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Enforcement and Compliance Assurance Priority:
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA): Mineral Processing
National Enforcement and Compliance Assurance Priorities
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Strategy Summary || Online Resources
The mineral processing and mining sectors generate more wastes that are corrosive or contain toxic metals than any other industrial sector. Over the past decade, EPA has found that many of the facilities that manage these wastes have contaminated groundwater, surface water and soil either through failure to comply with state or federal environmental requirements or legally permissible waste management practices. Large-scale mineral processing and mining operations often severely affect water supplies and wildlife and create environmental damage. Many facilities are located in populated areas, making health risks a significant concern for EPA.
The Mineral Processing and Mining national priority strategy aims to achieve maximum compliance with environmental regulations in order to protect human health and the environment. The strategy has a special emphasis on mineral processing facilities that dispose of hazardous wastes in surface impoundments. EPA has found a growing body of evidence showing that even if a portion of the hazardous waste is continuously recycled on-site, the surface impoundments leak and cause widespread environmental damage. The object of the strategy is to reduce risk to human health and the environment by achieving increased compliance rates throughtout the mineral processing sectors and by ensuring that existing and potential harm are being appropriately addressed through enforcement and compliance assistance.
Strategy Summary
For each of the national priority areas, EPA has developed a strategy designed to achieve specific outcomes. The RCRA Mineral Processing Strategy Summary of 2008 - 2010 (PDF) (2pp, 19K,About PDF) contains a description of the environmental problem or noncompliance problem; why the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance is addressing the problem; how the problem will be addressed; and, highlights the progress made byThe RCRA Mineral Processing Strategy Summary of 2005 - 2007 (PDF) (3pp, 31K,About PDF).
Online Resources
EPA has identified over 400 links to online compliance and enforcement resources that may be helpful in implementing these performance-based strategies. These links can be accessed through the Compliance Assurance Resources Compendium for Fiscal Year 2008 - 2010 National Enforcement and Compliance Priorities (PDF) (60pp, 775K,About PDF), current as of February 2008, is also available.