EPA’s regulatory agenda building occupants and public employees who conduct asbestos abatement programs but are not covered by an Occupational Safety and Health Administration rule or an approved state plan.
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Richard M. Dowd
In late April EPA published its semiannual regulatory agenda (Fed. Regist. 1985,50, 17783). It lists more than 300 regulations in three major sections: current and projected regulations, those presently under review, and completed actions. About 20% of the 300 are classified as “priority” items, regulations important for meeting congressional o r court-imposed deadlines and those that have broad applicability to large numbers of facilities. Under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), premanufacturing notification exemptions for low-volume chemicals and an update of the TSCA inventory data base have been designated as priority items. As EPA attempts to stay abreast of new and emerging bioengineering technology, the agency will issue a policy statement on certain microbial products covered under TSCA and pesticides laws. (Nntice of the proposed policy was issued in December 1984.) Under the agency’s TSCA decisions on test rules for the Interagency Testing Committee, 43 chemicals either will require testing or producers will have to provide adequate reason for not doing so. In one case, where work place problems have also become environmental pollution problems, EPA has determined that the manufacture, processing, distrihution, use, and disposal of asbestos present an unreasonable risk to human health. In a companion rule making, the agency is extending protection for
Clean Water Act Clean Water Act effluent guidelines for organic chemicals, plastics, and synthetic fibers; definitions of cost tests for best conventional technology (BCT) for pollutant control; and BCT effluent guidelines are scheduled for promulg?.tion. Effluent limitation guidelines for 16 other point source dischargers also should be released. Considerable attention has been fncused recently on the revised National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) regulations, which require collection of storm water data. Sludges from waste treatment plants also are under regulatory study and review. RCRA provisions Fourteen of the 76 current and prnjected rule makings under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) stem from the act’s 1984 reauthorization. Many of the new prnvisions took effect immediately; others are to be promulgated under a tight schedule imposed by Congress. Some sections of the new statute establish “hammer” provisions, requirements that automatically go into effect by certain dates if EPA fails to issue regulations in time. Major forthcoming actions include groundwater monitoring requirements and other new standards that existing land disposal facilities must meet by Nov. 8, 19x5. There will also be new bans on certain wastes and land disposal practices, and minimum technological requirements will go into effect for landfills and surface impoundments, including retrofitting certain existing impoundnients with liners. Other RCRA-related areas include expediting permits for innovative treat-
0013.936W85/0919-0669$01.50/0 0 1985 American Chemical Society
ment technologies to foster research and development: tighter controls on smallquantity generators of hazardous wastes; new requirements to identify additional hazardous wastes; and other technical specifications related to Congress’s desire to eliminate land disposal. Completed actions include issuance of standards for hazardous waste generators, provisions for hazardous waste manifests, and regulations pertaining to land disposal.
Other regulations Work on revising the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for sulfur oxides, particulate matter. carbon monoxide, ozonc, and nitrogen dioxide will continue. Development of New Source Performance Standards for industrial boilers, gas turbines, and residential w d combustion also is scheduled. The regulations pertaining to stack heights are due to be revised. EPA recently completed action on hazardous emissions standards for airborne radionuclides. It also finished work on the regulation of nitrogen oxides from light-duty trucks and heavy-duty engines and on lowering the lead content of gasoline. Changes in the data requirements for the registration of pesticides under the terms of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act have been completed. A notice of preliminary rule making on worker protection standards for agricultural pesticides is due to be issued in November. Other legislative proposals pending in Congress could affect the regulation of hazardous air pollutants, Superfund site cleanups, and drinking water standards under the Safe Drinking Water Act. Richard M. Dowd,Ph. D.,is a Washington, D. C.,consuliant 10 Environmenial Research & Teclmology, Inc. Environ. Sci. Technol.. MI. 19. No. 8.1885 669
