NATIONAL – EPA Headquarters issued a memorandum today allowing the Departments of Defense and Energy, NASA and private industry to continue routine open air burning and detonation of hazardous munitions wastes as long as certain documentation is provided. The memo reminds EPA Regions, states, and territories that they should ask for an assessment of alternative treatment technologies as part of the permitting process – a requirement that has existed since the 1980s.
“We don’t expect the memo to provide any real help to our communities,” said Laura Olah, a spokesperson for Citizens for Safe Water Around Badger. “Safer alternative technologies have been commercially available for decades and are capable of capturing and treating toxic emissions. However, they have rarely been deployed – and never in less powerful communities.”
The June 7 memo signed by Carolyn Hoskinson, Director of the EPA Office of Resource Conservation and Recovery, acknowledges that open burning and open detonation “lack the controls needed for the efficient and complete combustion of wastes and the ability to control and measure the emission of combustion products.”
“Waste explosives, when open burned or open detonated, have the potential to release to the environment heavy metals, perchlorate, particulate matter, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), dioxins/furans, explosive compounds, and other toxic and hazardous contaminants,” Hoskinson wrote.
“Measuring toxic smoke from burn pits that envelop whole neighborhoods does not protect human health or the environment – a complete national ban is the only true solution,” Olah emphasized. “There is no safe way to burn hazardous waste.”
According to EPA, approximately 225 treatment storage or disposal facilities (TSDFs) have or had OB/OD units in the U.S. Of the 225 TSDFs, 66 facilities were still operating under either interim status or a permit as of May 2022.
“This memorandum is EPA’s policy given the current regulatory structure,” EPA officials emphasized.
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White House: BAN U.S. Burn Pits at Home and Overseas