around washington >> updates on laws and regulations affecting fabricators
Stephen Barlas is a freelance writer based in Arlington, Va., and can be reached at sbarlas@verizon.net.
etalworking shops and metal recyclers are
fighting efforts by the Sierra Club to force the
That rule allows generators of metal waste to recycle
it on- or off-site without having to comply with costly
hazardous waste disposal rules. The Sierra Club filed a
lawsuit in 2009 arguing the EPA failed to do a robust
enough environmental justice analysis of the final rule.
Environmental laws and regulations dictate that the EPA
consider the impact of rules on minority and low-income
communities. Sierra argued that the EPA did not take into
account the fact that hazardous waste landfills and incinerators are more often than not located in poor areas.
In response to that lawsuit, the EPA published a draft of
its environmental justice methodology earlier this year, and
asked for comments, which recently arrived at the agency.
Business groups, such as the Alliance of Automobile
Manufacturers and American Coatings Association, told
the EPA that its draft environmental justice methodology was too expansive and would threaten metal recycling efforts stimulated by the DSW final rule. John
Wittenborn, a Washington attorney who represents the
groups mentioned previously, said the draft EJ methodology includes “speculative modeling driven by numerous and questionable assumptions.” Moreover, he stated
that the location of hazardous waste disposal facilities is
largely irrelevant to this rule.
“It is clear that one of the major benefits of the DSW
rule is that the volume of hazardous waste going to hazardous waste landfills and incinerators will decline,” Wittenborn explained.
M
EPA to consider tighter metal recycling rules
Lawsuit claims that current recycling rule didn’t consider low-income residents near landfills
New OSHA Administrator Talks Tough
David Michaels, the new administrator of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), has
been at the helm of that agency for five months and, having gotten comfortable, is now steering the agency in the
opposite direction from that of George W. Bush‘s OSHA.
Enforcement and inspection are now priorities; voluntary corporate programs are out. That is not surprising
given the fact that Michaels, an epidemiologist, is author
of the 2008 book Doubt is Their Product: How Industry’s
Assault on Science Threatens Your Health.
At hearings at the Senate Health, Education, Labor and
Pensions (HELP) Committee on April 27, Michaels called
OSHA’s penalty authority, unchanged in most aspects since
1970 when the agency was established, woefully inadequate. Michaels had already started to make administrative changes in OSHA penalty and inspection policies, but
at the hearings, he used the recent Massey Energy mining
disaster in West Virginia, where 27 workers were killed, as
an example of wider safety problems across industries and
sectors. OSHA had announced a new severe violator enforcement program in the days before Michaels’ appearance and also an increase in penalties.
The Environmental Protection Agency’s Definition of Solid Waste (DSW) final rule,
published in October 2008, allows generators of metal waste to recycle it on- or
off-site without having to comply with costly hazardous waste disposal rules.
A Sierra Club lawsuit could change EPA’s thinking on this matter.
Michaels also encouraged the HELP Committee to
pass the Protecting America’s Workers Act, which would
increase the current maximum penalty for a serious violation—one capable of causing death or serious physical
harm—from $7,000 to $12,000 and the maximum penalty
for a willful violation from $70,000 to $250,000. The bill
has been introduced in both the House and the Senate,
and the Senate HELP hearings, coming after House hearings in March, signify that votes are in the offing.
What is not clear is whether the Protecting America’s
Workers Act has Republican support in the Senate. Sen.
Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., top Republican on the committee, is
more concerned with the fact that the Obama administration has eliminated funding for OSHA’s Voluntary Protection Programs in its fiscal 2011 budget request.
Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers,
www.autoalliance.org
American Coatings Association, www.paint.org
Environmental Protection Agency, www.epa.gov
Occupational Safety and Health Administration,
www.osha.gov
Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions
Committee, help.senate.gov
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