Waste Management, Transportation and Cleanup

Hazardous Waste

The Environmental and Natural Resources Practice Group advises clients on all phases of hazardous waste management. We are thoroughly familiar with the federal hazardous waste regulatory framework of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) and numerous State hazardous waste management programs. We provide counseling on all aspects of the regulations, including hazardous waste identification, storage, transportation, treatment, and disposal. At facilities which maintain hazardous waste management units, we assist clients in obtaining RCRA Part B operating permits, completing clean closure of units, and achieving cost-effective compliance with post-closure and corrective action requirements. Based upon experience gained working both for and with federal and state regulatory agencies, our attorneys work effectively with regulators on behalf of our clients to minimize costs, delays, and operational restrictions which are often associated with hazardous waste regulation.

We advise a broad range of clients on hazardous waste matters including:

  • Chemical manufacturers
  • Pulp and paper companies
  • Petroleum refiners
  • Appliance manufacturers
  • Commercial hazardous waste and disposal facilities
  • Wood treatment companies
  • Utilities
  • Air carriers
  • Dry cleaners
  • Municipalities
  • Mining operations

Through representation of these and other clients, we have worked with each of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Regional offices, as well as hazardous waste management programs in numerous states including Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Texas, Utah, and Virginia. Through representation of clients on transactional matters, we also have addressed hazardous waste issues arising outside of the United States, in countries such as Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Portugal, France, the Czech Republic, Germany, Trinidad and Tobago, and Indonesia.

Generator Compliance

The hazardous waste regulations are, at best, complicated and confusing. Many regulatory provisions do not necessarily mean what they appear to say. Instead regulatory provisions frequently are the subject of extensive interpretive guidance developed by EPA or State agencies through rule-making preambles, internal directives and memoranda, and correspondence with the regulated community. Through our experience in evaluating numerous hazardous waste issues involving a wide variety of circumstances, we have developed a broad understanding of both standard and obscure hazardous waste management requirements. When issues require a more in-depth review, we know where to quickly locate information needed to complete a thorough analysis.

We utilize this experience to assist facilities which generate waste to determine whether those wastes are subject to hazardous waste regulation. We then determine how to manage hazardous waste in a manner which will avoid, if possible, the need for a hazardous waste operating or post-closure permit. We have assisted numerous generators in assuring compliance with applicable hazardous waste storage, off-site treatment and disposal, reporting, and record-keeping requirements, including:

  • Advising a company involved in the extraction and beneficiation of ores of the scope of the exemption from hazardous waste regulation provided by the Bevill Amendment;
  • On behalf of a chemical manufacturer successfully obtaining reconsideration of a State agency determination that a process chemical intermediate was a F-listed waste, thereby avoiding regulation of spill areas as hazardous waste management units;
  • Advising a manufacturing facility on modifications to its waste management activities to enable the manufacturer to qualify for small quantity generator status;
  • Assisting a commercial waste management company in utilizing the alternative land disposal restriction treatment standards for contaminated soil, enabling the company to dispose of the soil at a non-hazardous waste landfill;
  • Representing a pharmaceuticals manufacturer on hazardous waste point of generation criteria applicable to the shipping of products which exceeded their shelf life. Obtained State agency concurrence that the centralized location at which product waste determinations were made constituted the point of generation;
  • Advising an air carrier on waste determination and management requirements applicable to oxygen cylinders; and
  • Obtaining on behalf of a chemical manufacture a determination from the EPA that wastewater entering facility surface impoundments did not exhibit the characteristic of toxicity.

RCRA Part B Permitting and Corrective Action

Facilities which maintain hazardous waste management units are subject to the RCRA Part B permitting process. Because we have assisted numerous clients in obtaining Part B operating permits, we can provide experienced assistance in minimizing the costs, delays, and operational burdens often associated with this process. We also have an in-depth knowledge of the regulatory framework and guidance applicable to clean closure of inactive hazardous waste management units and, based on this knowledge, have assisted clients in successfully achieving clean closure, thereby avoiding the need to obtain a RCRA Part B post-closure permit and the attendant RCRA corrective action requirements. Where corrective action is required by administrative order or permit, we can provide effective assistance to facility owner/operators in streamlining the corrective action process. Examples of our experience with RCRA permitting and correction action include:

