Trash, ash and the phoenix : a fifth anniversary review of the Supreme Court's City of Chicago waste-to-energy combustion ash decision.

Journal Article · Fri Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1999 · Boston Coll. Environ. Aff. Law Rev.

OSTI ID:961297

Puder, M G

In 1994, the U.S. Supreme Court held that ash generated by waste-to-energy (WTE) facilities was not exempt from Subtitle C hazardous waste management regulations under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). As a result of City of Chicago v. Environmental Defense Fund, Inc., WTE installations are required to test their combustion ash and determine whether it is hazardous. The WTE industry and the municipalities utilizing WTE technologies initially feared that if significant amounts of their ash tested hazardous, the costs and liabilities associated with RCRA Subtitle C hazardous waste management requirements would pose a serious threat to the continued viability of the WTE concept. In this article, the author presents a review of the WTE industry in the five years following the decision, and finds that the specter of the decline of WTE has not materialized.

• Research Organization: Argonne National Laboratory (ANL)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-06CH11357
• OSTI ID: 961297
• Report Number(s): ANL/EA/JA-46338
• Journal Information: Boston Coll. Environ. Aff. Law Rev., Journal Name: Boston Coll. Environ. Aff. Law Rev. Journal Issue: 1999 Vol. 26
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: ENGLISH

Related Subjects

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEFENSE
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
ASHES
CHICAGO
COMBUSTION
COURTS
GOVERNMENT POLICIES
HAZARDOUS MATERIALS
INDUSTRY
LIABILITIES
REGULATIONS
RESOURCE CONSERVATION
REVIEWS
VIABILITY
WASTE MANAGEMENT