Land Disposal Restrictions: Nevada and California; Site Specific Treatment Variances for Hazardous Selenium Bearing Waste

EPA is taking direct final actions to both issue a site- specific treatment variance to U.S. Ecology Nevada (USEN) in Beatty, Nevada and to withdraw an existing site-specific treatment variance issued to Chemical Waste Management, Inc. (CWM) in Kettleman Hills, California. These actions pertain to the treatment of a hazardous waste generated by the Owens-Brockway Glass Container Company in Vernon, California that is unable to meet the concentration-based treatment standard for selenium established under the Land Disposal Restrictions program. The site-specific treatment variance issued to USEN provides an alternative treatment standard of 59 mg/L for selenium as measured by the Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure. EPA has determined that the treatment performed by USEN provides the best demonstrated treatment available for this waste by reducing the potential amount of selenium released to the environment, while minimizing the total volume of hazardous waste land disposed.