Hazardous waste generator listing with no violations

The subject property or an adjoining property is listed as a hazardous waste generator, with no violation and no release on record. A generator listing is a notification, not a record of a release. Whether a recognized environmental condition (REC) follows depends on four things: whose listing it is, what was generated and for how long, how the waste was handled on site, and what a clean compliance record covers.

What the answer turns on

The standard's definition of hazardous substance takes in hazardous waste under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) (E1527-21, 3.2.36). A REC needs more: a release or likely release that leaves hazardous substances or petroleum products present, or likely present, at the subject property, or their presence where conditions pose a material threat of a release (E1527-21, 3.2.73).

Whose listing it is. For a listing of the subject property, the question is a release, a likely release or a material threat on site. The standard's appendixes are nonmandatory. For an adjoining property, the one on the REC definition says a REC cannot lie off the subject property, though an off-site release can cause one; with no known release at the neighbor, two judgments are needed together: a likely release at the neighbor and likely presence at the subject property (E1527-21, X4.1). See a dry cleaner next door or nearby.
What was generated, and for how long. The environmental professional considers what releases past uses could have led to (E1527-21, 8.3.1). For a likely release, that appendix points to operations involving hazardous substances, how long they ran and when (E1527-21, X4.1). Establish the wastes, the years and the generator category, which is set by monthly quantity (RCRA generators). Ohio's small quantity generators re-notify every four years, so check the date behind a status (Ohio). Florida's agency says very small quantity generators are exempt from obtaining an identification number (Florida).
How the waste was handled on site. The site visit looks for containers of hazardous substances and their storage conditions, drums, stains, drains and sumps, and stained soil or pavement (E1527-21, 9.4.11, 9.4.15, 9.4.20, 9.4.21, 9.4.23). In one illustration in that appendix, a sound drum of a hazardous substance with no staining around it is a finding with no REC associated (E1527-21, X4.3).
What a clean compliance record covers. Regulatory compliance is a non-scope consideration (E1527-21, 13.1.5.14), and the standard treats an environmental site assessment and a compliance audit as different things, the assessment often the less rigorous (E1527-21, 3.2.31). It does not say that a clean record answers the release question, or that a violation is a release. It still asks the owner, key site manager and user for agency correspondence on violations and for compliance audit reports (E1527-21, 10.8.1). Read what a violation cited (Texas).

The records that bear on it

Government records. The federal generator list is a standard source, with a required minimum search of the subject property and adjoining properties (E1527-21, 8.2.2, Table 2). The report gives the professional's judgment on the significance of each listing of the subject property or of a site within the search distance, and one statement may cover several sites (E1527-21, 8.1.10). Release records are separate lists: RCRA corrective action, state cleanup sites, federal release reports.
The agency file. For a listed subject property or adjoining property, the file should be reviewed for what the listing means for the subject property, or the report explains why a review is not warranted (E1527-21, 8.2.3.1).
Site visit and interviews. Interior areas where hazardous substances are or may have been stored are observed, and adjoining properties from the subject property and public thoroughfares (E1527-21, 9.2.3, 9.2.5). With five or fewer occupants the attempt is to interview each; with more, the major occupants and any whose operations are likely to indicate RECs (E1527-21, 10.5.2.2).

What the federal rule says

The rule lists generator records apart from records of reported releases (40 CFR 312.26(b)(1), (c)(1)). For the subject property they sit among the records of what is likely to cause a release or a threatened release:

hazardous waste handler and generator records and permits

40 CFR 312.26(b)(2)

For nearby or adjoining properties they come under waste management activities:

Records of RCRA small quantity and large quantity generators (adjoining properties);

40 CFR 312.26(c)(3)(i)

How it is written up

The listing or the operation is a finding when the professional judges it may indicate hazardous substances or petroleum products present or likely present at the subject property (E1527-21, 12.5).

Where the professional concludes a release from the generating operation is known or likely, and presence at the subject property follows, the opinion gives the grounds: the wastes, the years, the handling seen and, for an adjoining property, why the release likely reached the subject property. 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, 12.6, 12.7, 12.8).

Where the professional concludes otherwise, the significance statement says so, and an opinion on a finding gives its reasoning on the same four facts (E1527-21, 8.1.10, 12.6).

Access to an on-site generator's waste storage area, or an interview with that occupant, may be what cannot be had. Required information that good faith efforts could not obtain is a data gap, significant if it affects the ability to identify a REC: named in the Findings with the sources consulted, discussed in the Opinions and listed in the Conclusions (E1527-21, 3.2.19, 3.2.78, 12.5.1, 12.6.2, 12.7).

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.