Opinion ID: 509500
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Combustion Residuals From Industrial Furnaces

Text: 92 Petitioners challenge EPA's exemption of ash from the burning of hazardous waste in smelter furnaces from Subtitle C regulation. Focusing on a footnote in EPA's burning regulations of November 29, 1985, and citing the Agency's proposed regulations of May 6, 1987, petitioners contend that ash from the burning of hazardous wastes in smelter furnaces is not properly within the scope of the Bevill Amendment and should thus be regulated under Subtitle C of RCRA. Petitioners' Brief at 17-19, 22, 25, 37-39, 42-43. Invoking the doctrine of primary jurisdiction, EPA responds that this issue should not be reviewed by the Court at this time because it is the subject of an ongoing rulemaking procedure, i.e., the May 6, 1987 proposed burning regulations. Alternatively, EPA argues that this issue is subject to judicial review in another case pending before this Court, Hazardous Waste Treatment Council v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, No. 86-1143. Respondents' Brief at 43-49. 93 We agree with respondents that petitioners' challenge to the exemption of ash from burning hazardous wastes in smelter furnaces is not appropriate for review in the instant case. First, the status of ash residues from burning hazardous wastes in industrial furnaces is not directly addressed in the 1985 proposed reinterpretation of the Bevill Amendment or the 1986 withdrawal under review in this case. Second, the November 29, 1985 regulations governing the burning of hazardous wastes and used oil in utility boilers and industrial furnaces, including the footnote challenged by petitioners here, are under review in another case pending before this Court, No. 86-1143, brought by Hazardous Waste Treatment Council, one of the petitioners in this case. The challenge to footnote 89 raised in this case is more appropriately addressed in that direct challenge to the November 1985 regulations. Finally, EPA has explicitly addressed the issue of combustion residuals from industrial furnaces in its May 6, 1987 proposed burning regulations. That rulemaking is still ongoing so the issue is not appropriate for review here.