Current through Register Vol. 48, No. 9, September 27, 2024
(a)
(1) Except as provided in paragraph (b) of
this section, the regulations in this subpart apply to owners and operators of
facilities that treat, store, or dispose of hazardous waste. The owner or
operator must satisfy the requirements identified in paragraph (a)(2) of this
section for all wastes (or constituents thereof) contained in solid waste
management units at the facility, regardless of the time at which waste was
placed in such units.
(2) All solid
waste management units must comply with the requirements in Section264.101. A
surface impoundment, waste pile, and land treatment unit or landfill that
receives hazardous waste after July 26, 1982 (hereinafter referred to as a
"regulated unit") must comply with the requirements of Sections264.91-264.100
in lieu of Section264.101 for purposes of detecting, characterizing and
responding to releases to the uppermost aquifer. The financial responsibility
requirements of Section264.101 apply to regulated units.
(b) The owner or operator's regulated unit or
units are not subject to regulation for releases into the uppermost aquifer
under this section if:
(1) The owner or
operator is exempted under Section264.1; or
(2) He operates a unit which the Department
finds:
(i) Is an engineered
structure,
(ii) Does not receive or
contain liquid waste or waste containing free liquids,
(iii) Is designed and operated to exclude
liquid, precipitation, and other run-on and run-off,
(iv) Has both inner and outer layers of
containment enclosing the waste,
(v) Has a leak detection system built into
each containment layer,
(vi) The
owner or operator will provide continuing operation and maintenance of these
leak detection systems during the active life of the unit and the closure and
post-closure care periods, and
(vii) To a reasonable degree of certainty,
will not allow hazardous constituents to migrate beyond the outer containment
layer prior to the end of the post-closure care period.
(3) The Department finds, pursuant to
264.280(d), that the treatment zone of a land treatment unit that qualifies as
a regulated unit does not contain levels of hazardous constituents that are
above background levels of those constituents by an amount that is
statistically significant, and if an unsaturated zone monitoring program
meeting the requirements of 264.278 has not shown a statistically significant
increase in hazardous constituents below the treatment zone during the
operating life of the unit. An exemption under this paragraph can only relieve
an owner or operator of responsibility to meet the requirements of this section
during the postclosure care period; or
(4) The Department finds that there is no
potential for migration of liquid from a regulated unit to the uppermost
aquifer during the active life of the regulated unit (including the closure
period) and the post-closure care period specified under Section264.117. This
demonstration must be certified by a qualified geologist or geo-technical
engineer. In order to provide an adequate margin of safety in the prediction of
potential migration of liquid, the owner or operator must base any predictions
made under this paragraph on assumptions that maximize the rate of liquid
migration.
(5) He designs and
operates a pile in compliance with Section264.250(c)(c).
(c) The regulations under this subpart apply
during the active life of the regulated unit (including the closure period).
After closure of the regulated unit, the regulations in this subpart:
(1) Do not apply if all waste, waste
residues, contaminated containment system components, and contaminated subsoils
are removed or decontaminated at closure;
(2) Apply during the post-closure care period
under Section264.117 if the owner or operator is conducting a detection
monitoring program under Section264.98; or,
(3) Apply during the compliance period under
Section264.96 if the owner or operator is conducting a compliance monitoring
program under Section264.99 or a corrective action program under
Section264.100.
(4)
[Reserved]
(d)
Regulations in this subpart may apply to miscellaneous units when necessary to
comply with Subparts 264.601 through 264.603.
(f) The Department may replace all or part of
the requirements of 264.91 through 264.100 applying to a regulated unit with
alternative requirements for groundwater monitoring and corrective action for
releases to groundwater set out in the permit (as defined in 270.1(c)(7)) where
the Department determines that: (8/00)
(1) The
regulated unit is situated among solid waste management units (or areas of
concern), a release has occurred, and both the regulated unit and one or more
solid waste management unit(s) (or areas of concern) are likely to have
contributed to the release; and
(2)
It is not necessary to apply the groundwater monitoring and corrective action
requirements of 264.91 through 264.100 because alternative requirements will
protect human health and the environment.