A group of environmental organizations plan to sue the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), claiming the agency has failed to update waste disposal rules as required by the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) – which they say should have been revised over 25 years ago – to address waste associated with drilling and hydraulic fracturing activity.
In an Aug. 26 letter to EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy, the groups said that the EPA has failed to meet its duty to revise at least once every three years Subtitle D regulations for wastes associated with the exploration, development, or production of oil, natural gas or geothermal energy.
According to the groups, the last time EPA conducted a review of these regulations was in 1988, when it revised regulations to promulgate “tailored” regulations for oil and gas wastes. EPA has also failed to review and update its guidelines for state solid waste management plans, missing 11 successive three year deadlines since the last review and update were conducted in 1981.