Environmental Technology Council

1112 16

th Street NW  Suite 420  Washington DC 20036  (202) 783-0870

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Electronically submitted

July 10, 2008

Ms. Rhonda Minnick

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Office of Solid Waste

1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW (5302P)

Washington DC 20460

Re: Lack of Lab Standard for M-Cumenyl-Methyl Carbamate

Dear Ms. Minnick:

The Environmental Technology Council (ETC) is the trade association that 

represents most of the commercial hazardous waste companies in the United States. 

Recently, ETC member firms have contacted EPA regarding a serious problem with 

testing under the RCRA land disposal restrictions program, and the ETC respectfully

requests emergency action to address this problem.

We have discovered that no commercial laboratories are able to perform analysis 

on m-cumenyl-methyl carbamate because lab standards for this compound are no longer 

available to calibrate the equipment. We even checked with EPA field offices and 

determined that this carbamate compound is no longer available in the EPA standards 

repository. Very few laboratories were able to test for this compound in the past, and 

now there are no laboratories that can perform the testing. Test America, one of the 

major testing laboratories in the U.S., has confirmed that they can no longer test for this 

compound. After a significant amount of research into possible suppliers, we have 

determined that the laboratories’ assessment of the situation is accurate.

As you know, m-cumenyl-methyl carbamate is listed as P202 with an LDR 

treatment standard of 1.4 mg/kg. This compound is also identified as an Underlying 

Hazardous Constituent. Without an available standard, companies cannot test for 

compliance with this LDR treatment requirement. We should note that several ETC 

member incineration facilities routinely tested for m-cumenyl-methyl carbamate, before 

the lab standard became unavailable, in monthly samples of ash and filter cake, and have 

never found a detectable level of this carbamate.

The ETC has surveyed all of its member companies. All companies confirm that 

the commercial labs that conduct LDR testing have stated that they cannot test for mcumenyl-methyl carbamate. There are no available options for treating and 

demonstrating compliance with the LDR treatment standard for this waste. The 
Ms. Rhonda Minnick

July 10, 2008

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impossibility of demonstrating compliance means that wastes identified as P202 or 

wastes that contain m-cumenyl-methyl carbamate as an underlying hazardous constituent 

cannot be treated and properly disposed.

This situation is similar to a previous occasion in 1998 when EPA discovered that 

test standards were not available for certain carbamates, after a long list of carbamates 

was added to the LDR treatment standards. In an emergency rulemaking, EPA revised 

the treatment requirements to allow combustion and wastewater treatment as alternative 

technologies for those carbamates so that testing for these individual constituents was not 

required. 63 Fed. Reg. 47411 (Sept. 4, 1998). This rule provides that treatment standards 

for the wastes specified as P185, P191, P197, U364, U394, and U395 – the carbamate 

compounds for which no standard was available for equipment calibration – may be 

satisfied by treating the waste by combustion (CMBST) for nonwastewaters, and by

biodegradation (BIODG), carbon adsorption (CARBN, chemical oxidation (CHOXD), or 

combustion for wastewaters. 40 CFR 268.40(j).

The ETC requests that EPA issue an emergency rule that adds P202 to the list of 

carbamate compounds in 40 CFR 269.40(j), or take such other action as the Agency

deems necessary to resolve this problem. Thank you for your consideration of this 

request.

Respectfully submitted,

David R. Case

Executive Director