## Facts

- Owen operated a steel facility using an electric arc furnace in Cayce, South Carolina.
- Owen added crushed limestone to molten metal to remove non-ferrous constituents; the resulting byproduct (“slag”) floated to the surface and was removed.
- The slag consisted largely of limestone and dolomite with trace metallic oxides.
- After removal, a contractor processed the slag and placed it in holding bays on bare soil to “temper” and “weather.”
- The slag remained in this outdoor curing process for about six months, during which it hydrated, changed phases, and became volumetrically stable.
- Once cured, Owen sold the slag to the construction industry for use as road base or other commercial aggregate.
- Owen’s facility operated as a hazardous-waste treatment, storage, or disposal facility (TSDF) subject to an EPA permit.
- In Owen’s TSDF permit, EPA designated the slag processing area (SPA) as a “solid waste management unit” (SWMU) potentially subject to corrective action requirements for releases from SWMUs.
- Owen challenged the SWMU designation, arguing slag was not “discarded” because it was ultimately sold and reused as a product.

## Issues

1. Whether EPA reasonably determined that Owen’s slag was “discarded material” and therefore “solid waste” under 42 U.S.C. § 6903(27).
2. Whether, based on that determination, EPA could treat the slag processing area as a solid waste management unit subject to RCRA corrective-action permitting requirements.

## Decision

- The Fourth Circuit denied Owen’s petition for review and upheld EPA’s permit determination.
- The court held that “discarded” in the RCRA solid-waste definition was ambiguous as applied to byproducts stored for extended periods and later sold.
- Applying Chevron deference, the court concluded EPA’s interpretation was reasonable.
- The court accepted EPA’s view that material not continuously reused within the generating industry, and left dormant on land for months, may be treated as part of the waste disposal problem.
- Because slag was placed on bare soil and remained inactive and exposed for approximately six months before marketing, EPA could treat it as “discarded” solid waste.
- The SPA was properly designated an SWMU because it was an area where solid waste was routinely placed or managed, creating a potential for releases warranting corrective-action authority.

## Legal Principles

- “Discarded material” in RCRA’s “solid waste” definition may include secondary materials that are stored or managed in a disposal-like manner for a substantial time, even if later sold or beneficially reused.
- Under Chevron, when RCRA does not clearly resolve whether a stored byproduct is “discarded,” a reasonable EPA construction controlling solid-waste coverage will be sustained.
- An area where solid waste is routinely placed or managed can be treated as a solid waste management unit for corrective-action purposes, even if the material is intended for eventual commercial use.

## Conclusion

The court upheld EPA’s designation of Owen’s slag curing area as an SWMU, concluding that slag left dormant on bare soil for months before sale could reasonably be treated as “discarded” and thus “solid waste” under RCRA, triggering corrective-action permitting authority.


Owen Elec. Steel Co. of S.C., Inc. v. Browner, 37 F.3d 146 (4th Cir. 1994)