Amendments to Rules Governing Hazardous Waste

Background

The MPCA has amended its existing hazardous waste rules in order to maintain equivalence with federal regulations administered by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA).

The EPA periodically amends its regulations in Title 40, Code of Federal Regulations, parts 260-279 (40 CFR 260-279). The EPA authorizes states that maintain equivalent programs to apply their rules in lieu of the federal program.

In this rulemaking, the MPCA adopted certain federal amendments that are required to maintain its program authorization, and some optional provisions that reduce unnecessary burdens on the regulated community while continuing to protect human health and the environment. The MPCA incorporated by reference certain federal provisions as amended, such as land disposal restrictions and lists of wastes, to facilitate adopting most future federal amendments to those provisions. All of the adopted federal amendments have been effective federally for at least several years. Finally, in this rulemaking, the MPCA initiated corrections and clarifications of existing rules that are not based on amendments to the federal regulations.

The amendments apply to those businesses that generate, manage, transport, store or treat hazardous wastes. Many of these amendments already applied in Minnesota under their federal authority.

Documents

The EPA provides supporting documents for its amendments. It publishes its notice and rationale in the Federal Register (FR). It also produces a Revision Checklist Summary (Summary) and a RCRA Revision Checklist (Checklist). In the Checklist, the EPA provides the CFR cites for each provision and space for states to list corresponding rules. Finally, the EPA assigns numbers to each set of amendments for easier reference.

The MPCA prepared a Statement of Need and Reasonableness (SONAR) supporting this rulemaking. The MPCA’s SONAR consists of a General SONAR Discussion of the rules and six Attachments. The MPCA provides links to these SONAR documents below:

• General SONAR Discussion
• Attachment 1—Detailed SONAR (file with the MPCA’s rationale imbedded within an extract of the proposed rule language in PDF or MS Word format)
• Attachment 2—Proposed Rule (Revisor of Statutes certified rule language)
• Attachment 3—Federal Revision Checklist Summaries
  • Zip file containing extracts of EPA summaries of proposed amendments
• Attachment 4— Federal RCRA Revision Checklists
  • Zip file containing MPCA-completed Checklists for proposed amendments
• Attachment 5—Federal Register Notices
  • Zip file containing adopting Federal Register Notices with preamble language
• Attachment 6—List of Federal Amendments

Supporting Documents:

• EPA – State Authorization Web Site (Checklist forms, Summaries and FR Notices). (Note: This site provides forms used by states to develop rules and are not complete (e.g., the EPA only provides complete FR notices there for amendments numbered 157 and higher). Please see SONAR documents for MPCA-completed checklists and complete FR Notice language.)
• Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, published in the State Register on 11/12/2002, at page 692.
• State Register proposed rule notice (published July 14, 2008).
• State Register adopted rule noticed (published June 15, 2009).
• Existing Minnesota Rules, Chapter 7045 and Chapter 7001 subject to the amendments.
• MPCA Public Notices

Contacts for this rulemaking

• Nathan Cooley
  Minnesota Pollution Control Agency
  520 Lafayette Road N.
  St. Paul, MN 55155-4194
  651-757-2290
  Fax: 651-297-8676
  Toll free: 1-800-657-3864
  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
  
  
• Carol Nankivel
  Minnesota Pollution Control Agency
  520 Lafayette Road N.
  St. Paul, MN 55155-4194
  651-757-2597
  Fax: 651-297-8676
  Toll free: 1-800-657-3864
  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.