by Jbs123109 d3 — January 4, 2010—The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says it has taken a significant step to help fund the cleanup of environmental releases.
The agency has identified three additional industry sectors for which it will begin the regulatory development process for any necessary financial assurance requirements: the chemical manufacturing industry; the petroleum and coal products manufacturing industry, which primarily includes refineries and not coal mines; and the electric power generation, transmission, and distribution industry.
Financial assurance requirements help ensure that owners and operators of facilities are able to pay for cleanup of environmental releases and help reduce the number of sites that need to be cleaned up by federal taxpayers through the Superfund program. EPA will be accepting public comment on this notice for 30 days.
The identification of these industry sectors is part of EPA’s effort under Section 108(b) of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), commonly known as the Superfund law, to examine if financial assurance requirements will help promote better environmental outcomes. The action just announced is not a proposed rule or a final regulation, notes EPA.
In July 2009, EPA issued a notice that identified the hard-rock mining industry as its priority for the initiation of the regulatory development process for financial responsibility requirements. In addition, EPA is studying the following classes of facilities to decide whether to develop proposed regulations: waste management and remediation services, wood product manufacturing, fabricated metal product manufacturing, electronics and electrical equipment manufacturing, and facilities engaged in the recycling of materials containing CERCLA hazardous substances.
