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Managing Environmental Liability - Business Transactions and Brownfield Redevelopment - Looseleaf
Managing Environmental Liability - Business Transactions and Brownfield Redevelopment - Electronic
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RESOURCE CONSERVATION AND
RECOVERY ACT
(42 U.S.C. 6901 et seq.)
§ 4.01 Introduction
In 1965, concern over diminishing landfill space and groundwater contamination
from open dumps led to the passage of the federal Solid Waste Disposal Act
of 1965 (SWDA), which provided federal grants to assist municipalities in developing
sanitary landfills.1
In the 1970s, there was a dramatic increase in the quantity of hazardous waste
generated in the United States. Ironically, much of the increase was due to the
volume of toxic sludges produced by pollution control equipment mandated by
the Clean Air Act (CAA) and the Clean Water Act (CWA). Nearly 90 percent of
the hazardous wastes were being disposed of in licensed landfills, surface impoundments,
underground injection wells and in environmentally unsafe ways
such that the wastes could escape into the environment. Since the SWDA was
directed at municipal wastes and could not control these shoddy disposal practices,
Congress enacted the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA)2
in 1976, which replaced the SWDA.
RCRA was designed to “eliminate the last remaining loophole in environmental
law,” which Congress identified as the “unregulated land disposal of discarded
materials and hazardous wastes.”3 The centerpiece of the law was the hazardous
waste management program contained in Subtitle C.4 Under this Subtitle, the EPA
was directed to develop criteria for identifying hazardous wastes, to create a cradleto-
grave regulatory program that tracked the movement of hazardous wastes from
generation to disposal, and to establish a permit system and technical standards for
facilities that store, treat or dispose of hazardous waste (TSDF).
Chapter 4: Resource Conservation and Recovery Act
4.01 Introduction
4.02 Identification of Regulated Hazardous Wastes
4.03 Definition of Solid Waste
4.04 Definition of Hazardous Waste
4.05 Listed Hazardous Wastes
4.06 Hazardous Waste Characteristics
4.07 Hazardous Waste Mixture and Derived-From Rules
4.08 Regulation of Used Oil
4.09 Regulation of Recycled Hazardous Wastes
4.10 Delisting of Hazardous Wastes
4.11 Standards for Generators of Hazardous Waste
4.12 Standards for Transporters of Hazardous Waste
4.13 Standards for Treatment, Storage and Disposal Facilities (TSDF)
4.14 TSDF Operating and Design Standard
4.14A Closure and Post-Closure
4.15 TSDF Permitting Procedures-Interim Status Facilities
4.16 Permit Procedures for New TSDF
4.17 Land Disposal Restrictions
4.18 Corrective Action
4.19 Underground Storage Tank Program
4.20 Regulated USTs
4.21 Notification Requirements
4.22 Design and Construction Standards
4.23 Release Detection Requirements
4.24 Release Reporting, Investigation and Confirmation
4.25 Release Response and Corrective Action
4.26 Out-of-Service USTs and Closure Requirements
4.27 Financial Responsibility Requirements
4.28 Federal UST Leaking Underground Storage Tank Fund
4.29 State Administration of the RCRA UST Program
4.30 State UST Trust Fund Programs
4.30A Additional Sources of Financial Assistance
4.30B Enforcement
4.30C Special Note for Owners and Prospective Purchasers of Properties Containing Home Heating Oil USTs Used for Residential Purposes
4.30D Miscellaneous Litigation Involving USTs
4.30E Recommendations for Real Estate Transactions
4.31 Information Gathering and Enforcement
4.32 Information Gathering Authority
4.33 Civil Enforcement Authority
4.34 Criminal Enforcement Authority
4.35 Citizen Suits
4.36 Using the RCRA Citizen Suit Provision in Private Cost Recovery Actions
4.37 Private Cost Recovery Actions under Section 7003
4.38 Subtitle D-Regulation of Municipal Waste
Lawrence P. Schnapf is Principal of Schnapf LLC. He has 25 years of national environmental experience with Fortune 500 corporations and a number of major New York-based law firms. Larry primarily concentrates on environmental issues associated with corporate, real estate and brownfield transactions, commercial lending, distressed debt, bankruptcy and workouts. He has extensive experience with brownfield redevelopment and financing, negotiating environmental insurance policies for business and real estate transactions, performing environmental due diligence for complex business transactions.
He has also written numerous articles on environmental law, is a contributing author for several chapters of “ Brownfield Practice and Law: The Cleanup and Redevelopment of Contaminated Properties” published by Matthew Bender. He was also a contributing author for “The Law Of Environmental Justice” published by the American Bar Association and the Matthew Bender “Environmental Law Practice Guide”. He is also the author of “ Managing Environmental Liability in Transactions and Brownfield Redevelopment” published by JurisLaw Publishing.
Larry is the co-chair of the New York State Bar Association’s Hazardous Site Remediation Committee, co-chair of the NYSBA brownfield task force and a board member of the Board of the NYC Partnership of Brownfield Practitioners. He is also the chair of the Brownfield Committee Force of the Environmental Business Association of New York.
He is Chair of the ABA Section of Business Law Committee on Environmental, Energy and Natural Resources Law. He is a vice chair of the Environmental Transactions, Audits and Brownfield Committee; and Special Committee on Disclosure of the ABA’s Section of Environment, Energy and Resources. He is also a member of the board of BNA’s Environmental Due Diligence Guide.
Larry is also a member of the ASTM 1527 Task Group, Phase II Legal Work Group, Co-Chair of the legal sub-committee for the ASTM Vapor Intrusion Task Group, a member of the ASTM Appropriate Care/Continuing Obligations Task Group and Building Energy Performance Disclosure Task Group.
Larry is an adjunct professor of environmental law at New York Law School where he teaches “Environmental Issues in Business Transactions” and “Environmental Law and Policy”. He is also on the faculty of the Center for Christian Studies at Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church where he teaches “The Bible and the Environment.”
He is listed in the International Who’s Who of Business Lawyers 2008 and 2009, the 2009 Madison’s Who’s Who of Executives and Professionals, and The International Who’s Who of Environmental Lawyers 2008 and 2009, and Chambers USA 2009 Client Guide of America’s Leading Lawyers for Business.
You can visit the web page of the Schnapf Environmental Law Center at http://www.environmental-law.net/
