The Texas Low-Level Radioactive Waste Compact Commission pushed back the date it plans to propose three out of the four rule changes it is currently revising, Commission Rules Committee Chair Linda Morris said at a public meeting yesterday. Morris had said at the last meeting in November that the Commission hoped to have the rules ready for yesterday’s meeting, but more information was needed. “We feel like §675.20 through §675.23 are in very good shape right now, and the plan is to propose them at the March meeting to the Commission,” Morris said. "We feel they are ready to go with a few minor tweaks between now and then.” The Compact is currently undergoing a general rules update with a focus on better tightening its regulations on importation and exportation of waste. Also included in the update is a re-working of the Compact’s policy under rule §675.23, which adds language stating that the Compact’s policy is to “promote the health, safety, and welfare” of its citizens as well as to “distribute costs, benefits, and obligations among the party states.”
Morris also indicated that the §675.24, the section regarding with the importation of exempt waste to Waste Control Specialist’s RCRA hazardous waste landfill, still needed more work and would not be included with the other proposed rules in March. “Regarding §675.24, which we are tentatively calling ‘The Management Rule,’ that needs more work,” Morris said. She added, “Adding my personal comment, I don’t really feel like ‘management’ captures the rule. With §675.24, what we are trying to do is really more of a notification process, a tracking process, that we want to accomplish with this rule. We are going to do a little more study and some more meetings with other agencies to make sure we are doing what we want to accomplish.”