The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) continues its efforts to implement a national electronic manifest system, as required by the Hazardous Waste Electronic Establishment Act (Act). Throughout 2016-2017, EPA expects to make significant progress on developing the e-Manifest system, which will be available nationwide to track hazardous waste shipments electronically. EPA recently launched a new e-Manifest listserv to allow stakeholders to share their input and expertise with the e-Manifest project team.
EPA seeks to meet user needs from day one of the national system’s deployment. According to EPA, the listserv will: 1) provide stakeholders with program announcements and updates (e.g., pilot and testing opportunities); and 2) facilitate e-Manifest conversations among the software developers and the regulated community. To sign up for EPA’s new listserv (focused on system development), send a blank message to: e-ManifestDev-subscribe@lists.epa.gov. (EPA also operates another listserv that covers more general e-Manifest news: send a blank message to eManifest-subscribe@lists.epa.gov to subscribe to that one.)
EPA conducted a webinar on developments with the e-Manifest system in December 2015, and the presentation provides a good overview of the program and related schedule (the recorded webinar is available at https://trello.com/c/5WoKoobr).
Background
Under the Act, the scope of the e-Manifest system extends to both federal RCRA (Resource Conservation and Recovery Act) hazardous wastes and to state-regulated wastes for which a manifest requirement is imposed under state law. However, pursuant to the Act, any e-Manifest approach adopted by EPA regulation will be voluntary; paper manifests will remain available to those entities (generators, transporters and disposal facilities) that prefer this method.
As reported by AGC, EPA finalized a rule on Feb. 7, 2014, creating the legal and policy framework for collecting hazardous waste shipment data electronically and, thereby, replacing the current, paper manifest form – six copies that must be signed manually (79 FR 7517). EPA envisions needing one more rule to implement e-Manifest. The next rule (i.e., the Fee Rule) will establish the initial fee structure for e-Manifests and announce the actual implementation and compliance date for their use. EPA anticipates the system will be online approximately spring 2018. According to EPA, a fully implemented e-Manifest system would save more than $75 million annually.
For more information about EPA’s e-Manifest project, click here. The e-Manifest program is a fundamental component of the EPA Administrator’s e-Enterprise initiative.