Analysis - The Institute for Southern Studies

Bevill Amendments 10 which exempted “special wastes” from regulation under Subtitle C of RCRA until further study and assessment of risk
could be performed:
1980 Bentsen Amendment (RCRA 3001(b)(2)(A)): Exempted drilling fluids, produced waters, and other wastes associated with the
exploration, development, and production of crude oil or natural gas or geothermal energy.
1980 Bevill Amendment (RCRA 3001(b)(3)(A)(i-iii)): Exempted fossil fuel combustion waste; waste from the extraction, beneficiation,
and processing of ores and minerals (including phosphate rock and overburden from uranium ore mining); and cement kiln dust.
The Bevill and Bentsen Amendments required EPA to complete full assessments of each exempted waste and submit a formal report to
Congress on its findings. As itemized in Appendix A to this RIA, since 1978, EPA continued to evaluate CCR (as well as the other five waste
categories) for different possible RCRA hazardous and non-hazardous waste regulatory approaches. The proposed RCRA regulation this RIA
supports is a continuation of those prior evaluations.
1C. EPA’s Proposed Regulation of CCR Disposal Will Correct Market Failure
OMB’s 2003 Circular A-4 “Regulatory Analysis” guidance (pages 4 to 5) to Federal agencies for implementation of Executive Order 12866
identifies three major types of market failure:
1. Externality, common property resource, and public good
2. Market power (i.e., lack of market competition from monopolies)
3. Inadequate or asymmetric information
The CCR proposed rule which this RIA supports may be characterized as addressing the “negative externality” of environmental pollution and
damages from CCR disposal landfills and impoundments. As summarized in the “Benefits” Chapter 5 of this RIA, there are a number of
historical and recent environmental damage cases which represent externalities, in that some or all of the (a) human health damages (i.e.,
human cancer cases from contaminated groundwater near CCR disposal sites) and (b) environmental damages (i.e., ecological damages, natural
resource damages, and socio-economic damages from CCR spills/releases from structural failures in CCR disposal impoundments) may be
external to the capital and operating costs of the electric utility plants. If implemented, the CCR proposed rule may be expected to reduce this
market failure externality, by internalizing into the capital and operating costs of the electric utility plants, the added costs of installing
engineering controls and oversight of the physical integrity of CCR disposal units.
Firms are sometimes held accountable for some of the external costs through lawsuits brought by affected citizens. However, the system of
accountability can be imperfect. The primary human bearers of the external costs from CCR disposal are households residing disposal units.
When an unorganized group of households suffer external costs, they face a host of obstacles to having their costs recuperated. They must
10 These 1980 RCRA “special waste” amendments are named after US Senator Lloyd Bentsen (D-TX; Senate service years 1971-1993) and US House Congressman Tom
Bevill (D-AL; House service years 1967-1997). Source: Biographical Directory of the US Congress at http://bioguide.congress.gov/biosearch/biosearch.asp
15