PROFILE: Chemical Warfare Materiel: Unique Regulatory Issues

/ The US Army manages an extensive program of environmental restoration that is carried out primarily under authority of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), which establishes response authority for cleanup of inactive waste sites. The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) regulates the management and cleanup of hazardous materials at active hazardous waste facilities. Based on the definitions found in these acts, and corresponding promulgated regulations, environmental media contaminated with chemical warfare materiel (CWM) can be regulated as CERCLA "pollutants or contaminants" but do not appear to be regulated either as CERCLA hazardous substances or RCRA hazardous wastes.In those states that have not included CWM as hazardous materials in their RCRA programs, the RCRA requirements for management of hazardous waste would not strictly apply to any of the CWM. The Army has historically implemented procedures requiring that chemical warfare agents be managed as RCRA hazardous waste regardless of the concentration, physical form, or configuration of the agent. Such application of strict hazardous waste requirements to management of potentially nonhazardous CWM can result in remedial costs well out of proportion to potential human health and environmental benefits. Recent development of chronic toxicity values for the CWM has opened the door for development of cleanup and waste management standards for waste streams or media containing small residual amounts of CWM. Implementation of this health-based approach to management of CWM remediation wastes may, in part, help to reduce potentially unnecessary hazardous waste management costs for the nonhazardous CWM.