Gift to Oil Companies

WASHINGTON (CN) – Recyclable hazardous materials from petroleum refineries need not be regulated as hazardous waste if the materials are going into a “gasification unit” that refines petroleum, according to a regulation issued by the EPA to which the Sierra Club has objected.The Sierra Club and a Louisiana environmental group, through Earthjustice, have petitioned for reconsideration of the rule, stating that hazardous materials going through this process are still hazardous waste, and should be regulated as such, and that the EPA has removed its conditions for allowing waste to go into a gasification unit.     In denying the petition, the Environmental Protection Agency points out that the materials would be dealt with under the hazardous waste regulations if the system was for “waste treatment” instead of for petroleum refining.     The groups may appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit within 90 days of the Nov. 14 denial.     Click the document icon on the front page for details and links to the regulations. The document icon under the “Oil Pollution, Ocean Dumping & More” heading leads to other new regulations.