Legislative and Regulatory Timeline for Mining Waste
This timeline walks through the history of mining waste regulation since 1976 and includes information such as regulations, proposals, amendments and reports conducted.
Date(s) | Action or Event | Notes on Significance to Mining Waste |
---|---|---|
10/21/1976 |
Enactment of Resource and Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) | EPA must perform a “detailed and comprehensive study of the adverse effects of solid wastes from active and abandoned surface and underground mines on the environment…” |
12/18/1978 | EPA proposes first set of hazardous waste management standards | Wastes from mining are proposed to be designated as three of the six “special wastes”, which are exempt from RCRA Subtitle C regulations |
10/12/1980 | Solid Waste Disposal Act Amendments enacted | Bevill amendment added: temporarily exempts three special wastes from hazardous waste regulation until further study is completed |
11/19/1980 | EPA promulgates interim final amendments to the hazardous waste regulations | Includes an exclusion for mining waste from the definition of hazardous waste |
10/31/1983 | EPA misses the statutory deadline for submitting mining waste report to Congress | |
08/1984 | EPA is sued for failing to submit the report to Congress | EPA responds to the lawsuit by explaining its plan to propose a narrower interpretation of the scope of the Mining Waste Exclusion so that it would encompass fewer wastes |
10/2/1985 | EPA proposes in the Federal Register to reinterpret the scope of the mining waste exclusion | |
12/31/1985 | EPA submits a report to Congress | Report on Wastes from the Extraction and Beneficiation of Metallic Ores, Phosphate Rock, Asbestos, Overburden from Uranium Mining, and Oil Shale |
07/3/1986 | EPA publishes final Regulatory Determination for Extraction and Beneficiation Waste | |
07/1988 | EPA is sued for withdrawing proposal to reinterpret the mining waste exclusion | |
9/1/1989 1/23/1990 |
EPA publishes in Federal Register the finial boundaries of the Mining Waste Exclusion for mineral processing wastes | |
07/31/1990 | EPA submits report to Congress on Special Wastes from Mineral Processing | |
06/13/1991 | EPA publishes Special Wastes from Mineral Processing Final Regulatory Determination and Final Rule | |
05/26/1998 | EPA publishes Land Disposal Restrictions Phase IV | |
04/4/2006 | EPA publishes Criteria for the Safe and Environmentally Protective Use of Granular Mine Tailings Known as “Chat” | |
07/18/2007 | EPA formalizes criteria in publication of “Criteria for the Safe and Environmentally Protective Use of Granular Mine Tailings Known as ‘Chat’” |