Regulating hazardous utility waste

The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) of 1976, which completed the environmental legislation designed to control air and water quality and toxic substances, requires that hazardous wastes be defined and their handling standardized. Subtitle C deals with specific hazardous materials identified by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on the basis of four criteria: combustibility, corrosiveness, reactivity, and toxicity. Special waste classifications were given on an interim basis to some wastes, including high volume utility wastes and specific treatments were outlined to deal with them until more information is available. Business and utility critics, focusing on the special classification and test criteria, protest the cost of compliance and the siting problems associated with this regulation, while environemtnal groups object to the regulatory loopholes.