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OJI Exploration and Production Wastes Initiative Regulatory Background F -M, energy supply, Subtitle C regulations must be considered unwarranted. A tailored Subtitle D program, by contrast, will enable the Agency to apply all necessary requirements to the management of these wastes, while assuring that economic impacts we rr**nizeW (FR, 1988, 25456); -The Agency befieves #W is irnpracbeal and inOffickot to impl6meW Subtitle C for all or some of these wastes because of the disruption and, in some cases, duplication of State authorities that administer programs through organizational structures tailored to the ad &-4 gn kukatry". (FIR, 1988,25456) U.S. EPA promised support to the States in enhancing existing programs for the management of E&P wastes: EPA will work closely with States to encourage improvements in their reWAelory proWum-. (FR, ISO$ 25447) Furthermore, U.S. EPA clarified that the E&P exemption did not imply that E&P wastes could not pose a hazard to public health and the environment, and acknowledged that regulation of certain E&P wastestreams as hazardous would be appropriate if the exemption were lifted: " tt is c*w OW sam poftlons of bcdh #* Meje-vokwo and associelled waste would have to be treated as hazardous if the Subtitle C exemption wem ~ (FR, 1988, 26465). The E&P exemption summarized above does not preclude the States from regulating E&P wastes. In general, E&P wastes that exhibit hazardous waste characteristics are subject to regulation as hazardous waste under the statutory authority of DISC, except in those cases where the wastes are hazardous solely because they exhibit the Federal characteristic of toxicity. Other agencies are involved in the regulation of E&P wastes as follows: the California Department of Conservation regulates the drilling, operation, maintenance, and plugging of oil, natural gas, and geothermal wells; the Regional Water Quality Control Boards regulate the discharge of wastes to land or surface waters; the California Integrated Waste Management Board regulates E&P wastes disposed in non -hazardous waste landfills; and the California Air Resources Board regulates emissions to air, including organic compound emissions from open pits and tanks. Within the scope and limitations of their specific programs, other State and Federal regulatory agencies, such as the California Coastal Commission, the California Department of Fish and Game, the Minerals Management Service, and the Bureau of Land Management may also 9 M.