La. Admin. Code tit. 33 § V-2603

Current through Register Vol. 50, No. 6, June 20, 2024

Section V-2603 - Corrective Action Management Units (CAMUs)

A. To implement remedies under LAC 33:V.3322 or RCRA Section 3008(h), or to implement remedies at a permitted facility that is not subject to LAC 33:V.3322, the administrative authority may designate an area at the facility as a CAMU under the requirements in this Section. CAMU means an area within a facility that is used only for managing CAMU-eligible wastes for implementing corrective action or cleanup at the facility. A CAMU must be located within the contiguous property under the control of the owner or operator where the wastes to be managed in the CAMU originated. One or more CAMUs may be designated at a facility.

1. Definition. CAMU-Eligible Waste-

a. all solid and hazardous wastes and all media (including groundwater, surface water, soils, and sediments) and debris that are managed for implementing cleanup. As-generated wastes (either hazardous or nonhazardous) from ongoing industrial operations at a site are not CAMU-eligible wastes;

b. wastes that would otherwise meet the description in Subparagraph A.1.a of this Section are not CAMU-eligible wastes when:

i. the wastes are hazardous wastes found during cleanup in intact or substantially intact containers, tanks, or other non-land-based units found above ground, unless the wastes are first placed in the tanks, containers, or non-land-based units as part of cleanup or the containers or tanks are excavated during the course of cleanup; or

ii. the administrative authority exercises the discretion in Paragraph A.2 of this Section to prohibit the wastes from management in a CAMU; and

c. notwithstanding Subparagraph A.1.a of this Section, when appropriate, as-generated nonhazardous waste may be placed in a CAMU when such waste is being used to facilitate treatment or the performance of the CAMU.

2. The administrative authority may prohibit, where appropriate, the placement of waste in a CAMU when the administrative authority has or receives information that such wastes have not been managed in compliance with applicable land disposal treatment standards of LAC 33:V.Chapter 22, applicable unit design requirements of Chapters 5, 18, 19, 21, 23, 24, 25, 27, 28, 29, 32, and 35, or applicable unit design requirements of Chapter 43 or that noncompliance with other applicable requirements of this Chapter likely contributed to the release of the waste.

3. Prohibition against Placing Liquids in CAMUs

a. The placement of bulk or noncontainerized liquid hazardous waste or free liquids contained in hazardous waste (whether or not sorbents have been added) in any CAMU is prohibited except when placement of such wastes facilitates the remedy selected for the waste.

b. The requirements in LAC 33:V.2515.B for placement of containers holding free liquids in landfills apply to placement in a CAMU except when placement facilitates the remedy selected for the waste.

c. The placement of any liquid that is not a hazardous waste in a CAMU is prohibited unless such placement facilitates the remedy selected for the waste or a demonstration is made in accordance with LAC 33:V.2515.D.

d. The absence or presence of free liquids in either a containerized or a bulk waste must be determined in accordance with LAC 33:V.2515.C. Sorbents used to treat free liquids in CAMUs must meet the requirements of LAC 33:V.2515.E.

4. Placement of CAMU-eligible wastes into or within a CAMU does not constitute land disposal of hazardous wastes.

5. Consolidation or placement of CAMU-eligible wastes into or within a CAMU does not constitute creation of a unit subject to minimum technology requirements.

B. The administrative authority may designate a regulated unit (as defined in LAC 33:V.3301.B) as a CAMU or may incorporate a regulated unit into a CAMU under the following conditions.

1. The regulated unit is closed or closing, meaning it has begun the closure process under LAC 33:V.3513 or 4383.

2. Inclusion of the regulated unit will enhance implementation of effective, protective, and reliable remedial actions for the facility.

3. The LAC 33:V.Chapters 33, 35, and 37 requirements and the unit-specific requirements of Chapters 17, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, and 43 that applied to the regulated unit shall continue to apply to that portion of the CAMU after incorporation into the CAMU.

C. The administrative authority shall designate a CAMU that will be used for storage and/or treatment only in accordance with Subsection F of this Section. The administrative authority shall designate all other CAMUs in accordance with the following.

1. The CAMU shall facilitate the implementation of reliable, effective, protective, and cost-effective remedies.

2. Waste management activities associated with the CAMU shall not create unacceptable risks to humans or to the environment resulting from exposure to hazardous wastes or hazardous constituents.

3. The CAMU shall include uncontaminated areas of the facility, only if including such areas for the purpose of managing CAMU-eligible waste is more protective than management of such wastes at contaminated areas of the facility.

4. Areas within the CAMU where wastes remain in place after closure of the CAMU shall be managed and contained so as to minimize future releases, to the extent practicable.

