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Section 2: Hazardous Material Concerns

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Hazardous Materials/Waste

Hazardous materials/waste are defined in Item 1 Article 3.60 Hazardous Materials or Waste of TxDOT’s Standards Specifications (November 2014). Hazardous materials/waste include, but are not limited to:

The term “hazardous materials” refers to a broad category of hazardous wastes, hazardous substances and toxic chemicals that can negatively impact human health or the environment. The presence or suspected presence of hazardous material that may potentially influence a project creates a multitude or problems affecting right-of-way acquisition, project development and construction.

The definition of “hazardous materials” also includes “chemicals of concern” as defined in Title 30 of the Texas Administrative Code (TAC) ( 30 TAC 350) – Texas Risk Reduction Program (TRRP), as well as any media (such as soil and water) contaminated by those chemicals of concern.

A “chemical of concern” is any chemical with the potential to adversely affect ecological or human receptors due to its concentration, distribution, and mode or toxicity. Depending upon the program area, chemicals of concern may include the following:

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  • Solid waste, industrial solid waste, municipal solid waste, and hazardous waste as defined in the Texas Health and Safety Code 361.003, as amended, and the Texas Water Code 26.263, as amended.
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  • Hazardous constituents as listed in 40 CFR 261 – Appendix VIII, as amended
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  • Constituents on the groundwater monitoring list in 40 CFR 264 – Appendix IX, as amended.
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  • Constituents as list in 40 CFR 258 – Appendices I and II, as amended
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  • Pollutant as defined in Texas Water Code 26.001, as amended
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  • Regulated substance as defined in Texas Water Code 26.342, as amended, and 30 TAC 334.2 (related to Definitions), as amended
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  • Petroleum product as defined in Texas Water Code 26.342, as amended, and 30 TAC 334.122(b)(12) (related to Definitions for ASTs), as amended
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  • Other substances as defined in Texas Water Code 26.039(a), as amended, and daughter products of the aforementioned constituents
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Why Address Hazardous Materials in Project Development?

Hazardous materials/waste sites can pose a myriad of legal, regulatory, financial, and technical problems to the department. TxDOT becomes exposed to substantial liability when it purchases a contaminated parcel of lands or if it owned property when wastes were placed there (either by past agency practices, by third-party illegal disposal practices, or by the activities of tenants). Under a number of federal and state statutes, claims can be made against the department for a variety of cleanup costs, as well as for personal or property damages. In addition to these costs, the additional time delay that results from cleaning up a contaminated site can add significantly to overall project costs. Department personal – unfamiliar with the signs and property of hazardous waste – can expose themselves to considerable safety and health risks.

For the above reason, and to address compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) 42 USC 4321 et seq. and the Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA) 1988 Interim Guidance, issues related to hazardous materials must be considered throughout project development.

If unavoidable, NEPA requires mitigation of adverse impacts to the environment. FHWA provides the following directives to meet the NEPA requirements:

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  • Identify hazardous material concerns early in the planning process
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  • Evaluate and document the feasibility of avoidance and minimization of hazardous materials involvement
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  • Facilitate cost recovery from responsible parties

TxDOT’s interests include actions to:

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  • Avoid or minimize liability for environmental remedial action
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  • Avoid or minimize unnecessary costs, such as field changes and contractor downtime due to unanticipated encounters of hazardous materials
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  • Protect the health and safety of the public, contractors, and TxDOT staff

The best engineering solutions are developed when issues are identified early. These solutions avoid or minimize concerns to meet communities’ transportation needs as effectively and efficiently as possible.

In the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report 351, “Hazardous Wastes in Highway Rights of Way,” the Committee on Hazardous Wastes in Highway Rights-of-Way of the Transportation Research Board, state that an effective way to deal with hazardous waste is early discovery and assessment. The report states:

Some of the alternatives that might flow from such a strategy of early discovery and assessment in descending order of the level of avoidance include:

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  • Realignment to avoid the site completely
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  • Realignment to minimize the contaminated property taken
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  • Redesign to avoid disturbing the contaminated portion of the property
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  • Redesign to minimize the disturbance of the hazardous waste
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  • If disturbance is unavoidable, securing cleanup by the property owner prior to acquisition
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  • If prior cleanup is unattainable, use of low-cost, but often time-consuming, remediation techniques
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  • Use of fast, but often expensive, techniques to clean up the site
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  • A decision not to build if the costs of all the alternatives exceed the project’s benefits

The earlier in the project development phase the problem is discovered, the more of these choices may be available.

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Concerns for TxDOT Pertinent to Hazardous Materials Issues

The following are examples of the health and safety, environmental, project planning, liability, cost and public concerns of TxDOT related to hazardous materials management:

Project planning and development concerns include the abilities to facilitate:


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