On Friday, May 13, 2016, EPA published a proposed rule in the
Federal Register that would subject site remediation
activities under CERCLA and RCRA to Clean Air Act hazardous air
pollutant requirements. Comments on the proposal are due by Monday,
June 27, 2016.
EPA's proposal follows up on a March 25, 2015 letter that
granted reconsideration of two issues in the National Emission
Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) for Site
Remediation. According to EPA, "[t]he Site Remediation NESHAP
applies to site remediation activities that involve the removal and
treatment of hazardous substances from contaminated media (soil or
groundwater), the contaminated media itself, or the hazardous
substances by themselves. It applies to certain types of site
remediation equipment used to clean up hazardous substances
containing organics that potentially could be released to the
atmosphere as hazardous air pollutants (HAP)." The
reconsideration petitions that prompted this