5. The CAMU shall expedite the timing of remedial activity implementation, when appropriate and practicable.

6. The CAMU shall enable the use, when appropriate, of treatment technologies (including innovative technologies) to enhance the long-term effectiveness of remedial actions by reducing the toxicity, mobility, or volume of wastes that will remain in place after closure of the CAMU.

7. The CAMU shall, to the extent practicable, minimize the land area of the facility upon which wastes will remain in place after closure of the CAMU.

D. The owner/operator shall provide sufficient information to enable the administrative authority to designate a CAMU in accordance with the criteria in this Section. This must include, unless not reasonably available, information on:

1. the origin of the waste and how it was subsequently managed (including a description of the timing and circumstances surrounding the disposal and/or release);

2. whether the waste was listed or identified as hazardous at the time of disposal and/or release; and

3. whether the disposal and/or release of the waste occurred before or after the land disposal requirements of LAC 33:V.Chapter 22 were in effect for the waste listing or characteristic.

E. The administrative authority shall specify, in the permit or order, requirements for CAMUs, which include the following.

1. The areal configuration of the CAMU shall be provided.

2. Except as provided in Subsection G of this Section, requirements for CAMU-eligible waste management shall include the specification of applicable design, operation, treatment, and closure requirements.

3. Minimum Design Requirements. CAMUs, except as provided in Subsection F of this Section, into which wastes are placed must be designed in accordance with the following.

a. Unless the administrative authority approves alternate requirements under Subparagraph E.3.b of this Section, CAMUs that consist of new, replacement, or laterally expanded units must include a composite liner and a leachate collection system that is designed and constructed to maintain less than a 30 cm depth of leachate over the liner. For purposes of this Section, composite liner means a system consisting of two components: the upper component must consist of a minimum 30 mil flexible membrane liner (FML), and the lower component must consist of at least a 2-foot layer of compacted soil with a hydraulic conductivity of no more than 1x10^-7 cm/sec. FML components consisting of high density polyethylene (HDPE) must be at least 60 mil thick. The FML component must be installed in direct and uniform contact with the compacted soil component.

b. Alternate Requirements. The administrative authority may approve alternate requirements if:

i. the administrative authority finds that alternate design and operating practices, together with location characteristics, will prevent the migration of any hazardous constituents into the groundwater or surface water at least as effectively as the liner and leachate collection systems in Subparagraph E.3.a of this Section; or

ii. the CAMU is to be established in an area with existing significant levels of contamination, and the administrative authority finds that an alternative design, including a design that does not include a liner, would prevent migration from the unit that would exceed long-term remedial goals.

4. Minimum Treatment Requirements. Unless the wastes will be placed in a CAMU for storage and/or treatment only in accordance with Subsection F of this Section, CAMU-eligible wastes that, absent this Section, would be subject to the treatment requirements of LAC 33:V.Chapter 22 and that the administrative authority determines contain principal hazardous constituents must be treated to the standards specified in Subparagraph E.4.c of this Section.

a. Principal hazardous constituents are those constituents that the administrative authority determines pose a risk to human health and the environment substantially higher than the cleanup levels or goals at the site.

i. In general, the administrative authority will designate as principal hazardous constituents:

(a). carcinogens that pose a potential direct risk from ingestion or inhalation, at the site, at or above 10^-3 risk level; and

(b). non-carcinogens that pose a potential direct risk from ingestion or inhalation, at the site, an order of magnitude or greater over their reference dose.

ii. The administrative authority will also designate constituents as principal hazardous constituents, when appropriate, when risks to human health and the environment posed by the potential migration of constituents in wastes to groundwater are substantially higher than cleanup levels or goals at the site. When making such a designation, the administrative authority may consider such factors as constituent concentrations and fate and transport characteristics under site conditions.

iii. The administrative authority may also designate other constituents as principal hazardous constituents that the administrative authority determines pose a risk to human health and the environment substantially higher than the cleanup levels or goals at the site.

b. In determining which constituents are principal hazardous constituents, the administrative authority must consider all constituents that, absent this Section, would be subject to the treatment requirements in LAC 33:V.Chapter 22.

c. Waste that the administrative authority determines contains principal hazardous constituents must meet treatment standards determined in accordance with Subparagraph E.4.d or e of this Section.

d. Treatment Standards for Wastes Placed in CAMUs

i. For non-metals, treatment must achieve 90 percent reduction in total principal hazardous constituent concentrations, except as provided by Clause E.4.d.iii of this Section.

ii. For metals, treatment must achieve 90 percent reduction in principal hazardous constituent concentrations as measured in leachate from the treated waste or media (tested according to the TCLP) or 90 percent reduction in total constituent concentrations (when a metal removal treatment technology is used), except as provided by Clause E.4.d.iii of this Section.

