Beginning our countdown of new Illinois environmental laws taking effect on January 1, 2016 is Public Act 99-0089, under which the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency is allowed to determine whether certain applications of dust suppressants may be managed as non-waste under a beneficial use determination.

Section 22.54 of the Illinois Environmental Protection Act, 415 ILCS 5/22.54, allows the Illinois EPA to determine that a material otherwise required to be managed as waste may be managed as non-waste if that material is used beneficially and in a manner that is protective of human health and the environment.  Subsection (g) states that Section 22.54 does not apply to “material that is burned for energy recovery, that is used to produce a fuel, or that is otherwise contained in a fuel.”

Public Act 99-0089 added a sentence to subsection (g) that the “prohibition in this subsection (g) does not apply to any dust supressants applied to a material that is (i) burned for energy recovery, (ii) used to produce a fuel, or (iii) otherwise contained in a fuel.”