ETL 1110-3-487
1 Mar 98
c. The Comprehensive Response Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) generally
excludes petroleum and petroleum fractions from the definition of a CERCLA hazardous
substance. Petroleum, petroleum derived products, and environmental media contaminated with
these materials are typically regulated by the RCRA under 40 CFR 260 - 268, 270, and 280,
rather than other environmental regulations. Petroleum contaminated material can be classified as
a hazardous waste under 40 CFR 261 or as a regulated material under 40 CFR 280. Petroleum
contaminated material may likely be regulated as a hazardous waste in two situations. First, if
there is free product and the material exhibits an ignitability characteristic (40 CFR 261.21).
Second, if the material exhibits a Toxicity Characteristics (TC) (40 CFR 261.24). The most likely
TC for petroleum contaminated media is for Benzene (D018 0.5 mg/1 TCLP). The RCRA has an
exclusion from the hazardous waste regulations, as stated 40 CFR 261.4(b)(10) "Petroleum-
contaminated media and debris that fail the test for the Toxicity Characteristic of 261.24
(Hazardous Waste Codes D018 - D043 only) and are subject to the corrective action regulations
under part 280 of this chapter." Therefore, if a soil is a hazardous waste for D018 - D043 only,
and the source was from a UST corrective action, hazardous waste regulations do not apply.
Therefore, the only restrictions that need to be evaluated to conduct ASB applications will be the
state UST regulations. An evaluation of the 40 CFR 266 Subpart C - Recyclable Materials
Used in a Manner Constituting Disposal indicates that there is a three part criteria that must be
met in order to recycle hazardous waste in a manner that constitutes disposal.
(1) Products produced must be made available for the general public.
(2) The recyclable materials must have undergone a chemical reaction in the course of
production so as to become inseparable by physical means.
(3) The products must meet applicable land disposal restrictions (40 CFR 268).
If all three of the above criteria can not be met, it does not appear there are any regulatory
"exclusions" for environmental media contaminated with petroleum that exhibit a RCRA
hazardous waste characteristic, if the material is from a non-UST source. Recycling (as ASB) non
UST media that exhibits a hazardous waste characteristic does not appear allowable. Therefore,
the source of contamination can have a large impact on project cost as well as regulatory require-
ments. Individual states may have more stringent regulations, with some considering petroleum
contaminated soils to be hazardous. This may be especially true for gasoline contamination due to
the volatility and resultant fire and explosive hazards of this material (Cole 1994). The classifi-
cation of petroleum materials as regulated, rather than hazardous, substances can be critical in
cleanup cost considerations. The EPA does have a program called Excellence through Leadership
(XL) Program). The regulated community may petition the Regional Administrator for regulatory
relief from a requirement if there is an environmentally sound management procedure that is not
only allowed by the regulations. Non UST contaminated media exhibiting a TC under codes
(D018 - D043) would appear to be a good candidate for this program.
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