States Reaffirm Opposition To EPA Issuing 'Hazardous' Coal Waste Rules

摘要

Top state environment officials are reiterating their opposition to EPA designating coal combustion waste (CCW) as a "hazardous waste" under the Resource Conservation & Recovery Act (RCRA) and are instead seeking less-stringent "solid" waste rules on which states would take the lead.rnThe states' move comes as EPA officials are leaving the door open to such an approach, although EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson recently made the case that regulating some CCW as hazardous would not interfere with industry efforts to reuse the waste in concrete and other materials.rnThe Environmental Council of the States (ECOS), in a resolution approved March 23 by the group's waste committee, updated its 2008 resolution on coal combustion waste, which said that any federal regulation of coal waste is "not warranted" and would be duplicative of state efforts to address the material as a solid waste.