United States Environmental Protection Agency             

Solid Waste and Emergency Response

Office of Solid Waste, OSW (renamed Office of Resource Conservation and Recovery, ORCR, on January 18, 2009) (5305W)             

                                               

EPA530-F-00-029

August 2000

             



Environmental Fact Sheet: Amendments to CAMU Rule Proposed 

             

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to

amend the 1993 Corrective Action Management Unit (CAMU) rule

to provide additional detail to the framework for managing

hazardous clean-up wastes in CAMUs. This proposal is

intended to make the Agency's general expectations for CAMUs

clearer, and the CAMU process more consistent and

predictable, as well as more explicit for the public.  In

these proposed amendments, the Agency seeks to achieve the

proper balance between providing national minimum standards

while retaining the flexibility that is necessary to make 

site-specific CAMU decisions.





Background



In 1993, EPA issued the CAMU rule under the Resource

Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA).  This rule was

intended to provide a protective framework for making

hazardous waste cleanups easier, faster, and less expensive

by alleviating some of the regulatory burdens associated

with full-scale hazardous waste management. The CAMU rule

primarily accomplished this by establishing general

performance standards while providing relief from RCRA's

Land Disposal Restrictions (LDRs) treatment standards and

the minimum technology requirements (MTRs) associated with

the design of land disposal units.



The CAMU rule granted considerable flexibility to the Agency

and the states to specify site- specific standards for

managing hazardous waste and hazardous media from cleanups

in on-site land-based units.  Although the rule received

broad support, it was challenged in court. The petitioners

were troubled by, among other things, the lack of explicit

waste treatment and unit design requirements for CAMUs.



Since 1993, the CAMU lawsuit has been stayed while the

Agency undertook a series of actions to address the issue of

how hazardous wastes are managed during cleanups.  In

February 2000, the Agency entered into a settlement

agreement that calls for these proposed amendments to be

issued by August 2000, and for final regulations by October

2001.





Action



Following are the primary proposed changes to the 1993 CAMU

rule.



  - Clarification of the types of wastes that may be managed

    in a CAMU to distinguish more clearly between wastes     

    resulting from industrial processes and cleanup.

  - Modification of the CAMU design standards to include     

    performance standards for caps, and for new units,       

    minimum design standards for liners.

  - Establishment of treatment requirements for wastes       

    placed in CAMUs for permanent disposal.  Waste that      

    contains "principal hazardous constituents" must meet a

    minimum treatment standard, or a site-specific adjusted

    standard.

  - Modification of the information submission requirements

    for CAMU applications.

  - Establishment of new design and operation requirements

    for CAMUs that are used for treatment and/or storage of

    cleanup wastes (as opposed to permanent disposal).

  - Provisions for "grandfathering" existing CAMUs, and      

    CAMUs substantially in the approval process by a certain

    date.

  - Establishment of authorization approaches to allow       

    states that are already authorized for the CAMU rule to

    continue to implement CAMUs with a minimum of            

    disruption.



Comments will be accepted on the proposal for 60 days

following publication in the Federal Register.





For More Information




 Address written requests to:

RCRA-Docket@epa.gov or RCRA Information Center (5305W), US

EPA, Ariel Rios Building, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW,

Washington, DC 20460.