TO: Interested Persons
FROM: Kevin Bromberg, Assistant Chief Counsel; David Rostker, Assistant Chief Counsel; Tabby Waqar, Assistant Chief Counsel
SUBJECT: Next SBA Environmental Roundtable Meeting
The next U.S. Small Business Administration, Office of Advocacy Environmental Roundtable will meet to discuss the following topics, beginning at 10 a.m. on Friday, August 4, 2017. The meeting will be held in Washington, D.C., at the Small Business Administration Headquarters, 409 Third Street SW, Eisenhower B Conference Room. Send your RSVP to twaqar@sba.gov. Please indicate whether you are attending in person, or by teleconference. Information will be sent out to you when you RSVP. We have adopted a casual attire option for all Roundtable meetings.
Draft Agenda
10:00 – 11:00 AM July 7, 2017 D.C. Circuit Opinion – Review of 2015 EPA Definition of Solid Waste
Donald Patterson, Beveridge and Diamond PC, Principal
11:00 – 12:00 noon To Be Determined (we welcome additional topics)
Roundtable meetings are open to all interested persons, with the exception of the press, in order to facilitate open and frank discussion about the impacts of Federal regulatory activities on small entities. Agendas and presentations are available to all, including the press. Anyone who wants to receive roundtable agendas or presentations, or to be included in the distribution list, should forward such requests to kevin.bromberg@sba.gov. The purpose of these Roundtable meetings is to exchange opinions, facts and information and to obtain the attendees’ individual views and opinions regarding small business concerns. The meetings are not intended to achieve or communicate any consensus positions of the attendees.
Small Business Environmental Roundtable
Issues for Discussion
August 4, 2017
July 7, 2017 DC Circuit Court Decision Revising EPA Definition of Solid Waste Rule
In the 2015 Definition of Solid Waste (DSW) Final Rule, EPA modified the 2008 DSW rule with the goal of ensuring it protects human health and the environment from the mismanagement of hazardous secondary materials intended for recycling. At the same time, the rule was intended to promote additional recycling by adopting an alternative set of less stringent requirements to the conventional hazardous waste regulations for these facilities. The DSW rule affects the manufacturing sector, which is dominated by small manufacturers. The DC Circuit reviewed petitions by both industry and environmental parties.
The court invalidated one of the four legitimacy factors, known as “Factor 4,” which required generally that the concentrations of the recycled secondary product be “comparable” to the concentrations in the product or intermediate being replaced. The court also vacated the “Verified Recycler Exclusion,” and reinstated the 2008 Transfer Based Exclusion, with the associated requirement to use “best efforts” to identify a recycler that would follow sound environmental practices. While eliminating the requirement that EPA or a state agency approve the third party recycling facility under the Verified Recycler Exclusion, the court retained two related requirements which were also added in the 2015 rule: a new containment standard and emergency preparedness procedures.
This case has potential implications for both hazardous and nonhazardous waste recyclers.
For more information about the 2015 DSW rule, see EPA’s website: https://www.epa.gov/hw/legitimate-hazardous-waste-recycling-versus-sham-recycling