Waste Management 2014 Annual Report Download - page 88

violations. In recent years, we have perceived an increase in both the amount of government regulation and the
number of enforcement actions being brought by regulatory entities against operations in the waste services
industry. We expect this heightened governmental focus on regulation and enforcement to continue.
Because the primary mission of our business is to collect and manage solid waste in an environmentally
sound manner, a significant amount of our capital expenditures are related, either directly or indirectly, to
environmental protection measures, including compliance with federal, state or provincial and local rules. There
are costs associated with siting, design, permitting, operations, monitoring, site maintenance, corrective actions,
financial assurance, and facility closure and post-closure obligations. In connection with our acquisition,
development or expansion of a management or disposal facility or transfer station, we must often spend
considerable time, effort and money to obtain or maintain required permits and approvals. There are no
assurances that we will be able to obtain or maintain required governmental approvals. Once obtained, operating
permits are subject to renewal, modification, suspension or revocation by the issuing agency. Compliance with
current regulations and future requirements could require us to make significant capital and operating
expenditures. However, most of these expenditures are made in the normal course of business and do not place us
at any competitive disadvantage.
The primary United States federal statutes affecting our business are summarized below:
• The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976 (“RCRA”), as amended, regulates handling,
transporting and disposing of hazardous and non-hazardous waste and delegates authority to states to
develop programs to ensure the safe disposal of solid waste. In 1991, the EPA issued its final
regulations under Subtitle D of RCRA, which set forth minimum federal performance and design
criteria for solid waste landfills. These regulations are typically implemented by the states, although
states can impose requirements that are more stringent than the Subtitle D standards. We incur costs in
complying with these standards in the ordinary course of our operations.
• The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act of 1980, as amended,
(“CERCLA”) which is also known as Superfund, provides for federal authority to respond directly to
releases or threatened releases of hazardous substances into the environment that have created actual or
potential environmental hazards. CERCLA’s primary means for addressing such releases is to impose
strict liability for cleanup of disposal sites upon current and former site owners and operators, generators
of the hazardous substances at the site and transporters who selected the disposal site and transported
substances thereto. Liability under CERCLA is not dependent on the intentional release of hazardous
substances; it can be based upon the release or threatened release, even as a result of lawful, unintentional
and non-negligent action, of hazardous substances as the term is defined by CERCLA and other
applicable statutes and regulations. The EPA may issue orders requiring responsible parties to perform
response actions at sites, or the EPA may seek recovery of funds expended or to be expended in the future
at sites. Liability may include contribution for cleanup costs incurred by a defendant in a CERCLA civil
action or by an entity that has previously resolved its liability to federal or state regulators in an
administrative or judicially-approved settlement. Liability under CERCLA could also include obligations
to a potentially responsible party, or PRP, that voluntarily expends site clean-up costs. Further, liability
for damage to publicly-owned natural resources may also be imposed. We are subject to potential liability
under CERCLA as an owner or operator of facilities at which hazardous substances have been disposed
and as a generator or transporter of hazardous substances disposed of at other locations.
• The Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1972, as amended, known as the Clean Water Act,
regulates the discharge of pollutants into streams, rivers, groundwater, or other surface waters from a
variety of sources, including solid and hazardous waste disposal sites. If run-off from our operations
may be discharged into surface waters, the Clean Water Act requires us to apply for and obtain
discharge permits, conduct sampling and monitoring, and, under certain circumstances, reduce the
quantity of pollutants in those discharges. In 1990, the EPA issued additional standards for
management of storm water runoff that require landfills and other waste-handling facilities to obtain
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