Regulation of Oil-Bearing Hazardous Secondary Materials From the Petroleum Refining Industry Processed in a Gasification System To Produce Synthesis Gas

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is revising its hazardous waste management regulations under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) to further promote the environmentally sound recycling of oil-bearing hazardous secondary materials generated by the petroleum refining industry. Specifically, EPA is amending an existing exclusion from the definition of solid waste for oil-bearing hazardous secondary materials when they are processed in a gasification system at a petroleum refinery for the production of synthesis gas. We are finalizing this exclusion so that the gasification of these materials will have the same regulatory status (they are all excluded from the definition of solid waste under RCRA) as oil-bearing hazardous secondary materials that are reinserted into the petroleum refining process. This action serves what we believe is a national interest by capturing as much energy from a barrel of oil as possible to maximize production efficiencies at petroleum refineries in an energy constrained world.