EPA grants Alaska authority to permit hazardous waste facilities

The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation takes over permitting and enforcement for hazardous waste treatment, storage and disposal facilities in the state on Aug. 6. EPA Region 10 Administrator Emma Pokon signed the final authorization July 31. It takes effect when it publishes in the Federal Register.

Three of the four written comments EPA received on Alaska's application asked the agency to hold off. EPA declined all three requests to delay. The agency concluded that the issues the comments raised fell outside the scope of its decision and gave it no reason to deny, delay or modify the approval.

EPA made the findings the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act requires before a state can take over. It found that Alaska's program is equivalent to the federal program, consistent with the federal program and other state programs, and provides for adequate enforcement of compliance with hazardous waste requirements.

The change does not create new rules. It does not alter the state hazardous waste regulations already in effect at 18 AAC 62. It changes which government administers and enforces them. The state department becomes the permitting and enforcement agency, operating under those state regulations in place of the federal program.

Persons in Alaska subject to the federal act must comply with the authorized state requirements in lieu of the corresponding federal requirements. They must also comply with applicable federal requirements that the state program does not supplant, including Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments regulations for which Alaska has not yet received authorization. EPA will continue to implement those requirements, including issuing permits, until the state is authorized for them.

Not everything moves to the state. EPA retains full authority in Indian country and in areas of exclusive federal jurisdiction. The authorization cites Denali National Park, where section 11 of the Alaska Statehood Act acknowledges the United States retains exclusive jurisdiction. Alaska did not seek authority over Indian lands. EPA also keeps independent power to inspect facilities, require monitoring and testing, and bring its own enforcement actions.

Existing EPA-issued permits stay in force until they expire or are terminated. Once Alaska either incorporates the terms and conditions of the federal permits into state permits or issues state permits to those facilities, EPA will terminate the earlier federal permits and rely on the state ones. EPA will not issue new permits for the provisions Alaska is authorized to administer.

Federal rules require state programs to be at least as stringent as the federal program and allow them to be more stringent or broader in scope. EPA identified three Alaska provisions it considers more stringent. They are added reporting and notification requirements, the state's adoption of EPA's 2009 groundwater monitoring guidance as a regulatory requirement, and corrective action standards that fold in the state Contaminated Sites Program. The state requires annual notification from small quantity generators, large quantity generators and transporters, which the federal program does not. Alaska also adds electronic waste as a universal waste stream, a step the Alaska Oil & Gas Association told EPA that only five states have taken.