Policy & Procedures

Public Law Regulation

• 101-549, Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 (CAAA90)
  This act, Public Law (PL) 101-549 (42 U.S. Code (USC) 7401-7671q), is currently the Federal legislation regulating the prevention and control of air pollution. As a result of this act, regulations have been promulgated concerning the control, monitoring, and reporting of emissions from municipal solid waste landfills (MSWLFs).

• 98-616, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA)
  This is the Federal law that governs the disposal of solid waste. Subtitle D of this act, as last amended in November 1984, Public Law (PL) 98-616, 42 U.S. Code (USC) 6941-6949a, establishes Federal standards and requirements for state and regional authorities respecting solid waste disposal. The objectives of this subtitle are to assist in developing and encouraging methods for the disposal of solid waste which are environmentally sound and which maximize the utilization of valuable resources recoverable from solid waste. The objectives are to be achieved through Federal technical and financial assistance to states and regional authorities for comprehensive planning (42 USC 6941).

  RCRA (pronounced "rick-rah") gave EPA the authority to control hazardous waste from the "cradle-to-grave." This includes the generation, transportation, treatment, storage, and disposal of hazardous waste. RCRA also set forth a framework for the management of non-hazardous wastes.

  The 1986 amendments to RCRA enabled EPA to address environmental problems that could result from underground tanks storing petroleum and other hazardous substances. RCRA focuses only on active and future facilities and does not address abandoned or historical sites (see CERCLA).

  HSWA (pronounced "hiss-wa")The Federal Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments are the 1984 amendments to RCRA that required phasing out land disposal of hazardous waste. Some of the other mandates of this strict law include increased enforcement authority for EPA, more stringent hazardous waste management standards, and a comprehensive underground storage tank program.

Executive Orders

• E.O. 12088, Federal Compliance with Pollution Standards, October 13, 1978
  This EO requires Federally owned and operated facilities to comply with applicable Federal, state, and local pollution control standards. It makes the head of each executive agency responsible for seeing to it that the agencies, facilities, programs, and activities the agency funds meet applicable Federal, state, and local environmental requirements and for correcting situations that are not in compliance with such requirements. In addition, the EO requires that each agency ensure that sufficient funds for environmental compliance are included in the agency budget. [Replaced with EO 13148]

• E.O. 13101, Greening the Government Through Waste Prevention, Recycling, and Federal Acquisition
  This EO, dated 14 September 1998, mandates the head of each executive agency that incorporate waste prevention and recycling in the agency's daily operations and work to increase and expand markets for recovered materials through greater Federal Government preference and demand for such products. Under this EO, it is the national policy to prefer pollution prevention, whenever feasible. Pollution that cannot be prevented should be recycled; pollution that cannot be prevented or recycled should be treated in an environmentally safe manner. Disposal should be used only as a last resort. This EO also stipulates that agencies will comply with executive branch policies for the acquisition and use of environmentally preferable products and services and implement cost-effective procurement preference programs favoring the purchase of these products and services. Finally, the EO creates a Steering Committee, a Federal Environmental Executive (FEE), and a Task Force, and establishes Agency Environmental Executive (AEE) positions within each agency, to be responsible for ensuring the implementation of this order. The FEE, AEEs, and members of the Steering Committee and Task Force are to be full-time Federal Government employees. This EO revokes EO 12873. See the Pollution Prevention portion of the Other Environmental Issues section of the U.S.TEAM Guide for checklist items based on this EO [Added October 1999]. [Replaced with EO 13148]

Other Guidance/Policy

• State Environmental Agencies Links

• State Regulations Locator