals of providing amore consistent regulatory framework for this practice, as well as potentially enhancing theuse of gasification technologies as a manufacturing activity and reducing the amount of wastedisposed of on the land.In an attempt to further these goals, EPA has also proposed expanding theconditional exclusion to include any other hazardous secondary materials generated byother industrial sectors. To expand the exclusion, three additional conditions to the“petroleum materials-only” exclusion are proposed:
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