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Oil Exploration and Production Wastes Initiative Regulatory Background' For a further discussion of E&P wastes, please refer to the Wastestreams Sampled section of this report. V. REGULATORY BACKGROUND E&P wastes intrinsic to oil production are currently exempt from regulation as hazardous wastes under Federal law, pursuant to 40 CFR, Section 261.4(b)(5). As stated by U.S. EPA, wastes intrinsic to oil production, such as those segregated from the production stream and other wastes that become part of the production stream (e.g., by injection) and are co-produced from the well are included within the scope of the exemption (FR, 1993; EPA, 1995). Other wastes that may be generated in the oil field but are not intrinsic to oil production are not exempted, but subject to full regulation. The Federal exemption of E&P wastes from regulation as hazardous wastes under those conditions is commonly known as the E&P exemption. The E&P exemption was also incorporated into California regulations, 22 CCR, Section 66261.4(b)(2) and 66261.24(a)(1), but it is limited in scope. The exemption applies in California in cases where the waste is hazardous solely by meeting the Federal characteristic for toxicity under the Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP). Thus, a waste that is hazardous solely by meeting or exceeding the maximum contaminant concentration for constituents extracted by TCLP, and for which Federal regulatory thresholds have been established, is exempted from regulation as hazardous waste in California. The exemption does not apply if toxicity is determined based on criteria other than TCLP, or the waste meets any of the other three characteristics of hazardous waste codified in 22 CCR, Article 3, Sections 66261.20 et seq., namely ignitability, corrosivity, and \ reactivity. A "temporary" exemption was granted by Congress in 1980 and codified in Section 3001(b)(2)(A) of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), pending a review of E&P wastes by the U.S. EPA (EPA, 1987). Upon completion of the review, U.S. EPA published a Regulatory Determination in the 1988 Federal Register, volume 53, page 25447, followed by a Clarification, which appeared in the 1993 Federal Register, volume 58, page 15284. In the above mentioned publications, U.S. EPA stated that E&P wastes intrinsic to oil exploration and production should remain exempt from regulation as hazardous wastes under RCRA Subtitle C, and that regulation of E&P wastes should be carried out under less stringent RCRA Subtitle D standards. U.S. EPA also believed that proper management of E&P wastes might be achieved at the State level by improvement of existing State regulatory programs: "... In light of Congress' concern for the protection of the nation's future Statewide Compliance Division May 2002 NFAE