Page 53 - Highway Engineering Handbook Building and Rehabilitating the Infrastructure

36 CHAPTER ONE

Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). The Resource Conservation and
Recovery Act was enacted in 1974, and amended in 1984, to address growing concerns
related to disposal of hazardous and nonhazardous waste. RCRA requires states to develop
EPA-approved hazardous waste management plans and encourages options other than
landfill disposal for final disposition of hazardous waste. A major objective of RCRA is to
conserve and protect environmental resources, including the land resource that is lost to
other uses when it is filled with solid waste. RCRA established

• A system for defining hazardous waste
• A method to determine whether hazardous waste has been generated
• Guidelines on how to store, handle, or treat hazardous waste
• Standards for proper disposal of waste
• Methods to track hazardous waste to its ultimate disposition

Resource recovery is an important area mandated by RCRA, and covers several mate-
rials used in highway construction, such as recycled glass, scrap tires, and recycled con-
struction materials. Some hazardous materials can also be treated and recycled for use in
highway construction. RCRA also covers issues of “use constituting disposal” for projects
that seek to use embankments or road subbase as disposal areas for hazardous waste, if suit-
ability can be demonstrated. Some of the research and demonstration projects in the area of
resource recovery that are applicable to highways are discussed later in this chapter.
Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). The Toxic Substances Control Act sets the policy
for testing suspected toxic substances to evaluate persistence in the environment and
their effect on humans (acute toxicity levels and/or carcinogenic effects). TSCA also reg-
ulates toxic substances not regulated by RCRA such as asbestos-containing materials
(ACM) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), both of which may be found in existing
highway facilities.
Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA).
The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act was
passed in 1980. It established national policy and procedures for identifying and remediat-
ing sites that are found to be contaminated with hazardous substances, and identified pro-
cedures for containing and removing releases of hazardous substances. CERCLA was
amended and expanded by the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986
(SARA). CERCLA established a hazard ranking system sites. The highest ranked sites
have been placed on the National Priorities List (NPL) and are eligible for funding for envi-
ronmental cleanup under CERCLA.
CERCLA provides for “joint and several liability,” which means that any party identi-
fied as responsible for contamination of a site is considered equally responsible for cleanup
costs with all other parties identified, and can be held 100 percent financially responsible
in the event that other parties do not pay. Recovering costs from nonpaying parties is then
the burden of the paying party and is pursued through the judicial system. Potentially
responsible parties (PRPs) may be current or past owners and/or operators of a site where
hazardous substances have been released, or persons who arranged for disposal or treat-
ment of hazardous substances at the site. In addition, any person who knowingly accepted
hazardous substances for transport to the site may be considered a PRP. Liability under
CERCLA may also be retroactive to an era when the practices leading to the contamination
were accepted industry standards. Petroleum is excluded from CERCLA unless mixed with
other hazardous substances, in which case the entire mixture is considered hazardous.
Provisions have been established under SARA for an Underground Storage Tank Trust
Fund that will address petroleum releases.