Permits and Permitting

Highlights

The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) hazardous waste permitting program helps ensure the safe treatment, storage, and disposal of hazardous wastes by establishing specific requirements that must be followed when managing those wastes. Permits for the treatment, storage, or disposal of hazardous wastes are issued by Authorized States or by EPA Regional Offices.

The Hazardous Waste Permitting Process: A Citizens Guide describes the hazardous waste permitting process using a question and answer format.

Managing Hazardous Waste in Your Community Page provides education and outreach about EPA's hazardous waste management program under RCRA. The fact sheets provide a basic overview of EPA's hazardous waste regulations and include state hazardous waste contacts.

Permit Improvement Team examines all of EPA's permitting programs (air, water, and hazardous waste) and identifies how they can be improved. The Team consists of EPA, state, tribal and local government officials. This site contains their reports.

Public Participation and Citizen Action
This Web site explains how the public plays an important role in the permitting process for both hazardous and municipal solid waste facilities. Facilities applying for a permit must involve the public in some aspects of the process. Businesses and the State or federal permitting agency also must make information available to the public.

Regulations related to RCRA Permitting (40 CFR Parts 260-265 and 266-270). Specifically, parts 264 and 270 specify what a permit must contain.

Permit Resources

Hazardous Waste Treatment, Storage and Disposal Facility (TSDF) Regulations: A User Friendly Reference Document for RCRA Subtitle C Permit Writers and Permittees (PDF) (63 pp, 2.0MB, About PDF) - To facilitate stakeholder’s understanding of RCRA’s requirements, EPA developed the TSDF tool. The tool gathers in one place all publicly available resources so that communities, permit writers, states and tribes can easily access them. These resources include permit appeals, proposed and final Federal Register Notices for Parts 264, 265, 266, 268, 270 and 124, flow charts of the permitting process that show how the public can be involved, training modules, example permits, and links to the actual regulations.
RCRA Online - Locate documents covering cover a wide range of RCRA issues and topics.
Sample Permits - Also includes a model permit
RCRA Training Module - "Introduction to Permits and Interim Status" (PDF) (25 pp, 63K, about PDF)

Top of Page

Miscellaneous Reports and Rules

Preparedness and Prevention Requirements for RCRA TSDFs (Response to Chemical Safety Board Recommendation 2007-01-I-NC) (PDF) (8 pp, 3.5MB, about PDF) - This memorandum provides guidance for Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) permitting authorities to ensure that state and local authorities and first responders have sufficient information for emergency preparedness, prevention, and response at RCRA treatment, storage, and disposal facilities (TSDFs).
Reforming Permitting Report (PDF) (104 pp, 1.7MB, about PDF) - This report, developed by Resources for the Future (RFF) serves as a concise and realistic description of the US pollution control permitting process (e.g. air, water, and hazardous waste); provides an overview of the permitting reforms that are being tried in the United States, mostly at the state level, and in Europe; and makes policy recommendations to improve a system that the authors claim is suffering from major defects and weaknesses.
Concept Paper on Environmental Permitting and Task Force Recommendations, July 1996. - This document was developed by the Permit Improvement Team
RCRA Organic Air Emission Standards for TSDFs and Generators (PDF) (8 pp, 333K, about PDF)

Top of Page

Permitting-Related Information Collection Requests (ICRs)

Top of Page

Permits and Permitting

Highlights

Permit Resources

Miscellaneous Reports and Rules

Permitting-Related Information Collection Requests (ICRs)

Local Navigation