HOUSE BILL REPORT

HB 2875

BYRepresentatives Rector, Rust, Nelson, Spanel, Phillips, Dellwo, Locke, Valle, Fraser, Jacobsen, G. Fisher, Cooper, Brekke, Sprenkle, Anderson, R. Meyers, Dorn, H. Myers, Peery, Todd, Belcher, Day and Wineberry

Changing permit requirements for facilities treating, storing, or disposing of hazardous substances.

House Committe on Environmental Affairs

Majority Report:  The substitute bill be substituted therefor and the substitute bill do pass.  (12)

      Signed by Representatives Rust, Chair; Valle, Vice Chair; D. Sommers, Ranking Republican Member; Brekke, G. Fisher, Fraser, Phillips, Pruitt, Schoon, Sprenkle, Van Luven and Walker.

House Staff:Harry Reinert (786-7110)

AS REPORTED BY COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS

FEBRUARY 2, 1990

BACKGROUND:

The disposal of hazardous waste is governed by both state and federal laws.  The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) establishes a comprehensive federal program for the management of hazardous waste from its creation to its disposal.  Under RCRA, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) may authorize a state with a program meeting the federal standards to enforce RCRA in the state.  Washington has been authorized by EPA to enforce RCRA in this state.

The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act does not apply to radioactive wastes under the authority of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.  Certain wastes which have a mixture of hazardous and radioactive components are subject to RCRA and may be regulated by a state with an approved program.  Transuranic elements are those that are higher on the periodic table than uranium.  These elements generally have long half-lives and some, such as plutonium, are highly toxic.

A treatment, storage and disposal facility at the Hanford Reservation is permitted to accept mixed wastes.  In 1989, the state, the United States Department of Energy, and EPA entered into an agreement providing for the cleanup of several Department of Energy facilities on the Hanford Reservation.

SUMMARY:

SUBSTITUTE BILL:  The owner or operator of a facility which stores, manages, processes, or disposes of mixed transuranic hazardous waste may not accept mixed transuranic hazardous waste not generated at the facility until the facility has a final permit issued under state law and Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA).

The Department of Ecology may not authorize any unit within such a facility to accept mixed transuranic hazardous waste not generated at the facility until the facility is in compliance with final status permit standards.

If these restrictions conflict with the three party agreement for the cleanup of the Hanford facility, the three party agreement is controlling.

SUBSTITUTE BILL COMPARED TO ORIGINAL:  The substitute bill limits the application of the restrictions on receipt of mixed radioactive waste to those mixed radioactive wastes containing transuranic components.  It also makes the Hanford three party agreement controlling if there is a conflict between these restrictions and the agreement.

Fiscal Note:      Not Requested.

Effective Date:The bill contains an emergency clause and takes effect immediately.

House Committee ‑ Testified For:    Representative Shirley Rector, Prime Sponsor; Mark Bloome, Heart of America Northwest; Gerald Pollet, Heart of America Northwest; and Betty Tabbutt, Washington Environmental Council.

House Committee - Testified Against:      No one.

House Committee - Testimony For:    The governor has announced his opposition to the shipment of certain wastes from the Rocky Flats defense plant to Hanford for disposal.  These wastes contain extremely toxic radioactive compounds.  This bill will give the Governor statutory backing for his position.

House Committee - Testimony Against:      None.