Hazardous Waste Treatment, Storage, and Disposal Facilities and Hazardous Waste Generators; Organic Air Emission Standards for Tanks, Surface Impoundments, and Containers

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Parts 262, 264, 265, and 270

[IL-64-2-5807; FRL-5459-9]

Hazardous Waste Treatment, Storage, and Disposal Facilities and

Hazardous Waste Generators; Organic Air Emission Standards for Tanks,

Surface Impoundments, and Containers

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of data availability.

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SUMMARY: This notice announces the availability of additional data that

are being considered by the EPA in amending the air emission standards

for hazardous waste treatment, storage, and disposal facilities (TSDF)

that were published December 6, 1994 under the authority of the

Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), as amended (59 FR

62896). This notice addresses the narrow issue of an Other Thermal

Treatment Facility subject to regulation under subpart P of Part 265

(40 CFR 265.370 through 265.383) being eligible to receive spent

activated carbon which is a hazardous waste. The additional data are

available for public inspection at the EPA RCRA Docket Office.

DATES: Comments on these additional data will be accepted through May

7, 1996.

DOCKET: The information referenced by today's notice is available for

public inspection and copying in the RCRA docket. The RCRA docket

numbers pertaining to this rulemaking are F-91-CESP-FFFFF, F-92-CESA-

FFFFF, F-94-CESF-FFFFF, F-94-CE2A-FFFFF, and F-95-CE3A-FFFFF. The RCRA

docket is located at Crystal Gateway, 1235 Jefferson Davis Highway,

First Floor, Arlington, Virginia. Hand delivery of items and review of

docket materials are made at the Virginia address. The public must have

an appointment to review docket materials. Appointments can be

scheduled by calling the Docket Office at (703) 603-9230. The mailing

address for the RCRA docket office is RCRA Information Center (5305W),

U. S. Environmental Protection Agency, 401 M Street SW., Washington, DC

20460.

COMMENTS: Written comments regarding these data may be mailed to the

Docket Clerk at the above-mentioned Washington, DC mailing address.

Please send an original and two copies of all comments, and refer to

Docket Number F-96-CE4A-FFFFF. The EPA will consider comments on the

additional data that are received through May 7, 1996.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information about this notice and

the associated rulemaking contact the RCRA Hotline at (703) 412-9877 or

toll-free at 1-800-424-9346.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This notice is available on the EPA's Clean-

up Information Bulletin Board (CLU-IN). To access CLU-IN with a modem

of up to 28,800 baud, dial (301) 589-8366. First time users will be

asked to input some initial registration information. Next, select

``D'' (download) from the main menu. Input the file name ``RCRA-

NDA.496'' to download this notice. Follow the on-line instructions to

complete the download. More information about the download procedure is

located in Bulletin 104; to read this type ``B 104'' from the main

menu. For additional help with these instructions, telephone the CLU-IN

help line at (301) 589-8368.

On December 6, 1994, the EPA published in the Federal Register (59

FR 62896) under authority of the RCRA standards requiring the use of

air emission controls on certain tanks, surface impoundments, and

containers at hazardous waste TSDF. These standards are codified in 40

CFR parts 264 and 265 under subpart CC (referred to as the ``subpart CC

standards'').

This Notice of Data Availability addresses the appropriateness of

an Other Thermal Treatment Facility subject to regulation under subpart

P of Part 265 (40 CFR 265.370 through 265.383) being eligible to

receive spent activated carbon which is a hazardous waste. In the

December 6, 1994 final subpart CC standards (59 FR 62896), the EPA

established a requirement that spent activated carbon removed from a

control device had to be managed at particular types of facilities,

namely regulated incinerators, regulated boilers or industrial

furnaces, or ``thermal treatment units that [are] permitted under

subpart X of 40 CFR part 264 or subpart P of [Part 265]''. See 40 CFR

265.1033(l)(1) as promulgated at 59 FR at 62935 (Dec. 6, 1994). A

parallel requirement was contained in 40 CFR 264.1033(m), but no

reference to subpart P was included (59 FR at 62927). In the February

9, 1996 technical correction notice, the EPA amended these provisions

to clarify that they apply only to activated carbon which is a

hazardous waste, and that interim status incinerators and boilers and

industrial furnaces which had certified compliance could receive such

activated carbon. See 61 FR at 4910, 4911, and 4913. In so doing, the

EPA removed the reference to subpart P facilities in 265.1033(l)(1),

thus removing such facilities from eligibility to receive hazardous

waste spent activated carbon from interim status facilities, but did

not provide any explanation for this omission.

The Response to Comment Background Information Document to the

Final Rule does not completely clarify the EPA's intent. At one point

the EPA mentioned subpart P facilities as potentially eligible to

receive hazardous waste spent activated carbon (BID page 6-113 and

114), but at other points indicated that only other thermal treatment

units permitted under subpart X would be eligible (BID at 6-116 and

117).

After publication of the February 9 notice, the EPA received a

letter from a subpart P facility which reactivates spent activated

carbon questioning the omission of subpart P facilities from amended

265.1033(l). The EPA is noticing this letter, along with memoranda

documenting EPA's further contacts with the facility, for comment. The

EPA is also seeking comment on the following issues. The subpart CC

standards specify the types of facilities that can manage hazardous

waste spent activated carbon so that EPA can ensure that any adsorbed

hazardous organic

[[Page 17864]]

constituents released from the carbon are adequately controlled or

destroyed, rather than emitted to the atmosphere (BID page 6-115). It

is not clear that the subpart P standards, taken by themselves, provide

this assurance, since subpart P standards do not contain substantive

air emission controls. Thus, in addition to soliciting comment on the

information in the docket, the EPA solicits comment on whether some

further limitation should be necessary if subpart P facilities are to

be eligible. For example, should eligibility be limited to facilities

whose regeneration units provide adequate protection from the emission

of desorbed organics? If so, is it appropriate to require compliance

with subpart CC, or comparable controls to ensure such protection? The

EPA will consider all comments on the new data received by the close of

the comment period when making a final regulatory determination on the

regulatory requirements for this regulation.

This notice does not represent the only provision of the final

subpart CC standards which the EPA is considering revising. The EPA is

planning to publish technical amendments to the rule within the next

two months which will include revisions described in the August 14,

1995 Federal Register document entitled, ``Proposed rule; data

availability'' (60 FR 41870), as well as a finding on the issue

discussed in today's notice.

Dated: April 11, 1996.

Richard Wilson,

Acting Assistant Administrator for Air and Radiation.

[FR Doc. 96-9973 Filed 4-22-96; 8:45 am]

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