Resource Conservation and Recovery Act
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The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), enacted in 1976, is a Federal law of the United States contained in 42 U.S.C. §§6901-6992k. It is usually pronounced as "rick-rah" or "Wreck-rah." The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) states that RCRA's goals are:
- to protect the public from harm caused by waste disposal
- to encourage reuse, reduction, and recycling
- to clean up spilled or improperly stored wastes.
EPA waste management regulations are codified at 40 C.F.R. pts. 239-282. Regulations regarding management of hazardous waste begins at 40 C.F.R. pt. 260. As noted below, most states have enacted laws and promulgated regulations that are at least as stringent as the federal regulations. Furthermore, most states carry out many of the functions of RCRA if such programs have been approved by the EPA.
Related federal acts
An amendment of the earlier Solid Waste Disposal Act of 1965, RCRA was enacted to create a management system to regulate waste from "cradle-to-grave." In 1984 the Hazardous and Solid Wastes Amendments Act was added to the Act and in 1986 the law was expanded further to regulate underground storage tanks and other leaking waste storage facilities. While the "Superfund" (CERCLA) Act also is involved in the regulation of hazardous substances, one way to separate is two is to think of CERCLA as applying to land that has become contaminated, while RCRA is from the standpoint of the actual substance. RCRA, like CERCLA, has provisions to require cleanup of contaminations of hazardous substances that occured in the past.
Whistleblower protection
RCRA contains a whistleblower protection. Employees in the US who believe they were fired or suffered another adverse action related to enforcement of this law have 30 days to file a written complaint with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
TSDFs
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TSDF is an acronym for Treatment, Storage and Disposal Facilities.
See also
- Clean Water Act
- Public employees for environmental responsibility (PEER)
- Solid Waste Disposal Act
- Superfund
- Whistleblower
External links
- RCRA database
- TSDF permitting
- Collected Papers of William Sanjour, a retired EPA employee and whistleblower
- Information on the Act
- Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER)
- Government Accountability Project
- National Whistleblower Center
- Workplace Fairness FAQ for environmental whistleblowers
- Tate & Renner article on whistleblowers under US federal law
- Whistleblower Employee Protection Website
- U.S. Department of Labor Whistleblower Program & information
- Articles lacking sources from November 2007
- 1976 in law
- United States federal environmental legislation
- United States waste legislation
- Pollution in the United States
- First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
- Freedom of expression
- United States federal labor legislation
- Public administration
- Discrimination
- Business ethics
- Whistleblowers