implies environmental priorities, but it does not set them," he said.
New proposal slated for hazardous waste rule In a joint consent decree filed with the D.C. District Court April 7 by EPA and groups opposed to certain measures in the industrial process Hazardous Waste Identification Rule proposal, the agency said it will release a revised version of the proposal for comment by October 1999 and a final rule by April 2001. The rule has been under development since 1992 and was supposed to be completed in October 1994. The proposed rule was designed to exempt some industrial process wastes from the stringent treatment and disposal requirements of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act's Subtitle C by setting safety levels for 400 listed hazardous constituents based on a "most limiting pathway" risk assessment. The agency's most limiting pathway approach would have required that only the pathway found to cause the greatest risk be used for the risk assessment. Agency staff said that mis method was most protective of human health. But in February 1996, EPA's Science Advisory Board (SAB) said the proposal limiting pathway risk assessment methodology was not scientifically valid and instead recommended 3. multiple pathway approach for the risk assessment (ES&T May 1996 p. 188A). Barnes Johnson, director of the economics methods and risk assessment division in the Office of Solid Waste, said the agency will also follow SAB's other recommendations, which include better integration of the groundwater model with the rest of the risk assessment and a change from a back-calculating to a forward-calculating approach to estimate safe levels.
Superfund incinerator safety faulted by GAO EPA should step up inspections of incinerators at Superfund sites and find ways for site project managers to share information on safe operating procedures, according to a General Accounting Office (GAO) report released in March. Republican leaders on the House Appropriations Subcommittee onVA, HUD, and Independent Agencies requested the report, citing public
concerns about safe operation of the incinerators. GAO studied three operating Superfund incinerators to develop the report, "Superfund, EPA Could Further Ensure the Safe Operation of On-Site Incinerators" (RCED-97-43). EPA has selected incineration as a Superfund cleanup remedy 43 times, which amounts to 6% of remedy decisions. And although the agency requires site-specific incinerator standards and built-in safety features, it has not followed through on its 1991 directive to conduct Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) inspections at Superfund hazardous waste incinerators according to die report In 1993 the agency issued interim guidance on how to perform these inspections But RCRA inspectors who visited sites in 1993 said they did not have a sitesoecific document containing the reauirements for each incinerator's oneratinns even though the interim miidanre rprneni7pH trip nppd for h H t thp rpnort said EPA ffi " 1 ld GAD that thpv did not develop this document because they had other priorities. The failure of Superfund site managers to compare notes about incinerator operations is a problem EPA has been unable to correct, the report said. Although the agency tried to help manage information by holding monthly conference calls with all incineration site managers and issuing detailed fact sheets about operating practices at the different sites, these measures did not take root GAO found.
Rural wastewater treatment grants available EPA is launching a $50 million grant program to help rural, disadvantaged communities with fewer than 3000 residents fund wastewater treatment projects. To qualify for a grant, a rural community must lack access to centralized wastewater treatment or collection systems; need improvements to on-site treatment systems; have a per capita income of less than 80% of the national average; and have an unemployment rate that exceeds the national average by 1% or more. States administer the hardship grants program in conjunction with the Clean Water State Revolving Fund loan program. For more information, call Stephanie von Feck at (202) 260-2268.
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