iii. When treatment of any principal hazardous constituent to a 90 percent reduction standard would result in a concentration less than 10 times the Universal Treatment Standard for that constituent, treatment to achieve constituent concentrations less than 10 times the Universal Treatment Standard is not required. Universal Treatment Standards are identified in LAC 33:V.2299.Appendix, Table 7.

iv. For waste exhibiting the hazardous characteristic of ignitability, corrosivity, or reactivity, the waste must also be treated to eliminate these characteristics.

v. For debris, the debris must be treated in accordance with LAC 33:V.2230 or by methods described in or to levels established under Clauses E.4.d.i-iv or Subparagraph E.4.e of this Section, whichever the administrative authority determines is appropriate.

vi. Alternatives to TCLP. For metal-bearing wastes for which metals removal treatment is not used, the administrative authority may specify a leaching test other than the TCLP (Method 1311, EPA Publication SW-846, as incorporated by reference in LAC 33:V.110.C.3.e) to measure treatment effectiveness, provided the administrative authority determines that an alternative leach testing protocol is appropriate for use and that the alternative more accurately reflects conditions at the site that affect leaching.

e. Adjusted Standards. The administrative authority may adjust the treatment level or method in Subparagraph E.4.d of this Section to a higher or lower level, based on one or more of the following factors, as appropriate. The adjusted level or method must be protective of human health and the environment:

i. the technical impracticability of treatment to the levels or by the methods in Subparagraph E.4.d of this Section;

ii. the levels or methods in Subparagraph E.4.d of this Section would result in concentrations of principal hazardous constituents that are significantly above or below cleanup standards applicable to the site (established either site-specifically or promulgated under state or federal law);

iii. the views of the affected local community on the treatment levels or methods in Subparagraph E.4.d of this Section, as applied at the site, and for treatment levels, the treatment methods necessary to achieve these levels;

iv. the short-term risks presented by the on-site treatment method necessary to achieve the levels or treatment methods in Subparagraph E.4.d of this Section; and

v. the long-term protection offered by the engineering design of the CAMU and related engineering controls:

(a). when the treatment standards in Subparagraph E.4.d of this Section are substantially met and the principal hazardous constituents in the waste or residuals are of very low mobility;

(b). when cost-effective treatment has been used and the CAMU meets the RCRA Subtitle C liner and leachate collection requirements for new land disposal units at LAC 33:V.2503.L and M;

(c). when, after review of appropriate treatment technologies, the administrative authority determines that cost-effective treatment is not reasonably available, and the CAMU meets the RCRA Subtitle C liner and leachate collection requirements for new land disposal units at LAC 33:V.2503.L and M;

(d). when cost-effective treatment has been used and the principal hazardous constituents in the treated wastes are of very low mobility; or

(e). when, after review of appropriate treatment technologies, the administrative authority determines that cost-effective treatment is not reasonably available, the principal hazardous constituents in the wastes are of very low mobility, and either the CAMU meets or exceeds the liner standards for new, replacement, or laterally expanded CAMUs in Subparagraphs E.3.a and b of this Section or the CAMU provides substantially equivalent or greater protection.

f. The treatment required by the treatment standards must be completed prior to, or within a reasonable time after, placement in the CAMU.

g. For the purpose of determining whether wastes placed in CAMUs have met site-specific treatment standards, the administrative authority may, as appropriate, specify a subset of the principal hazardous constituents in the waste as analytical surrogates for determining whether treatment standards have been met for other principal hazardous constituents. This specification will be based on the degree of difficulty of treatment and analysis of constituents with similar treatment properties.

5. Except as provided in Subsection F of this Section, CAMUs shall have requirements for groundwater monitoring and corrective action that are sufficient to:

a. continue to detect and to characterize the nature, extent, concentration, direction, and movement of existing releases of hazardous constituents in groundwater from sources located within the CAMU;

b. detect and subsequently characterize releases of hazardous constituents to groundwater that may occur from areas of the CAMU in which wastes will remain in place after closure of the CAMU; and

c. provide notification to the administrative authority and corrective action as necessary to protect human health and the environment from releases to groundwater from the CAMU.

