Treated railroad ties. Environmental protection (ICS: 13.020), Materials and components for railway engineering (ICS: 45.040), Fuels (ICS: 75.160)

Additions to List of Section 241.4 Categorical Non-Waste Fuels: Other Treated Railroad Ties (21 pages, in English)

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or the Agency) is proposing to issue amendments to the Non-Hazardous Secondary Materials rule, initially promulgated on 21 March 2011, and amended on 7 February 2013 and 8 February 2016, under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. The Non-Hazardous Secondary Materials rule generally established standards and procedures for identifying whether non-hazardous secondary materials are solid wastes when used as fuels or ingredients in combustion units. In the 7 February 2013 amendments, the EPA listed particular non-hazardous secondary materials as "categorical non-waste fuels" provided certain conditions are met. Persons burning these non-hazardous secondary materials do not need to evaluate them under the general self-implementing case-by-case standards and procedures that would otherwise apply to non-hazardous secondary materials used in combustion units. The 8 February 2016 amendments added three materials including creosote treated railroad ties to the list of categorical non-waste fuels. This action proposes to add other treated railroad ties to the list, which are processed creosote-borate, copper naphthenate and copper naphthenate-borate treated railroad ties, under certain conditions depending on the chemical treatment.