EDF v. EPA: The Dispute Surrounding Mining Waste Regulation under the Bevill Amendment
![handle is hein.journals/jnatrenvl6 and id is 109 raw text is: EDF v. EPA: The Dispute
Surrounding Mining Waste Regulation
Under the Bevill Amendment
INTRODUCTION
The development of mining waste regulation by the Environ-
mental Protection Agency (EPA) over the last decade and a half
has been a complex and troubled process. Since the enactment
of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976 (RCRA),I
the EPA, mining industry officials, and environmental groups
have struggled to assert their respective views of the correct
regulatory treatment of mining wastes. Particular confusion has
stemmed from the EPA's interpretation and enforcement of the
Bevill Amendment.2 This amendment authorized the EPA to
study wastes from the extraction, beneficiation, and processing
stages of mining. Upon completion of the study, the amendment
directed that the EPA determine whether to regulate the wastes
as hazardous under Subtitle C of RCRA or to exempt them
from such regulation and apply the less strict Subtitle D solid
waste standards.3 The dispute culminated in Environmental De-
fense Fund v. EPA,4 a 1988 case in which the D.C. Circuit
Court of Appeals upheld the EPA's decision to grant certain
mining wastes this Bevill exempt status. In that case, EDF chal-
lenged the EPA's determination on the basis that it was arbitrary
and capricious and inconsistent with the requirements of RCRA.1
EDF contended that the legislative history of the Bevill Amend-
ment and the structure of RCRA itself clearly exhibited Con-
gress's intent that the EPA's decision about proper regulation
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976, Pub. L. No. 94-580, 90 Stat.
2795 (codified as amended at 42 U.S.C. §§ 6901-6991i (1982 & Supp. 1987)) [hereinafter
RCRA].
Solid Waste Disposal Act amendments of 1980, Pub. L. No. 96-482, 94 Stat.
2334 (codified as amended at 42 U.S.C. §§ 6901-6991i (1982 & Supp. 1987)) [hereinafter
SWDA].
I RCRA of 1976, §§ 4001-4009 (codified as amended at 42 U.S.C. §§ 6941-6949).
4 852 F.2d 1309 (D.C. Cir. 1988) [hereinafter EDF(I)].
I Id. at 1313.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/jnatrenvl6&div=10&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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EDF v. EPA: The Dispute Surrounding Mining Waste Regulation under the Bevill Amendment
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