Waste Management 2011 Annual Report Download - page 92

‰The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, as amended, establishes certain employer
responsibilities, including maintenance of a workplace free of recognized hazards likely to cause death or
serious injury, compliance with standards promulgated by the Occupational Safety and Health
Administration, and various reporting and record keeping obligations as well as disclosure and procedural
requirements. Various standards for notices of hazards, safety in excavation and demolition work and the
handling of asbestos, may apply to our operations. The Department of Transportation and OSHA, along
with other federal agencies, have jurisdiction over certain aspects of hazardous materials and hazardous
waste, including safety, movement and disposal. Various state and local agencies with jurisdiction over
disposal of hazardous waste may seek to regulate movement of hazardous materials in areas not otherwise
preempted by federal law.
We are also actively monitoring the following recent developments in United States federal statutes
affecting our business:
‰In 2010, the EPA issued the Prevention of Significant Deterioration, or PSD, and Title V Greenhouse
Gas, or GHG, Tailoring Rule which expanded the EPA’s federal air permitting authority to include the six
GHGs, including methane and carbon dioxide. Air permits for new and modified large municipal solid
waste landfills, waste-to-energy facilities and landfill gas-to-energy facilities could be impacted, but the
degree of impact is incumbent upon the EPA’s final determination on permitting of biogenic GHG
emissions (e.g. carbon dioxide) as well as the EPA’s or implementing states’ determinations on what may
constitute “Best Available Control Technology” for new projects exceeding certain thresholds. In
addition, recent final and proposed reductions in certain National Ambient Air Quality Standards and
related PSD increment/significance thresholds could impact the cost, timeliness and availability of air
permits for new and modified large municipal solid waste landfills, waste-to-energy facilities and landfill
gas-to-energy facilities. In general, controlling emissions involves drilling collection wells into a landfill
and routing the gas to a suitable energy recovery system or combustion device. The landfill gas at 131 of
our solid waste landfills is currently being captured and utilized for its renewable energy value. Efforts to
curtail the emission of greenhouse gases and to ameliorate the effect of climate change may require our
landfills to deploy more stringent emission controls, with resulting capital or operating costs; however,
we do not believe that such regulations will have a material adverse impact on our business as a whole.
See Item 1A. Risk Factors — “The adoption of climate change legislation or regulations restricting
emissions of “greenhouse gases” could increase our costs to operate.”
‰In 2011, the EPA published the Non-Hazardous Secondary Materials, or NHSM, Rule, which provides
the standards and procedures for identifying whether NHSM are solid waste under RCRA when used as
fuels or ingredients in combustion units. The EPA also published new source performance standards and
emission guidelines for commercial and industrial solid waste incineration units, and Maximum
Achievable Control Technology Standards for commercial and industrial boilers. The EPA has published
clarifications and is currently considering amendments to these rules. In addition, there is litigation
surrounding the rules and there is proposed legislation seeking to delay implementation and revise the
requirements. Some of the potential regulatory outcomes could have a significant impact on some of our
projects in which we are seeking to convert biomass or other secondary materials into products, fuels or
energy, as well as some of our landfill gas to energy and biomass to energy projects. It is not possible to
quantify the financial impact of these rulemakings, which are being reconsidered at this time. However,
we do not believe the rules will have a material adverse impact on our business as a whole.
There are also various state or provincial and local regulations that affect our operations. Each state and
province in which we operate has its own laws and regulations governing solid waste disposal, water and air
pollution, and, in most cases, releases and cleanup of hazardous substances and liabilities for such matters. States
and provinces have also adopted regulations governing the design, operation, maintenance and closure of
landfills and transfer stations. Some counties, municipalities and other local governments have adopted similar
laws and regulations. Our facilities and operations are likely to be subject to these types of requirements.
In addition, our landfill and waste-to-energy operations are affected by the increasing preference for
alternatives to landfill and waste-to-energy disposal. Several state and local governments mandate recycling and
waste reduction at the source and prohibit the disposal of certain types of waste, such as yard and food waste, at
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