Reporting Exemptions for Certain Radionuclide Releases

EPA has established administrative reporting exemptions from the reporting requirements of Superfund and the Emergency Preparedness and Community Right-to-Know laws for four categories of radionuclide releases. (The exemptions apply to reporting only; Superfund response and liability provisions continue to apply.) Specifically, the Agency exempted:

• Releases of naturally occurring radionuclides from large generally undisturbed land holdings, such as golf courses and parks.
• Releases of radionuclides naturally occurring from the disturbance of large areas of land for purposes other than mining, such as farming or building construction.
• Releases of radionuclides from the dumping of coal and coal ash at utility and industrial facilities with coal-fired boilers.
• Radionuclide releases to all media from coal and coal ash piles at utility and industrial facilities with coal-fired boilers.

Following the final rulemaking, the American Mining Congress, the Fertilizer Institute, and others challenged the rule in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in TFI v. EPA (935 F2d 1303). The Court found that the administrative reporting exemptions were improperly promulgated because EPA failed to provide adequate notice of and opportunity for comment on those exemptions. The Court, however, left the four exemptions in place while the Agency undertakes a new round of notice and comment rulemaking.

In accordance with the Court's decision, the Agency provided notice and opportunity for comment on the same four reporting exemptions in a November 30, 1992 proposed rule (57 FR 56726). After reviewing the public comment letters submitted on this proposal, the Agency decided to issue a supplemental proposal (60 FR 40042, August 4, 1995) requesting information and comment on broader reporting exemptions for releases of naturally occurring radionuclides associated with land disturbance incidental to extraction at certain kinds of mines, and coal and coal ash piles at all kinds of sites (not just sites with coal-fired boilers). EPA is in the process of developing a final rule on this matter based on combined information and comments received on both the November 30, 1992 proposal and the August 4, 1995 supplemental proposal.