Opinion ID: 599244
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Minimum Recovered Materials Content Standards For Fiberglass Building Materials

Text: 65 The NRC also argues that the Administrator's failure to provide minimum recovered materials content standards for fiberglass building insulation violates RCRA and the APA. Section 6002 of the RCRA states that in the guidelines, the Administrator where appropriate shall recommend the level of recovered material to be contained in the procured product. 42 U.S.C. § 6962(e). 66 Despite requests from the NRC and others, the Administrator did not adopt such standards for fiberglass building insulation in the insulation guidelines. 1 In the preamble to the final insulation guideline, the EPA stated that [w]hile EPA appreciates [the] point of view [of the commenters], the most immediate technical problem, the available supplies of postconsumer glass feedstocks, must still be resolved. 54 Fed.Reg. at 7,348. Instead, the EPA stated that use of the case-by-case approach, as recommended in [40 C.F.R.] § 248.21(b), is appropriate for fiberglass insulation and will be the most efficient method to implement the preference for recovered materials. Id. 67 The NRC argues that the EPA has failed to provide an adequate explanation for refusing to provide a content standard for fiberglass insulation, and suggests this failure is irrational and renders the guideline almost meaningless. Petitioner's Br. at 48. The NRC maintains that the EPA's proffered explanation for not setting a minimum content standard for fiberglass insulation--that adequate supplies of glass may not be available--is unsupported, noting that [t]he accumulation of solid waste has only increased since the enactment of RCRA, and a surplus of recovered glass has occurred in many localities. Id. at 49. 68 Insofar as the NRC's argument questions the EPA's implementation of 42 U.S.C. § 6962(e), it fails at the outset. The statutory language directing that the EPA, an executive branch agency, shall where appropriate ... recommend minimum recovered materials content standards obviously indicates Congress's intent that the Agency resolve open questions and ambiguities in the statute contemplated by the Chevron analysis discussed above. Insofar as the NRC's attack depends upon the APA's requirement for reasoned decisionmaking, the question is not much more difficult. The EPA has adequately explained its decision to not provide a minimum content standard for fiberglass insulation manufactured with recycled material. In its building insulation regulation, the EPA explains that much used glass contains impurities that make it unfit for the fiberglass production process, and concludes that glass waste cannot be obtained in sufficient quantities of consistent color or contaminant levels to obviate the problems associated with its usage. 54 Fed.Reg. at 7,335. The NRC's assertion that quantities of solid waste have increased, while presumably true, is not responsive to the problems of fitness of the available glass stock. We are satisfied that the EPA's determination that adequate supplies of usable recovered materials do not exist to warrant establishing a minimum content standard for fiberglass building insulation is reasonable and supported by the record.