Resource Conservation and Recovery Act

The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), pronounced "rick-rah," was enacted in 1976 to provide a management program for solid and hazardous wastes. The act gives the EPA control over the generation, transportation, treatment, storage, and disposal of hazardous wastes, as well as the regulatory authority for remediation activities.

Subtitle C of RCRA, better known as the Bevill Amendment, was enacted in 1980 to exclude extraction and processing wastes at mine sites from being labeled as “hazardous.” Nevertheless, the act does have some relevance to abandoned mine reclamation. Section 7003 of RCRA allows the EPA to address an “imminent and substantial endangerment to health or the environment” caused by hazardous wastes. This may be interpreted to include abandoned mines that contain hazardous wastes and are associated with active mining sites.

Although there is no specific funding mechanism for abandoned mine reclamation included in RCRA, it does allow the EPA to correct hazardous waste violations by issuing administrative orders to past or current handlers, owners, operators, transporters, and generators.

Resource Conservation and Recovery Act - EPA
http://www.epa.gov/rcraonline