U.S. EPA has updated and standardized the hazardous waste manifest form used to track the disposition of wastes from generation to disposal. Starting September 5, 2006, this new form must be used for all hazardous waste shipments. The standardized form eliminates many of the variabilities in state requirements, and will make it easier to collect data for hazardous waste reporting. The new manifest format also simplifies tracking of complicated shipments such as container residues and interstate shipments. For more information on the standardized manifest form, go to http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/hazwaste/gener/manifest/.
The Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Inventory Update Reporting (IUR) rule requires manufacturers and importers of certain chemical substances to report information related to the manufacturing, processing, and use of listed substances. The 2006 reporting period began August 25, 2006 and extends to December 23, 2006. For the first time since the original inventory, manufacturers and importers of inorganic chemicals are required to report. Also, the 2006 reporting period is the first to request processing and use information in addition to manufacturing information for certain chemical substances manufactured in quantities greater than 300,000 pounds. U.S. EPA has approved the use of its Central Data Exchange (CDX) system for submittal of IUR data via the Internet. For more information on IUR, go to http://www.epa.gov/oppt/iur or call Sandra Hance at (800) 229-7495.
On September 14, 2006, U.S. EPA proposed additional changes to the New Source Review (NSR) rules for major new or modified sources. EPA proposed that emission increases from unchanged portions of a facility that may result from removal of a production bottleneck elsewhere in the process (known as “debottlenecking”) may be excluded in the NSR applicability test if those emissions are already covered by an air quality permit. EPA also proposed changes to current policy and rules concerning how NSR applies to multiple projects undertaken at a facility (aggregation) and how a source can “net out” of NSR by taking into account emission decreases that are associated with a project. These changes would simplify the NSR process and allow more projects at existing sources to escape NSR. States would be required to amend their NSR rules within 3 years of final promulgation to incorporate these changes. For more information, refer to the Federal Register notice or contact Kent Berry at (800) 229-5299.
For your engineering needs, please contact EQ Engineers at 219-844-3500 or visit their website.
For international engineering services, please contact EQ Engineers Slovakia via their website.
For questions about EQ's capabilities, please email or call Bob McCullough.
To subscribe to the EQuation Newsletter, please send an email to subscribe-eq@eqm.com.
To remove your name from the EQuation Newsletter listing, please send an email to unsubscribe-eq@eqm.com.