Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs)

On February 28, 2008, EPA Assistant Administrator for the Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response signed the Polychlorinated Biphenyls: Manufacturing (Import) Exemption for Veolia ES Technical Solutions, L.L.C. proposal. This proposed exemption would allow Veolia ES Technical Solutions to safely import and dispose of PCBs from Mexico at its facility in Port Arthur, Texas, thereby reducing the risk of improper disposal and the release of PCBs into the environment.

The Agency held an informal public hearing on this import exemption on June 19, 2008 at City Hall in Port Arthur, Texas. On September 2, 2008, EPA sent questions on hearing presentations and exhibits to the appropriate hearing presenters. After the EPA has received answers from the presenters, the hearing comments, questions, and answers will be posted in the docket, which can be found at Regulations.gov, docket number EPA-HQ-RCRA-2008-0123-0079. See below for more information on how to access this docket. See the Timeline of Rulemaking Actions for subsequent steps in the question and answer process.

Rulemaking Schedule

Timeline of Rulemaking Actions

Action	Date
Proposed Rule published	March 6, 2008
Original main comment period ending	April 21, 2008
Extended main comment period ending	June 5, 2008
Requests to participate in hearing due to Hearing Clerk	June 12, 2008
Hearing Clerk distributes hearing schedule	June 16, 2008
Informal hearing date	June 19, 2008
Hearing transcript posted to the docket	July 9, 2008
Comments and questions on hearing presentations due to Hearing Clerk	July 18, 2008
Hearing Clerk sends out questions to appropriate participants	September 2, 2008
Answers received by Hearing Clerk from participants	September 19, 2008*
Reply comments to Hearing Clerk due	October 3, 2008**

* September 19, 2008 is an estimated date for EPA to receive answers from the hearing presenters.
** October 3, 2008 is an estimated date. Reply comments will be due 2 weeks after the hearing presenters answers have been received and posted to the docket.

Background Information

On November 14, 2006, Veolia ES Technical Solutions, L.L.C. (Veolia) submitted a petition to EPA seeking a one-year exemption to import up to 20,000 tons of PCB waste from Mexico for disposal at Veolia's facility in Port Arthur, Texas. Veolia's facility is authorized by EPA under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) to dispose of PCBs. With certain exceptions, section 6(e)(3) of TSCA bans the manufacture (defined to include import into the U.S. Customs Territory), processing, and distribution in commerce of PCBs. One of these exceptions is TSCA section 6(e)(3)(B), which gives EPA authority to grant petitions to perform these activities for a period of up to 12 months, provided EPA can make certain findings by rule.

Proposed Rule and Supporting Information

Federal Register Notice || Federal Register Notice (PDF) (9 pp, 189K, About PDF)

The support materials for this rule and the public comments EPA receives on the proposal are available for public review online, as explained below.

To use Regulations.gov:

1. Select Docket Search.
2. Select "Environmental Protection Agency" from the Agency drop-down menu.
3. In the Docket ID box, type in the docket number: EPA-HQ-RCRA-2008-0123 and press the "Submit" button to receive search results. Be patient; loading the documents takes time.

For more information contact William Noggle (noggle.william@epa.gov) at 703-347-8769.

 

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