News of the Week
EPA DRAWS FLACK ON LANDFILL RULE CHANGES With little fanfare and expecting no trouble, the Environmental Protection Agency recently proposed changing its landfill regulations to permit the disposal of some free liquid wastes under certain conditions. Trouble did come, however, and now EPA's proposal is the center of controversy. From the agency's point of view, the current regulations, which went into effect last November, were unworkable and imposed an unacceptable burden on the waste generator and landfill operator. Discussion with those regulated industries convinced the agency that some change was needed. In announcing the proposal, EPA Administrator Anne M. Gorsuch said EPA is determined to protect public health, but "we are equally determined to pare down unproductive requirements—rules that do not seem to be giving the environmental protection expected of them." Part of EPA's proposal includes the suspension of all existing liquid disposal rules until the new rule goes into effect. From the other side, quick opposition to the change comes from those who see the proposal weakening a new industry arising to cope with liquid hazardous wastes, and environmental groups that see the rule as a return to the old ways of burying almost everything that comes in. The problem, according to EPA, is that the current regulations prohibit disposal of any container that has any liquid in it, regardless of how little, even if that liquid is water. To comply with this law, landfill operators have to open each container to see if there is free liquid inside, an expensive and potentially dangerous task. EPA therefore is proposing that a landfill be permitted to dispose of containers that contain free liquid waste, but only as a certain percentage of the landfill's volume. Under a formula devised by EPA with the help of the Chemical Manufacturers Association and the National Solid Waste Management Association, the agency believes that its proposal will result in very little free liquid actually being put in landfills. As proposed, the landfill operator would consider any waste drum to 6
C&EN March 8, 1982
contain liquids unless checked to determine otherwise. Disposal of these liquid-containing drums would be limited by the formula based on the volume of the landfill. The maximum space allowed for potential liquids would be 25% of the total landfill. EPA assumes that many drums disposed of this way would not actually have free liquids in them, and those that did likely would contain only small amounts. The purpose of the rule, says EPA director of the Office of Solid Waste Gary Dietrich, is simply to try to cut back on the amount of liquids in landfills that act as a medium for hazardous leachate. The regulations are not designed to prevent the disposal of hazardous chemicals in landfills. In fact, Dietrich says, the agency is looking into rules that would ban all disposal of fast-moving, highly toxic, or carcinogenic chemicals from landfills, whether they have been solidified or not. Dietrich thinks people have overreacted to the proposed changes. One of these overreactions has been a legal move to stay that part of the proposal that suspends all current rules about disposing of liquids. This has been requested by the Hazardous Waste Disposal Council, a trade association representing firms that get rid of hazardous chemicals by means other than landfills, and the Environmental Defense Fund, the Washington, D.C.-based legal action group for environmental issues. Resistance to the change also is rising from state environmental agencies, which have been making their own rules to prohibit land disposal of liquid wastes. EDF is upset over the suspension of the current rules because it leaves no controls at all on the disposal of liquids, taking a backward step to the situation of a few years ago when anything could be put in landfills. EPA contends it had to suspend the present rule because it required operators to do more than reasonably should be expected of them. EDF says the result may be a lot of dangerous chemicals being dumped quickly into the ground. According to EDF, the rule change was proposed to satisfy the waste generators who have complained about the cost of dewatering liquids
Gorsuch: pare down regulations
under the existing law. And, because there is no restriction on how much of a container can be liquid under the proposal, drums filled with hazardous chemicals will be eligible for landfill disposal. Landfill operators, too, probably still will have to check most containers for liquids to keep from using up their quota from such wastes too quickly—the very practice EPA was trying to eliminate in the new rule, says EDF. •
Unions plan worldwide white-collar drive Late last month a group of labor union representatives from a number of countries said they would launch a drive to unionize whitecollar workers at chemical, oil, and pharmaceutical companies. At a world conference held by the International Chemical & Energy Unions Federation in Geneva, Switzerland, union representatives endorsed a worldwide organizing campaign for white-collar, professional, and managerial employees. Trade unions representing whitecollar employees from the U.S., Scandinavia, West Germany, Japan, France, Brazil, and Australia, as well as other countries, endorsed a joint strategy for promoting staff pay and conditions within multinational companies for "defense of union
