EPA Region 7 Announces Public Comment Period and Public Hearing for Proposed Modification of Hazardous Waste Injection Well No Migration Petition

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 7 proposes to approve a modification to the existing exemption from the land disposal restrictions of the Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments to the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (42 U.S.C. Section 6901, et seq; 40 CFR 148) to allow for the use of Well #11 for the injection of hazardous waste at the Occidental Chemical Corporation, located at 6200 South Ridge Road, Wichita, Kansas 67215. If approved, Well #11 would be a replacement for Well #4, which had been included in the existing No Migration Petition but was plugged and abandoned in 2008. The approval of Occidental’s petition modification request for Well #11 would not increase the volume of fluids that would be allowed to be injected at the facility.

In addition to the public comment period described below, EPA has scheduled a Public Availability Session and Public Hearing that will be held:

Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2017
Public Availability Session: 5:00 to 6:30 p.m.
Public Hearing: 7:00 to 8:30 p.m.
The Haysville Learning Center, USD 261
150 Stewart Ave. 
Haysville, KS 67060

The Public Availability Session will be structured as an open house, and participants can arrive any time between 5:00 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. EPA representatives will be available to answer questions and provide information about the proposed approval of the No Migration Petition Modification request. A formal Public Hearing will be held from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m., and participants will be given the opportunity to provide oral and written comments on EPA’s proposed approval of the No Migration Petition Modification request (see 40 CFR Section 124.12).

For reasonable accommodation, contact Jonathan Cooper at 1-800-223-0425 or cooper.jonathan@epa.gov.

PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD:

EPA encourages public participation and will not make a final decision until thoroughly reviewing all comments received from the public. The public comment period will begin Dec. 12, 2016, and end Jan. 25, 2017. All persons who wish to comment on, or raise any objection to, any condition of EPA’s proposed decision or Occidental’s application must do so by the close of the comment period. A Fact Sheet, which provides the rationale for the proposed decision, is available online. In addition, the Administrative Record (which contains all data submitted by the applicant) is available for public review at the following locations during the comment period:

Comments or requests for information must be submitted no later than Jan. 25, 2017, to:

David Garrett, Environmental Scientist
EPA Region 7 (WWPD/DRWM)
11201 Renner Blvd.
Lenexa, KS 66219
Email: garrett.david@epa.gov
Phone: 913-551-7159
Toll-free: 1-800-223-0425