EPA Deregulates Texas Oil Refinery Wastes Despite Threat Of Lawsuit

摘要

Epa is granting ExxonMobil's petition to deregulate certain tank wastes at a Texas oil refinery despite criticisms that doing so may be illegal and could set a national precedent eroding environmental protections. In response to ExxonMobil's petition, EPA proposed in 2010 to exclude - or delist - certain centrifuge solids generated from the treatment of tank bottoms at the company's Beaumont, TX, refinery from strict hazardous waste regulation under the Resource Conservation & Recovery Act (RCRA). Such delisting would allow ExxonMobil to dispose of the wastes in nonhazardous landfills regulated under subtitle D of RCRA, rather then handle them according to stricter hazardous waste regulations under RCRA subtitle C. Groups representing the hazardous waste industry, which specializes in the treatment of subtitle C-regulated wastes had strongly criticized the proposal. In 2010 comments, the Environmental Technology Council (ETC) warned that granting the petition could set a dangerous precedent that other refineries may use to attempt to bypass RCRA requirements in cleaning out their tanks. Some industry sources suggested that EPA's proposed actions may be illegal and that they would consider taking legal action against the agency if it finalized the proposal.