July 22, 2013 -- The Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality (NDEQ) has scheduled an outreach meeting in August to seek stakeholder input on a preliminary package of regulatory amendments to Title 128 – Nebraska Hazardous Waste Regulations. The draft Title 128 amendment package can be viewed on the NDEQ website. 1 The department intends to propose a package of hazardous waste regulations to the Nebraska Environmental Quality Council (EQC) at its next meeting on October 16, 2014.

The August outreach meeting will be an extension of a similar open house meeting held in early June. At the June meeting, the NDEQ Waste Division discussed the proposed amendments and how possible state adoption of EPA's conditional exclusions for solvent-contaminated wipes would impact generators of wipes, industrial laundries, and solid waste landfills. These impacts include changes in the management of solvent wipes, the possible need for laboratory testing to identify hazardous co-contaminants, and associated fiscal impacts. After gathering this early input from stakeholders, the NDEQ Waste Division has put together a draft package of regulatory amendments.

The meeting will be held on Wednesday, August 13, 2014, at 2 p.m. CDT at NDEQ Lincoln Office, 1200 'N' St. NDEQ encourages people to attend in person, but there will also be a telephone conference line available. 2

The meetings will include a brief presentation by the Waste Division, followed by open discussion of stakeholder questions and comments. Stakeholders may also submit comments by email to ndeq.waste@nebraska.gov or by phone to Brian McMullen at (402) 471-0270. Any feedback received by August 15 will be considered prior to finalizing the Title 128 regulatory package. The final package of amendments will be public noticed and made available for formal review and comment at least 30 days prior to the October 2014 EQC hearing.

Proposed Revisions

The NDEQ is proposing revisions to Chapters 1, 2, 3, 7, 10, 20, and Appendix I of Title 128, which would:

• remove the hazardous waste code "U202" for Saccharin & Salts, which was removed from federal regulation on December 17, 2010;
• correct typographical errors in Chapters 3, 7, 10, & 20;
• adopt by reference EPA's conditional exclusions for solvent-contaminated wipes, effective January 31, 2014. The exclusions would apply to five classes of solvents from non-specific sources. In Nebraska regulations, these are the "F001" through "F005" listed solvents found in Title 128, Chapter 3, §013. 3

1 The draft Title 128 amendment package can be found at DEQ’s web site, https://dee.nebraska.gov/home , under 'Laws/Regs & EQC' 'Proposed Rules and Regulations' (https://dee.nebraska.gov/resources-services/laws-regulations/rules-and-regulations).

2 If you are not able to attend the meeting in person, you may participate by telephone conference call at (888) 820-1398. Please connect prior to 2:00 p.m. and enter attendee code 9932065# when prompted.

3 For information from EPA on the solvent-contaminated wipes rule, see:
http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/hazard/wastetypes/wasteid/solvents/wipes.htm