Regulations take new turn.

Attention in the Environmental Control sessions this year focused on beneficial reuse of foundry sand as well as current and impending legislation. C. Richter, Waterman & Assoc., Washington, D.C., informed attendees on the latest status of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA).

Since RCRA had become so bogged down and cumbersome that it was likely to be stalled in the Senate and die this session, a movement toward a modified bill, known as "RCRA Lite," was made. The new bill strips away the more controversial aspects of the original legislation and addresses only core issues such as interstate transportation of wastes and municipal regulations.

Richter said AFS lobbyists are working on changing the language of two stringent scrap metal and industry waste proposals so neither would apply to foundries. He also noted that as work continued on the bill, "RCRA Lite" evolved into as heavy of a bill as the original.

K. Sorenson, Neenah Foundry Co., Neenah, Wisconsin, and D. Oman, RMT, Inc., Madison, Wisconsin, spoke about the impact of a study known as "Cleaner than Dirt: The Wisconsin Project." Working with Wisconsin foundries, the state's Dept. of Transportation and the Dept. of Natural Resources, R.K. Ham and W.C. Boyle, University of Wisconsin-Madison, conducted research on reusing foundry sands in highway construction projects.

After monitoring leachate effects of foundry sand piles for four years, it was concluded that foundry sands had less contaminants than soil samples taken elsewhere throughout the state. The results of this study are propelling the U.S. House into including language that would direct an EPA summary identifying this work as beneficial reuse for foundry waste materials.

Such an EPA guideline or summary will encourage other states to look into using foundry sand in highway projects, where there is a great need for sand.

P. Turin and B. Dudzik, RMT, Inc., addressed storm water regulations. The issue stems from the fact that foundries store a significant amount of unprotected materials outside the plant, such as waste sand and scrap. The four key areas of storm water management included covered storage, indoor storage, preventive containers that collect precipitation and housekeeping practices.

The authors believe all foundries will be required to develop a Best Management Practices (BMP) plan. Eventually, the EPA and state regulatory agencies will visit foundries during other inspections and note the compliance of the facility with their storm water permits and BMP.

Turin and Dudzik concluded that most foundries can easily implement better practices by constructing adequate curbing and reducing the outdoor storage of raw materials, drums and pallets.