Welcome to the Environment section of our webpage. This front page will reflect our most current information on environmental law affecting educational institutions.

Proposed Rule: Standards Applicable to Generators of Hazardous Waste; Standards Applicable to Academic Laboratories, 71 Fed. Reg. 29711, May 23rd, 2006

 The intent of this proposed rule is to establish an alternative set of generator requirements for college and university laboratories that is better suited to their specific circumstances. College and university laboratory operations differ from both industrial laboratories and industrial production facilities that generate hazardous waste. College laboratories generally have a large number of points of generation (i.e. points where waste is originally generated) such as multiple laboratory benchtops within a single laboratory and laboratories located at several areas on a single campus. Laboratories also tend to generate a relatively small volume of hazardous waste at each of these points of generation. This proposed rule is an optional, alternative set of requirements to the existing generator regulations at  Sec.  262.11 and 262.34(c). Those colleges or universities that choose to continue to manage their laboratory hazardous waste under the current hazardous waste regulations may do so, and schools that would like the additional flexibility of the proposed rule may choose to manage their laboratory hazardous waste according to this new set of generator regulations. This proposed rule would provide flexibility in 40 CFR 262.209 with regard to where the hazardous waste determination can be made (i.e. in the laboratory, at an on-site central accumulation area (CAA) or at an on-site TSDF), provided all unwanted materials that are generated in the laboratory are managed according to the provisions described in the new rule. Schools electing to proceed under the proposed rule would have to develop, implement and maintain a Laboratory Management Plan (LMP) containing certain required elements. The proposed rule applies only to hazardous waste generated in laboratories.

College and University Sector Policy Analysis: Definition of Facility, Final Report April 6, 2006
For the past several years, EPA has been investigating the environmental issues facing colleges and universities. The purpose of this report is to analyze the regulatory and policy issues specific to the college and university sector.  In particular, this report: