OBAMA EPA MOVES AHEAD WITH SCRAPPING BUSH-ERA WASTE FUELS RULE

摘要

The Obama EPA is moving forward with its plan to scrap a controversial Bush-era rule that increased the number of hazardous wastes that can be burned as fuel, sending a proposal to formally withdraw the so-called comparable fuels rule to the White House for review.rnEPA Aug. 19 sent the proposal to the White House Office of Management & Budget (OMB) for review, a move that shows the agency is on schedule to meet its goal of issuing the proposed withdrawal this fall. EPA announced in May that it would move to withdraw the rule by November in response to an environmentalist lawsuit against the rules. OMB has 90 days to review the proposed regulation.rnIn the May announcement, the agency justified withdrawing the comparable fuels rule, saying, "The final rule . . . has been criticized for allowing hazardous waste to evade the hazardous waste regulatory system, and also for being difficult to administer." EPA added in the announcement, "Industry members have also criticized it because of the detailed and prescriptive conditions for reclassiflcation, which they believe will limit its use."