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Hazardous Waste: Federal Civil Agencies Slow to Comply With Regulatory Requirements

RCED-86-76 Published: May 06, 1986. Publicly Released: May 06, 1986.
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Highlights

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reported on 17 federal civilian agencies' implementation of Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) provisions, specifically whether: (1) agencies are identifying and reporting their hazardous waste handlers to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the states; (2) EPA and the states are inspecting federal facilities to ensure that handlers are complying with RCRA requirements; (3) handlers are complying with RCRA regulations; and (4) enforcement actions are compelling agencies to correct problems.

Recommendations

Recommendations for Executive Action

Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Environmental Protection Agency The Administrator, EPA, should ensure that the federal agency environmental compliance strategy includes specific time frames for elevating unresolved problems to EPA headquarters, and is completed on schedule.
Closed – Implemented
The March 24, 1988 EPA policy memorandum to its regions sets forth an elevation process with recommended time frames for settling disputes between EPA and a federal agency to ensure that compliance agreements are settled in a timely manner.
Environmental Protection Agency The Administrator, EPA, should increase monitoring of handler identification programs. Such monitoring should include, but not be limited to, periodic reviews or assessments of agency progress in identifying handlers. Where deficiencies are found, the Administrator should work with agency heads to implement needed improvements.
Closed – Implemented
EPA has taken steps to collect additional information on federal agency hazardous waste treatment, storage, and disposal facilities. It has not, however, evaluated the effectiveness of federal agency efforts to identify such facilities or other types of hazardous waste handlers, such as hazardous waste generators.

Full Report

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Topics

Agency proceedingsFederal agenciesFederal facilitiesHazardous substancesHealth hazardsInspectionRegulatory agenciesWaste disposalWaste managementHazardous wastes