Massachusetts Amends Hazardous Waste Rules to Clarify Regulation of Petroleum Distillates

Beveridge & Diamond, P.C. - Massachusetts Environmental, Land Use & Real Estate Alert, 2009

The Massachusetts Department of Environment Protection (MassDEP) has amended the state hazardous waste rules to clarify that the rules require the management of certain petroleum distillates as waste oil. Under existing MassDEP rules, waste oil must be managed as a hazardous waste.

Petroleum distillates such as mineral spirits and petroleum naphtha, are often used as a solvent for the cleaning of metal parts, and the regulation of spent petroleum distillates has been a subject of confusion in Massachusetts in the past, as it has not been clear whether these distillates constitute an oil that is subject to hazardous waste regulation or a petrochemical that would not necessarily be subject to these rules. 

With the rule change, MassDEP has clarified that petroleum distillates with a flashpoint equal or greater than 140° F, including spent parts washer solvents, are regulated as waste oil under the hazardous waste rules if they are not otherwise regulated as a listed or characteristic hazardous waste under these rules.

For more information, please contact Steve Richmond at srichmond@bdlaw.com or Jeanine Grachuk at jgrachuk@bdlaw.com.