Hazardous Materials: Hazardous Waste Manifest Requirements

October 4, 2001 Via Electronic Delivery Dockets Management System U.S. DOT Room PL 401 400 Seventh St., SW Washington, DC 20590-0001 RE: Comments on Hazardous Materials: Hazardous Waste Manifest Requirements. Docket # RSPA-01-10292 (HM-206E). The Agricultural Retailers Association, Inc. (ARA) represents over 700 companies operating out of more than 6,000 locations providing crop inputs and services to farmers. As the national representative of the agricultural retail industry, ARA is vitally interested in any regulation affecting the operation of facilities and equipment utilized in the nation's agricultural sector. Ag retail companies conduct offloading, transfer, selling and shipping of farm inputs (seeds, plant nutrients and crop protectants) to farmers and other retail operations. ARA members also provide agronomic, environmental and technical services to insure proper management of crop inputs. Many are involved in the postharvest processing of biotech and other crops. ARA represents hundreds of small businesses as well as larger companies that deal with government regulations and standards on a daily basis and ARA welcomes the opportunity to comment on this issue. Please do not hesitate to contact me at 202457-0825 if you have any questions. Sincerely, Steve Hensley Director of Regulatory Affairs INTRODUCTION: Under the authority of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA; 42 U.S.C. 6901, et seq.) and regulations of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) at 40 CFR Parts 262-264, hazardous wastes are tracked from their generator to their final disposal sites. The central tracking element of this system is the Uniform Hazardous Waste Manifest (uniform manifest), which accompanies a hazardous waste shipment from its point of origin to its destination. In 42 U.S.C. 6923, RCRA directs EPA to consult with DOT and issue regulations on the transportation of hazardous wastes that are ``consistent with'' requirements in the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR; 49 CFR Parts 171-180). In coordinated rulemakings, EPA and RSPA issued final rules in 1980 requiring that a manifest accompany each shipment of hazardous waste during transportation. See 45 FR 12272 (Feb. 26, 1980) (EPA), 34560 (May 22, 1980) (RSPA). In 49 CFR 172.205, RSPA provided that the uniform manifest ``may be used as the shipping paper required by'' the HMR, so long as it contained all the required information. Four years later, EPA and RSPA concurrently amended their regulations to adopt the current uniform manifest form in order to address the problems resulting from ``a proliferation of manifests as States decided to develop and print their own forms.'' 49 FR 10490 (EPA), 10507 (RSPA) (March 20, 1984). Under the current regulations, a generator may use the uniform manifest form for wastes regulated solely by a State, but a State may not ``impose enforcement sanctions on a transporter during transportation of the shipment for failure of the form to include preprinted information or optional State information items.'' 40 CFR 271.10(h)(2). EPA is currently proposing to revise its uniform manifest regulations (66 FR 28239; May 22, 2001). One of EPA's proposed changes would allow the uniform manifest to be prepared and transmitted electronically from the generator to the disposal facility, rather than requiring it to accompany the shipment. On the electronic manifest, the required signatures would be done electronically, rather than in handwriting on a paper form. In addition, EPA is proposing to: provide space on the uniform manifest for information currently required by the HMR on a shipping paper, including an emergency response phone number and the Packing Group of the material; and to revise the text of the certification statement by the generator to match the language required in 49 CFR 172.204(a). A uniform manifest that is prepared and transmitted electronically, from the generator to the transporter, the disposal facility, and the moni…