Full text of all Federal Register documents issued by EPA, and of selected documents issued by other Departments and Agencies. Notices, meetings, proposed rules, and regulations are divided into twelve topical categories for easy access (e.g. air, water, pesticides, toxics, waste).

Federal Register: Environmental Documents

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It has become a widespread misconception that EPA "approves" (in a restrictive sense) which methods may be used to generate data within the RCRA or Superfund programs, and that these methods must be used as written in SW-846. The reasoning then becomes that new technologies or analytical methods cannot be used unless they appear in SW-846. This is a myth! This August 7, 1998 Memorandum reiterates previous EPA guidance that "SW-846 methods need not be applied in a prescriptive manner."Additional discussion about the relationship between SW-846, the Performance Based Measurement System (PBMS) and the use of innovative analytical technologies is provided in a accompanying summary. More information about PBMS can be found on the OSW PBMS webpage.

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Download Summary (158K/PDF)

EPA Office of Solid Waste PBMS Page

OSW PBMS/Method Flexibility Update

In the OSWER Directive No. 9200.0-33, Transmittal of Final FY’00 - FY’01 Superfund Reforms Strategy, dated July 7, 2000, the Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response outlined a commitment to optimize our Fund-lead pump and treat (P&T) systems. The Optimization Initiative is intended to encourage systematic review and modification to existing P&T systems to enhance overall remedy effectiveness and cost effectiveness, without compromising protectiveness or other objectives of the Superfund program. It provides EPA an opportunity to demonstrate our commitment to effective management of our long-term remedies. This effort recognizes that remedial approaches should not remain static, that site conditions change over time, and that better tools and strategies have evolved which allow us to continuously improve the performance of the remedy. This reform initiative does not signal any change in EPA’s decision-making framework for selecting remedies that are protective of human health and the environment. Any remedy modifications should be carried out in accordance with existing guidance and policy regarding ROD modifications and the Administrative Record.

Download Implementation Memorandum (17K/PDF)

Download Implementation Plan (24K/PDF)

Download Fact Sheet (16K/PDF)

Download Draft Administrative and Technical Resources (10K/PDF)

Questions and Answers (16K/PDF)

This guidance document presents a framework for developing and implementing technically defensible Monitoring Plans for hazardous waste sites. In support of the One Hazardous Waste Cleanup Program, this document was written in direct response to, and for, site managers who are legally responsible for managing removal and remedial site activities. It is intended for use at hazardous waste sites that have completed site characterization, risk assessment, and remedy selection and are in the process of implementing a removal action or site mitigation.

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More Information on the One Cleanup Program

The purpose of this memorandum is to provide information concerning the status of the interim assessment guidance for perchlorate originally transmitted on June 18, 1999 (the “1999 Interim Guidance”). This memorandum was developed in response to requests from EPA Programs, Regions and individual states for a clarification concerning the Agency’s guidance in light of more recent assessment activities. As an interim measure and in the absence of a finalized oral health risk benchmark for perchlorate, EPA is reaffirming the 1999 interim guidance. The 1999 interim guidance may be replaced upon finalization of the 2002 Draft Assessment.

View Memorandum (41K/PDF)

View 1999 Interim Guidance (225K/PDF)

Visit CLU-IN Perchlorate Remediation Resources

The Superfund Response Action Contractor Indemnification Rule (58 FR 5972), which was issued on 1/25/93, includes provisions that allow lower deductibles for contractors using innovative treatment technologies.

View a summary of the Federal Register Notice

Download an ASCII text version

A rule for Land Disposal Restriction of Contaminated Debris (57 FR 37194) was promulgated on 8/18/92 that allows more flexible treatment standards than under the original Land Disposal Regulations (40 CFR 268).

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The Treatability Study Sample Exclusion Rule (59 FR 8362) was revised on 2/18/94 to increase the quantity limits up to 10,000 kilograms of contaminated media for treatability studies that may be conditionally exempt from RCRA permitting and manifest requirements.

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Corrective Action Management Units, or "CAMUs," are special units created under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) to facilitate treatment, storage, and disposal of hazardous wastes managed for implementing cleanup, and to remove the disincentives to cleanup that the application of RCRA to these wastes can sometimes impose. The original CAMU regulations were promulgated on February 16, 1993, and amended on January 22, 2002.

View Summary of Original CAMU Regulations (Feb 16, 1993)

View Amendments (Jan 27, 2002)

This 4/29/96 directive describes EPA initiatives to facilitate the testing, demonstration, and use of innovative cleanup and field measurement technologies and stresses EPA's commitment to promoting environmental technology development and commercialization.

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This guidance was developed to support implementation of Superfund Reform Initiative 9a: Risk Sharing. Under this initiative, EPA agrees to share the risk of implementing innovative remediation technologies which have potential for improved performance and reduced costs.

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The EPA Office of Solid Waste (OSW) released its HWIR-Media Final Rule on November 30, 1998. This final rule outlines new requirements for RCRA hazardous remediation wastes treated, stored, or disposed of during cleanup actions. These requirements make five major changes: they make permits faster and easier to obtain; they provide that obtaining these permits will not subject the owner and/or operator to facility-wide corrective action; they create a new kind of unit called a staging pile that allows more flexibility in storing remediation waste during cleanup; they exclude dredged materials from Subtitle C if they are managed under an approrpiate permit under the Marine protection, Research and Sanctuaries Act or the Clean Water Act; and they make it faster and easier for states to receive authorization.

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This Directive, entitled "Use of Monitored Natural Attenuation at Superfund, RCRA Corrective Action, and Underground Storage Tank Sites", provides guidance to EPA staff, the public, and the regulated community on how EPA intends to exercise its discretion in implementing national policy on the use of Monitored Natural Attenuation for the remediation of contaminated soil and groundwater at sites regulated under Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response (OSWER) programs.

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This memorandum clarifies that reinjection of treated ground water to promote in-situ treatment is not subject to RCRA land disposal restrictions as long as certain conditions are met. Specifically, the ground water must be treated prior to reinjection; the treatment must be intended to substantially reduce hazardous constituents in the ground water either before or after reinjection; the cleanup must be protective of human health and the environment; and the injection must be part of a response action under CERCLA section 104 or 106 or a RCRA corrective action intended to clean up the contamination. This document also clarifies that injection of amendments alone into ground water during in-situ treatment is not prohibited by RCRA if the amendment are not hazardous waste.

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