VI-1

RCRA and its Relationship to Other Environmental Statutes SECTION VI SECTION VI

SECTION VI

RCRA AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER

ENVIRONMENTAL STATUTES

chemical-specific boundaries established in the

nation’s environmental statutes are often artificial.

Many different types of practices may be

responsible for the release into the environment of

the same contaminant. Moreover, individual

contaminants are not confined to specific media

(see Figure VI-1). Volatile organic compounds,

such as benzene or toluene can be released into

and contaminate the air, soil, and water.

Additionally, uncontrolled pollutants may travel

long distances by natural means and change

physically, affecting multiple media. Therefore, a

media- or contaminant-specific approach cannot

fully address the magnitude and complexities of

the waste management problem. This section

introduces each of these environmental protection

statutes and highlights their differences from

RCRA.

Many of these statutes interact closely and

even overlap with RCRA. In order to avoid

overregulation of industry and coordinate

environmental protection laws, Congress required

that EPA, when promulgating RCRA regulations,

ensure consistency with and avoid duplication of

regulatory provisions promulgated under other

environmental statutes.

One statute in particular, CERCLA or

Superfund, has a close-fitting relationship with

RCRA. Both programs are similar in that their

primary purpose is to protect human health and

the environment from the dangers of hazardous

In this section...

Overview........................................................... VI-1

Chapter 1: Legislative Framework for

Addressing Hazardous Waste

Problems ..................................... VI-3

Chapter 2: Superfund: The Hazardous

Waste Cleanup Program ............. VI-11

OVERVIEW

EPA’s mission is to protect human health and

the environment. In order to further this mission,

Congress has enacted many environmental laws to

address releases, or threats of releases, of

hazardous constituents. An understanding of

these laws is necessary to determine where RCRA

fits into the national environmental protection

program established by Congress and

implemented by EPA. Each environmental statute

has its own particular focus, whether it is

controlling the levels of pollutants introduced into

a single environmental medium (i.e., air, soil, or

water) or addressing a specific area of concern,

such as pesticides or waste cleanup.

While the segmentation of environmental

issues simplifies the drafting of legislation, it

complicates the implementation of environmental

protection regulations. The media-, practice-, and
VI-2

 SECTION VI SECTION VI RCRA and its Relationship to Other Environmental Statutes

Figure VI-1: MULTI-EXPOSURE PATHWAYS

waste. However, these statutes address the

hazardous waste problem from two fundamentally

different approaches:

• RCRA has a regulatory focus and authorizes

control over the management of wastes from

the moment of generation until final disposal.

• CERCLA has a response focus. Whenever

there has been a breakdown in the waste

management system (e.g., a release or a

potential threat of a release of a hazardous

substance, pollutant, or contaminant),

CERCLA authorizes cleanup actions.

Considering the close relationship and

similarities between RCRA and CERCLA, this

section will closely examine the CERCLA

regulatory program and its interaction with RCRA.

This section consists of two chapters:

• Legislative Framework for Addressing

Hazardous Waste Problems — Outlines the

environmental statutes designed to protect

human health and the environment from

exposure to hazardous waste and

contaminants and highlights their major

interactions with RCRA

• Superfund: The Hazardous Waste Cleanup

Program — Focuses on one crucial aspect of

this legislative framework, the CERCLA

hazardous waste cleanup program and its

interactions with RCRA.

Land 

Contamination

Ground Water 

Contamination

Air 

Contamination

Surface Water 

Contamination

Ground Water 

Contamination