Land Disposal Restrictions: Notice of Intent To Grant a Site- Specific Determination of Equivalent Treatment to Pioneer Chlor-Alkali, Inc.

Résumé

The United States Environmental Protection Agency is announcing our intent to grant the petition of Pioneer Chlor-Alkali, Inc. in St. Gabriel, Louisiana for a site-specific determination of equivalent treatment (DET). This DET would address Pioneer's Remerc process for treating K106 mercury wastes under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). The proposed DET would recognize Remerc, a hydrometallurgical process, as an equivalent technology to roasting or retorting with recovery of mercury for reuse, our current land disposal restrictions (LDR) hazardous waste treatment standard for high mercury K106 waste (wastewater treatment sludge from the mercury cell process used in chlorine production). If we grant this DET, Pioneer will be allowed to use Remerc to treat high mercury K106 wastes, and the treatment residuals will be subject to a mercury limit of 0.20 mg/L TCLP.