Science

The ins and outs of hazardous wastes regulation

FIVE MONTHS after the Illinois Legislative Investigating Commission released its report on landfilling of special and hazardous wastes, Illinois may be about to receive federal permission to carry out a state-administered hazardous waste program. If the state is granted this "interim authorization" status (valid for up to 30 months), it will be entitled to federal program grants and would relieve the state's industry of the current burden of dealing with both a federal and a state hazardous waste system, according to the commission report.

A previous request by Illinois to the U.S.

10 | December 1981 | Illinois Issues

Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) for interim authorization was rejected, although, according to the commission's report, Illinois has some hazardous waste requirements which are more stringent than those of the USEPA. The USEPA apparently withheld interim authorization from Illinois because Atty. Gen. Tyrone Fahner (in a letter required by the federal program) indicated that although Illinois laws did provide adequate authority for carrying out the hazardous waste program, some statutory changes were needed. Statutory changes have since been enacted, and in October Illinois again submitted an application for interim authorization. (The USEPA has not yet promulgated standards for final authorization.)

The ins and outs of authorization are only one aspect of the commission's report, which is the result of a four-year study. Nearly 300 pages long, the report is an excellent guide through the labyrinth of hazardous waste issues — winding its way through landfill regulations, examining the niches occupied by hazardous waste interests, and probing actual case studies in Illinois. The report also covers transportation and insurance practices for hazardous wastes and public access to proprietary information.

The report reviews Illinois statutes, which define hazardous waste as waste whose characteristics can cause or contribute to an increase in serious illness or mortality, or pose a substantial hazard to the environment when improperly treated, stored, transported or disposed. (Illinois law puts radioactive wastes in a category by themselves.)

The problem is disposing of hazardous wastes, and the commission notes that the various methods used in the past have been unsatisfactory: incineration tends to be expensive; deep well injection has not proven safe; desert burial entails lengthy transportation time (which increases the chances of spills); and ocean dumping has the problem of eventual deterioration of containers. The commission states that, for now at least, landfills are necessary, and proper regulation of landfill sites is imperative.

The commission also presents the development of government regulation of hazardous waste sites. It explains the problems of the initial state-by-state approach, and the ensuing problems of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) enacted in 1976 by Congress. Subtitle C of RCRA, "Hazardous Waste Management," mandates federal regulations and monitoring of hazardous wastes.

Because most states were unequipped to implement a hazardous waste program as involved as that mandated under Subtitle C, RCRA allows the USEPA to grant interim authorization status to those states whose present hazardous waste laws are "substantially equivalent" to federal standards. But the USEPA did not promulgate RCRA regulations within the time allotted. This led to a lawsuit in September 1978 by the State of Illinois and environmental groups, charging the USEPA caused an unlawful delay in the regulation of hazardous waste. States and private industry, according to the commission report, were unwilling to initiate hazardous waste measures until the federal regulations were issued. Rules for interim authorization have since been set, but as noted earlier, Illinois is still seeking this status.

Besides its recommendation to correct the weakness in Illinois statutes in order to qualify for USEPA interim authorization, the commission concluded its report with over 40 other recommendations and findings. For example, it recommended that landfill siting decisions be based on long-range plans in accordance with regional or statewide policy. Among its findings, the commission said that most citizens are not aware that their demand for consumer goods simultaneously increases the waste load; that a loophole exists whereby it is sometimes possible for generators of small quantities of hazardous wastes to exclude themselves from some monitoring procedures; and that the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) offers salaries

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which are insufficient to retain an entire inspection staff of highly trained people.

All of the report's case studies on hazardous waste in Illinois provide interesting reading, but the most complex involves Steve Martell and the Paxton Landfill. Approximately 20 pages describe this landfill operator, who flagrantly disregarded hazardous waste regulations and consistently eluded enforcement officials, according to the report. Among other things mentioned in the report, he has been charged with operating a "road oiling service" as a means of spraying liquid wastes on roads.

Although noting that this is an extreme case, the commission report states, "The story of Paxton Landfill is a long one because no regulatory agency has succeeded in cutting it short. Steve Martell, Paxton's present owner, epitomizes a rare type of entrepreneur who makes a fortune by combining the improper handling of hazardous wastes with unkept promises to correct specific faults. . . .This man's story is a prime example of how Illinois environmental agencies are locked into one regulatory approach that is not always effective in bringing hazardous waste operators into compliance."

The commission report on this case ends with these comments: "It is probable that IEPA's expertise lies in its technical knowledge of proper landfill operations rather than in its law enforcement capabilities. We hope that the Hazardous Material Investigations Unit of the Department of Law Enforcement . . . will provide at least a partial solution." The department hopes to fully implement the unit sometime after June 1982.

The entire report, Landfilling of Special and Hazardous Waste in Illinois, is very thorough on its subject, and unlike most government publications, is written in a literary style and is easy to understand. The report was submitted August 1981 to the General Assembly (pursuant to 1977 Senate Resolution 119, sponsored by Sen. Vince Demuzio, D., Carlinville) by the Illinois Legislative Investigating Commission. The commission is co-chaired by Sen. James C. Taylor (D., Chicago) and Rep. Peter P. Peters (R., Chicago); executive director is Ronald Ewert. Copies of the report may be obtained from the commission, 300 West Washington St., Chicago, Ill. 60606 (phone 312/793-2606).

Julie A. Dutton is a research associate with the Illinois Legislative Council's science unit.

12 | December 1981 | Illinois Issues