EPA Is Developing a Waste Assessment Model.

EPA is in the final stages of developing a technical model that can be used to gauge whether a waste should be characterized as hazardous. This model is called the Multi-Pathway, Multi-Exposure and Multiple Receptor Assessment Strategy (3MRA), and it is the tool that EPA wants to use to determine when a hazardous waste's toxic concentrations are low enough for the waste to be exempt form the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). The model is intended to estimate how people living near hazardous waste sites will be affected by that waste from all possible sources (air, land and water). These risk assessments then would provide the basis for the agency to determine if certain wastes can be exempt from RCRA Subtitle C Regulations. Industry leaders, however, are concerned about the model's ability to produce valid results. EPA has spent 2 yr working on 3MRA and the agency's Science Advisory Committee is expected to review it this fall.