NYSDEC Proposes Amendments to Haz Waste Rules

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation is proposing significant changes to its hazardous waste management regulations (6 NYCRR Parts 370-374 and 376). The proposed amendments are available here.

The proposed changes will incorporate thirty-seven (37) amendments to the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery (RCRA) regulations that have been adopted by the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from January 2002 through April 2012. The June 26, 2014 Cathode Ray Tube Export rule is also included in this rule making. The list of federal rules along with brief descriptions is available here 

Specifically, NYSDEC is seeking comments on the following EPA rules:

  • Solvent Contaminated Wipes Rule – EPA’s July 31, 2013 rule revises the definition of solid waste to conditionally exclude solvent-contaminated wipes that are cleaned and reused and revises the definition of hazardous waste to conditionally exclude solvent-contaminated wipes that are disposed.
  • Carbon Dioxide Sequestration Rule – EPA’s January 3, 2014 Carbon Dioxide Sequestration Rule provides a conditional exclusion for carbon dioxide (CO2) streams in geological sequestration activities. This rule would conditionally exclude CO2 streams that are hazardous waste from the definition of hazardous waste, if they are captured from emission sources and are injected into Class VI Underground Injection Control wells for geological sequestration, provided that certain requirements are met.
  • Hazardous Waste Electronic Manifest (e-Manifest) Rule – EPA’s e-Manifest Rule provides the legal and policy framework to authorize the use of electronic manifests. The e-Manifest system will go into effect throughout the United States at the same time, whether or not authorized states have amended their regulations.
  • EPA’s 2008 Definition of Solid Waste Rule, as amended in January 2015 redefines “hazardous secondary materials.” It streamlines regulation of hazardous secondary material to encourage beneficial recycling and help conserve resources. By removing unnecessary regulatory controls, it is expected to make it easier and more cost-effective to safely recycle hazardous secondary materials. EPA published substantial revisions to this rule on January 13, 2015. As amended, the rule provides greater safeguards from mismanagement. Certain parts of the 2015 Final Rule are more stringent than current DEC regulations. DEC must adopt these provisions, which include a revised definition of “legitimate recycling,” a prohibition on sham recycling, and new recordkeeping requirements related to speculative accumulation provisions.
  • Amendments to DEC’s Used Oil Management regulations (6 NYCRR Subpart 374-2). DEC is considering whether or not to continue to require Petroleum Bulk Storage (PBS) registration for certain small used oil tanks for which PBS registration is not otherwise required; whether to amend the used oil collection center requirements to allow entities collecting used oil in small volumes to obtain a Part 360 registration and more closely follow EPA requirements in lieu of obtaining a Part 360 permit. Changes in record retention time requirements to more closely follow EPA requirements are also being considered.

In addition, NYSDEC is proposing approximately 80 changes to clarify regulatory language and to correct errors. This list of so-called state-initiated changes can be accessed here

DEC will host a live webinar on February 25, 2015, 10:00am-12:00pm. To register for the webinar, click here 

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