Environmentalists and Industry Sue EPA over RCRA Oil Waste Exemption

Date: April 18, 2008

Source: News Room

Environmentalists and some industry groups have filed a host of legal challenges against EPA over a rule exempting waste generated by the petroleum refining industry from regulation under the Resource Conservation & Recovery Act (RCRA) if the waste is generated as fuel, saying the exemption violates the law's requirements to regulate facilities that produce or burn fuel from hazardous waste. Earthjustice, on behalf on the Sierra Club and the Louisiana Environmental Action Network, filed an April 1 petition with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit asking for review of EPA's regulation for oil-bearing hazardous secondary materials from the petroleum refining industry processed in a gasification system to produce synthetic gas. Industry groups are also challenging the rule, with the Environmental Technology Council -- which represents the hazardous waste recycling, treatment and disposal industry -- filing an April 1 petition for review.

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