Chapter 17 - Solid and Hazardous Waste Law

Abstract

This chapter discusses the environmental protection laws implemented by administrative agencies such as the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and state departments of natural resources. The chapter addresses solid waste law in two major sections: nonhazardous waste and hazardous waste. The most significant solid waste disposal regulations were developed under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) of 1976. This federal statute, which amended the elementary Solid Waste Disposal Act of 1965, reflected the concerns about: protecting public health and the environment from solid waste disposal, filling the loopholes in existing surface water and air quality laws, ensuring adequate land disposal of residues from air pollution technologies and sludge from wastewater treatment processes, and promoting resource conservation and recovery. The EPA developed both operational and performance standards to minimize the effect of solid waste disposal on floodplains; endangered and threatened species; surface water quality; groundwater quality; food-chain crops; air quality; and health and safety. The hazardous waste law is discussed as statutory law, specifically in terms of the compensation for victims of improper hazardous waste disposal and efforts to regulate the generation, transport, and disposal of hazardous waste. Some of the acts discussed in the chapter include Clean Water Act, Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act Price-Anderson Act, Deepwater Ports Act, Spill Compensation and Control Act, Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, and Toxic Substances Control Act. The EPA guidelines for generator, transporter, and waste disposal facilities of hazardous waste are also discussed in the chapter.