Resource Conservation and Recovery Act

The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), enacted in 1976, is a Federal law of the United States contained in 42 U.S.C. §§6901-6992k. It is usually pronounced as "rick-rah" or "Wreck-rah." RCRA is the Unites States' primary law governing the disposal of solid and hazardous waste. Congress passed RCRA on October 21, 1976 to address the increasing problems the nation faced from our growing volume of municipal and industrial waste. RCRA, which amended the Solid Waste Disposal Act of 1965, set national goals for:

* Protecting human health and the environment from the potential hazards of waste disposal.
* Conserving energy and natural resources.
* Reducing the amount of waste generated.
* Ensuring that wastes are managed in an environmentally-sound manner.

EPA waste management regulations are codified at 40 C.F.R. pts. 239-282. Regulations regarding management of hazardous waste begins at 40 C.F.R. pt. 260. As noted below, most states have enacted laws and promulgated regulations that are at least as stringent as the federal regulations. Furthermore, the statute authorizes states to carry out many of the functions of RCRA through their own hazardous waste programs (and state laws), if such programs have been approved (authorized) by the EPA.

ubtitle C ("Cradle to Grave")

While RCRA handles many regulatory functions of hazardous and non-hazardous waste, arguably its most notable provisions regard the Subtitle C program which tracks the progress of hazardous wastes from their point of generation, their transport, and their treatment and/or disposal. Due to the extensive tracking elements at all points of the life of the hazardous waste, the overall process has become known as the "cradle to grave" system. The program exacts stringent bookkeeping and reporting requirements on generators, transporters, and operators of treatment, storage, and disposal (TSD) facilities handling hazardous waste.

Related federal acts

RCRA is an amendment of the earlier Solid Waste Disposal Act of 1965. In 1984 the Hazardous and Solid Wastes Amendments Act was added to the Act and in 1986 the law was expanded further to regulate underground storage tanks and other leaking waste storage facilities.

While the "Superfund" (CERCLA) Act is also involved in the regulation of hazardous substances, one way to separate the two is to think of CERCLA as applying to land that has become contaminated, while RCRA is from the standpoint of the actual substance. RCRA, like CERCLA, has provisions to require cleanup of contaminations of hazardous substances that occurred in the past.

Whistleblower protection

RCRA contains a whistleblower protection. Employees in the US who believe they were fired or suffered another adverse action related to enforcement of this law have 30 days to file a written complaint with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

TSDFs

TSDF is an acronym for Treatment, Storage and Disposal Facilities, which are permitted to manage hazardous wastes under the Act. The regulations for TSDFs, and their permitting, appear in 40 CFR Parts 264 and 270. Some of the waste management units that TSDFs use to manage hazardous wastes include container storage areas, tanks, surface impoundments, waste piles, land treatment units, landfills, and/or incinerators.

ee also

* Clean Water Act
* Public employees for environmental responsibility (PEER)
* Solid Waste Disposal Act
* Superfund
* Whistleblower

External links

* [http://www.epa.gov/rcraonline RCRA database]
* [http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/hazwaste/permit/prmtguid.htm TSDF permitting]
* [http://sanjour.us Collected Papers of William Sanjour] , a retired EPA employee and whistleblower
* [http://www.fws.gov/laws/lawsdigest/fwatrpo.html Information on the Act]
* [http://www.peer.org Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER)]
* [http://www.whistleblower.org Government Accountability Project]
* [http://www.whistleblowers.org/ National Whistleblower Center]
* [http://www.workplacefairness.org/envwhistleblowers Workplace Fairness FAQ for environmental whistleblowers]
* [http://www.taterenner.com/whistleblowers.htm Tate & Renner article on whistleblowers under US federal law]
* [http://www.whistleblowerlaws.com Whistleblower Employee Protection Website]
* [http://www.osha.gov/dep/oia/whistleblower/index.html U.S. Department of Labor Whistleblower Program & information]