RCRA CORRACTS
RCRA CORRACTS is the federal list of hazardous waste facilities undergoing corrective action, the cleanup of releases from a facility's waste units (E1527-21, Table 2). The federal inquiry rule names the record as RCRA facilities subject to corrective action. Under 40 CFR part 264, when a hazardous waste facility seeks a permit, its owner or operator must take corrective action, as needed to protect health and the environment, for releases from the facility's solid waste management units, however long ago the waste was placed there. That duty can reach past the facility boundary.
What puts a property on this record
The regulation reads: "The owner or operator of a facility seeking a permit for the treatment, storage or disposal of hazardous waste must institute corrective action as necessary to protect human health and the environment for all releases of hazardous waste or constituents from any solid waste management unit at the facility, regardless of the time at which waste was placed in such unit" (40 CFR 264.101(a)). The permit specifies the corrective action, with assurances of financial responsibility and, where the work cannot be completed before the permit is issued, schedules of compliance (40 CFR 264.101(b)).
The owner or operator must also act beyond the facility property boundary where that is needed to protect health and the environment. The stated exception is a showing to the Regional Administrator that, despite best efforts, the needed permission could not be obtained; even then, responsibility for a release that has migrated off site is not fully lifted (40 CFR 264.101(c)).
For corrective action, the facility is "all contiguous property under the control of the owner or operator seeking a permit under Subtitle C of RCRA", and "This definition also applies to facilities implementing corrective action under RCRA Section 3008(h)" (40 CFR 260.10).
The limits on who is covered:
- Remediation waste management sites are outside the section unless they are part of a facility permitted for other hazardous waste (40 CFR 264.101(d)).
- Part 264 does not apply to a person in a state with an authorized hazardous waste program, except where the state's program does not cover disposal by underground injection, at a facility for which EPA sets standards after the state was authorized, and where the state lacks authorization to carry out requirements imposed under the Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments of 1984 (40 CFR 264.1(f)).
- A landfill, surface impoundment, waste pile or land treatment unit that received hazardous waste after July 26, 1982 follows 40 CFR 264.91 to 264.100 in place of 264.101 for releases to the uppermost aquifer, unless exempt under 264.90(b), though the financial responsibility requirements of 264.101 still apply to it (40 CFR 264.90(a)(2), (b)).
What a listing shows, and what it does not
The regulation does not say which facilities are on the record. Section 264.101 reaches a facility seeking a permit, and an interim status facility follows part 265 until its permit application is decided, with an exception (40 CFR 264.3, 264.101(a)). The permit or enforceable document, not the regulation, holds the measures and any schedule (40 CFR 264.90(e), 264.101(b)).
The regulation is silent on which releases occurred, from which units, of what substances, how far they went and whether they reached another property. Section 264.101 prints no point at which corrective action is complete; for a regulated unit, 264.100 says when groundwater corrective action measures may be terminated (40 CFR 264.100(e)(4), (f), 264.101). Because the facility is all contiguous property under the owner's or operator's control, it can be larger than the parcel where the units stood.
In a Phase I ESA
Federal lists of RCRA facilities where corrective action is under way are a standard government record source, with an approximate minimum search distance of 1.0 mile (1.6 km) (E1527-21, 8.2.2, Table 2). The professional may adjust the distance and explains the adjustment in the report (E1527-21, 8.1.2.1).
If the subject property or an adjoining property is listed, the standard says the pertinent regulatory files should be reviewed, to help the professional judge whether the listing means a recognized environmental condition (REC), a historical or controlled one, or a de minimis condition at the subject property. If the professional judges that review not warranted, the report says why; records from another source may be reviewed instead (E1527-21, 8.2.3.1, 8.2.3.2).
For a listing at the subject property, the answer turns on three facts: where the units and releases the file describes lie in relation to the parcel, since the facility may be larger; what the permit or enforceable document requires and what has been done under it; and any controls the remedy relies on (see activity and use limitations). If the file shows a release has occurred at the subject property, then unless judged a de minimis condition or a historical REC, the REC is listed in the Conclusions, and the professional should give an opinion on additional investigation (E1527-21, 3.2.20, 3.2.39, 12.7, 12.8). If the file places the units and releases elsewhere and shows nothing indicating a release or likely release reaching the subject property, the report says what the file establishes and why.
For a nearby listing, the standard's nonmandatory appendix lists factors for likely presence at the subject property that include where the source lies and the topography, geology and hydrogeology (E1527-21, 3.2.73, X4.1). See likely release and likely presence, adjoining or nearby property and, if the file cannot be had, agency file review.
For every listing of the subject property or of another site inside the search distance, the report must give the professional's judgment on what the listing means for the analysis of recognized environmental conditions at the subject property, and one statement may cover several sites (E1527-21, 8.1.10).
What the federal rule says
RCRA facilities subject to corrective action (one mile);
40 CFR 312.26(c)(1)(ii), edition revised as of July 1, 2025
The standard's distance is the same. The rule lets the professional modify a search distance, with the rationale documented (40 CFR 312.26(d)), and lets the procedures of E1527-21 be used to comply with its sections 312.23 through 312.31 (40 CFR 312.11(a)).
Where the record is kept
EPA's RCRAInfo system tracks corrective action status. State agencies administer most RCRA programs day to day and hold the files. The annual report on a regulated unit's groundwater corrective action goes to the Regional Administrator (40 CFR 264.100(g)).
This page is general reference for environmental professionals. It does not classify any property. ASTM E1527-21 is the standard and is not reproduced here; the judgment of the environmental professional on the facts governs.
Classifying a finding
Situations in which this record type bears on the answer: