Practical EHS Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
Q. We spray paint small items such as pumps and motors and puncture the empty paint cans to capture the remaining teaspoon or so of paint that is placed in a drum. Is this remaining paint a hazardous material, and if so, how should we label the drum?
The EPA has issued a proposal to update provisions under 15 headings in its National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) program. The proposal results in part from an ongoing directive from the White House instructing federal agencies to conduct periodic reviews of regulations to eliminate outdated requirements and reduce the compliance burden on the regulated […]
Q. Does a trucking terminal need an SPCC plan? A. Although the SPCC regulations are geared to non-transportation-related facilities, in the transportation sector, SPCC rules also apply to many terminals and maintenance facilities, depending on their location and the amount of oil stored on site. A trucking terminal is subject to the rule if it […]
The attorneys general (AGs) of West Virginia and Texas do not believe the EPA should provide assistance to the states with implementing the Clean Power Plan (CPP) while the U.S. Supreme Court’s stay of that rule is in effect. In a letter to Janet McCabe, EPA’s acting assistant administrator of Air and Radiation, West Virginia […]
“One year” is the operative time frame for managing universal wastes under the RCRA regulations at 40 CFR 273. All handlers of universal waste have one year to keep universal waste onsite. To prove that it meets this time limitation, the handler must be able to demonstrate the number of days the universal waste has […]
The Senate voted to pass a bill to reform the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Bill. The bill now goes to President Obama for his signature in order to become law. It’s the first time the Act has been amended in 40 years.
In a final interpretative rule, the EPA has streamlined the process whereby federally recognized tribes with reservations apply to the Agency to be treated in a manner similar to states (TAS) for the purposes of administering Clean Water Act (CWA) regulatory programs. The primary change under the interpretative rule is that tribes will no longer […]
Q. In an automobile dealership service department, can the floor (inside of a building) or oil/water separator drains be counted as secondary containment for containers ranging from 55 gallons (gals) to 500 gals?
On Tuesday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit issued a brief order rescheduling the originally planned June 2, 2016, oral arguments in EPA’s Clean Power Plan (CPP) litigation (West Virginia v. EPA) to September 27, 2016. The order also noted that arguments would be heard by the en banc (full) court of […]
With is promulgation of standards to control emissions of methane from new, reconstructed, and modified sources in the oil and gas (O&G) sector, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has taken a significant step toward meeting President Obama’s goal of cutting methane released by the entire sector by 40 to 45 percent by 2025.