6. Except as provided in Subsection F of this Section, CAMUs shall have the following closure and post-closure requirements:

a. closure of CAMUs, which shall:

i. minimize the need for further maintenance; and

ii. control, minimize, or eliminate, to the extent necessary to protect human health and the environment, for areas where wastes remain in place, post-closure escape of hazardous wastes, hazardous constituents, leachate, contaminated runoff, or hazardous waste decomposition products to the ground, to surface waters, or to the atmosphere;

b. requirements for closure of CAMUs that shall include the following, as appropriate and as deemed necessary by the administrative authority, for a given CAMU:

i. requirements for excavation, removal, treatment, or containment of wastes; and

ii. requirements for removal and decontamination of equipment, devices, and structures used in CAMU-eligible waste management activities within the CAMU;

c. in establishing specific closure requirements for CAMUs under this Subsection, the administrative authority shall consider the following factors:

i. CAMU characteristics;

ii. volume of wastes that remain in place after closure;

iii. potential for releases from the CAMU;

iv. physical and chemical characteristics of the waste;

v. hydrogeological and other relevant environmental conditions at the facility that may influence the migration of any potential or actual releases; and

vi. potential for exposure of humans and environmental receptors if releases were to occur from the CAMU;

d. cap requirements, as follows:

i. at final closure of the CAMU, for areas in which wastes will remain after closure of the CAMU, with constituent concentrations at or above remedial levels or goals applicable to the site, the owner or operator must cover the CAMU with a final cover designed and constructed to meet the following performance criteria, except as provided in Clause E.6.d.ii of this Section:

(a). provide long-term minimization of migration of liquids through the closed unit;

(b). function with minimum maintenance;

(c). promote drainage and minimize erosion or abrasion of the cover;

(d). accommodate settling and subsidence so that the cover's integrity is maintained; and

(e). have a permeability less than or equal to the permeability of any bottom liner system or natural subsoils present; and

ii. the administrative authority may determine that modifications to Clause E.6.d.i of this Section are needed to facilitate treatment or the performance of the CAMU (e.g., to promote biodegradation); and

e. post-closure requirements as necessary to protect human health and the environment and to include, for areas where wastes will remain in place, monitoring and maintenance activities, and the frequency with which such activities shall be performed, to ensure the integrity of any cap, final cover, or other containment system.

F. CAMUs used for storage and/or treatment only are CAMUs in which wastes will not remain after closure. Such CAMUs must be designated in accordance with all of the requirements of this Section, except as follows.

1. CAMUs that are used for storage and/or treatment only and that operate in accordance with the time limits established in the staging pile regulations at LAC 33:V.2605.D.1.c, H, and I are subject to the requirements for staging piles at LAC 33:V.2605.D.1.a and b and 2, E, F, J, and K in lieu of the performance standards and requirements for CAMUs in Subsection C and Paragraphs E.3 - 6 of this Section.

2. CAMUs that are used for storage and/or treatment only and that do not operate in accordance with the time limits established in the staging pile regulations at LAC 33:V.2605.D.1.c, H, and I:

a. must operate in accordance with a time limit, established by the administrative authority, that is no longer than necessary to achieve a timely remedy selected for the waste; and

b. are subject to the requirements for staging piles at LAC 33:V.2605.D.1.a and b and 2, E, F, J, and K in lieu of the performance standards and requirements for CAMUs in Subsection C and Paragraphs E.4 and 6 of this Section.

G. CAMUs into which wastes are placed where all wastes have constituent levels at or below remedial levels or goals applicable to the site do not have to comply with the requirements for liners at Subparagraph E.3.a of this Section, requirements for caps at Subparagraph E.6.d of this Section, groundwater monitoring requirements at Paragraph E.5 of this Section or, for treatment and/or storage-only CAMUs, the design standards at Subsection F of this Section.

H. The administrative authority shall provide public notice and a reasonable opportunity for public comment before designating a CAMU. Such notice shall include the rationale for any proposed adjustments under Subparagraph E.4.e of this Section to the treatment standards in Subparagraph E.4.d of this Section.

I. Notwithstanding any other provision of this Section, the administrative authority may impose additional requirements as necessary to protect human health and the environment.

J. Incorporation of a CAMU into an existing permit must be approved by the administrative authority according to the procedures for department-initiated permit modifications under LAC 33:V.323 or according to the permit modification procedures of LAC 33:V.321.C.

K. The designation of a CAMU does not change EPA's existing authority to address cleanup levels, media-specific points of compliance to be applied to remediation at a facility, or other remedy selection decisions.

La. Admin. Code tit. 33, § V-2603

Promulgated by the Department of Environmental Quality, Office of Environmental Assessment, Environmental Planning Division, LR 28:1192 (June 2002), amended LR 29:323 (March 2003), amended by the Office of the Secretary, Legal Affairs Division, LR 34:627 (April 2008), LR 34:1014 (June 2008), LR 38:779 (March 2012).

AUTHORITY NOTE: Promulgated in accordance with R.S. 30:2180 et seq.