Common Land & Waste Compliance Issues: Ryan Hayden Arkansas Department of Energy and Environment - Division of Environmental Quality Arkansas Environmental Federation Presentation

Ryan Hayden undertook a presentation at the Arkansas Environmental Federation Land Seminar titled:

Common Land & Waste Compliance Issues (“Presentation”).

Ryan serves as the Arkansas Department of Energy and Environment Program Manager in the Division of Environmental Quality’s Office of Land Resources.

The Office of Land Resources operates a variety of programs such as:

• Brownfield Program.
• Underground/Regulated Storage Tanks (including Petroleum Storage Tank Trust Fund).
• Hazardous Waste regulations.
• Solid Waste regulations.
• Tire Accountability Program.

The Presentation addressed a variety of issues associated with each program. Note that a number of photographs providing illustrations are found throughout the Presentation.

After addressing the Hazardous Waste Mission Statement, the discussion addressed for 2025:

• Compliance Evaluation Inspections.
• Complaint Investigations.

Further, a variety of common violations were identified, such as container labeling and marking, failure to perform waste determinations, etc.

The two most common cited violations included:

• Condition of units.
• Containers and aboveground tanks used to store used oil must be labeled with the words “Used Oil.”

Subsequent to outlining the regulated storage tank (“RST”) mission statement, the Presentation outlined:

• Leaking Underground Storage Tank investigations.
• Leaking Aboveground Storage Tank investigations.

A variety of statistics for 2025 were provided in regard to the RST investigations.

The two most common cited RST violations included:

• Failure to properly operate or maintain release detection equipment.
• Failure to properly operate or maintain spill, overfill, or corrosion protection equipment.

The Program Mission Statement for Environmental Officers (“EO’s”) noted their various responsibilities and included a map denoting:

• Regional Solid Waste Management Districts that have an EO.
• Cities or counties that have an EO.
• Planning and development districts that have an EO.

Authority was cited in regard to the ability to inspect or collect evidence regarding illegal dump sites, littering, or related complaints.

The Presentation included a complaint distribution for 2025 in regard to the Regional Solid Waste Management Districts. In addition, six related metric categories were discussed which included:

• Waste removed (tons).
• Cost as scales.
• Recycle $ received.
• Acres returned to use.
• Tires removed.
• Fines.

A detailed chart was provided for each.

A copy of the slides from the Presentation can be found here.