Hazardous Waste Amendments to RCRA
Posted by Tim Wheeler on May 13, 1999 at 09:45:15:In Reply to: Grandfathered posted by Joan Seeman on May 12, 1999 at 19:19:40:
Joan,
It was ruled in a US Federal Court of Appeals that WIPP is exempt from the Hazardous Waste Amendments to RCRA under some sort of grand fathering provision. I am not familiar with these amendments, so I can not comment on the specific nature of this exemption. However, I suspect that the legislation provided for such exemptions for facilities that qualifiy under some sort of grand fathering status. Again, I don't enough about the legislation or the court ruling to discuss the details of any such criteria, but obiviously one can assume that the legislation provided for such exemptive status. Otherwise the court would not have even considered the possibility of such an exemption for WIPP. Furthermore, I would suspect that WIPP is not the only facility that has been grand fathered.
My purpose of bring up the exemption of WIPP from these amendments was not to defend the legislation. Rather, I have sought from CCNS a clarification of allegations on their wep page that there have been violations of state and federal environmental laws in regard to the WIPP. To date I have received no such clarification from the CCNS regarding these allegations, whereas a former staff member of the New Mexico Environmental Evaluation Group, Dr. Ruth Weiner, has informed me that neither the DOE nor any other Federal agency has been found in violation of any State or Federal environmental laws.
Tim Wheeler
- Grandfathered Status Joan Seeman 5/16/99 (0)
- Grandfathered Status Joan Seeman 5/16/99 (0)