  • Assisting a pulp and paper company in obtaining approval from the Arkansas Department of Pollution Control and Ecology of a clean closure certification for hazardous waste surface impoundments at a former wood treatment facility;
  • Representing a commercial waste treatment facility in obtaining the first hazardous waste treatment permit issued by the State of Georgia;
  • Counseling a chemical manufacturing company in obtaining favorable reconsideration of an initial state agency determination expanding corrective action requirements under a RCRA Part B post-closure permit to facilities previously owned by corporate affiliates on adjacent properties;
  • Representing a wood treatment facility in obtaining State agency approval of an appropriately-scoped corrective action plan for remediation of wood treatment constituents in ground water;
  • Representing a chemical manufacturing company in obtaining the agreement of EPA and the Alabama Department of Environmental Management to narrow substantially the scope of a RCRA Facility Investigation from the 124 Solid Waste Management Units identified by EPA during the RCRA Facility Assessment; and
  • Serving as counsel for a chemical manufacturer with respect to RCRA corrective action involving ethylene dichloride in soils and groundwater at a facility in Louisiana. Negotiated a Corrective Action Plan combining bio-remediation with a risk-based closure standard.

Enforcement Defense and Private Party Actions

Group attorneys have successfully represented clients in a wide range of RCRA enforcement actions brought by EPA and state agencies. Drawing in many cases upon experience gained as former federal and state regulatory attorneys, we utilize our experience with agency enforcement procedures and our substantive knowledge of RCRA to resolve agency enforcement actions expeditiously and effectively. We also have experience in asserting and defending against private party claims for contribution and site clean-up arising under the imminent hazard and citizen suit provisions of RCRA. Examples of our experience include:

  • Successfully negotiating a Consent Order on behalf of a pulp and paper company with EPA and the Georgia Environmental Protection Division for clean closure of black liquor lagoons and a lime mud ditch at the company's pulp and paper mill;
  • Assisting a personal care products manufacturer in responding to and resolving without further action Notices of Violation issued by the States of Georgia and Florida for alleged improper incineration of containers of sunblock which had exceeded their shelf life;
  • Successfully negotiating resolution of enforcement actions by the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality and EPA seeking corrective action at a chemical manufacturing facility. The corrective action was limited to areas where actual releases had occurred and involved innovative remedial action to address Dense Non-Aqueous Phase Liquids in groundwater;
  • Counseling a wood products company in an internal investigation concerning alleged improper handling and disposal of hazardous waste. As a result of the company's adoption of recommendations made by the investigation team, no further action was taken by the State agency or EPA;
  • Responding to a Notice of Violation issued by EPA with respect to a facility-wide RCRA inspection conducted by the Agency at a pulp and paper mill in Oregon. After satisfying EPA that the alleged findings were unwarranted, a no further action letter was obtained from the Agency;
  • Representing a commercial hazardous waste treatment company in a State enforcement action alleging improper disposal of creosote-contaminated soils at a non-Subtitle C landfill. Based upon regulatory uncertainties raised by counsel with respect to the source of the creosote and associated waste determination issues, the matter was resolved with payment of a nominal penalty; and
  • Representing an international small engine manufacturer in litigation brought under CERCLA, RCRA and State law against former owner/operators of a metal plating business for recovery of site assessment and remediation costs. Obtained summary judgment on RCRA citizen suit claims alleging that defendants failed to comply with RCRA standards applicable to hazardous waste surface impoundments.

Non Hazardous Solid Waste

Our attorneys are familiar with all aspects of managing non-hazardous solid waste. Our experience stems from extensive work on behalf of clients as well as work in the government. For example, one of our attorneys drafted most of Virginia's solid waste legislation from 1992-1999 while working for the General Assembly.

We have extensive experience with Georgia's solid waste permitting requirements and procedures, as well as experience with potential liabilities associated with solid waste landfills, including methane gas buildup and contaminant migration. We have litigated open dumping issues and advised clients on the management of fly ash, bottom ash or fuels byproducts generally. Sample representations include:

  • Representing a solid waste company in the purchase of new transfer station in the Atlanta area;
  • Representing a major regional landfill in Georgia on the cutting edge of Subtitle D; we obtained permit modification to allow the landfill to mine old waste areas, separate out recyclables, and create new lined cells, thereby extending the life of the landfill by fifty years;
  • Successfully challenging state laws limiting the importation of solid waste from other states;
  • Advising clients on landfill closure issues in Virginia and North Carolina; and
  • Representing a property owner in connection with the presence of an old waste site on property that the owner wishes to sell to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

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