CES Waste Management and Pollution Control 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Under RCRA, which characteristic makes a solid waste a hazardous waste due to its ability to cause fire during routine management?
- Corrosivity
- Ignitability (Correct answer)
- Reactivity
- Toxicity
Correct answer: Ignitability
Ignitability is the RCRA characteristic applied to wastes that can spontaneously combust or have a flash point below 60°C, posing fire hazards during storage or transport.
Question 2: A landfill operator notices leachate seeping from the base of an older unlined cell. Which regulatory mechanism most directly requires corrective action?
- Clean Water Act Section 402 NPDES permit
- RCRA Subtitle D groundwater monitoring and corrective action requirements (Correct answer)
- CERCLA emergency removal authority
- Safe Drinking Water Act underground injection control rules
Correct answer: RCRA Subtitle D groundwater monitoring and corrective action requirements
RCRA Subtitle D requires municipal solid waste landfills to conduct groundwater monitoring and implement corrective action if contamination is detected.
Question 3: Which air pollutant standard is expressed as a 24-hour average concentration limit that must not be exceeded more than once per year on average?
- PM2.5 annual standard
- PM10 24-hour standard (Correct answer)
- Ozone 8-hour standard
- SO2 1-hour standard
Correct answer: PM10 24-hour standard
The PM10 24-hour NAAQS is set at 150 µg/m³ and is expressed as a standard not to be exceeded more than once per year on average.
Question 4: In stormwater pollution prevention, which best management practice (BMP) is classified as a source control rather than a treatment control?
- Detention basin
- Oil-water separator
- Covering outdoor material storage areas (Correct answer)
- Constructed wetland
Correct answer: Covering outdoor material storage areas
Covering outdoor storage areas prevents pollutants from contacting stormwater at the source, making it a source control BMP rather than a treatment control.
Question 5: Which process describes the biological decomposition of organic waste in the absence of oxygen to produce biogas and digestate?
- Aerobic composting
- Anaerobic digestion (Correct answer)
- Incineration
- Pyrolysis
Correct answer: Anaerobic digestion
Anaerobic digestion breaks down organic matter without oxygen, yielding methane-rich biogas for energy recovery and a nutrient-rich digestate residual.
Question 6: A facility must report an accidental release of a listed extremely hazardous substance (EHS) that exceeds its reportable quantity. Which law mandates this notification?
- TSCA Section 8(e)
- EPCRA Section 304 (Correct answer)
- RCRA Section 3010
- CWA Section 311
Correct answer: EPCRA Section 304
EPCRA Section 304 requires facilities to immediately notify the LEPC and SERC when an EHS release exceeds the reportable quantity.
Question 7: Which metric is used to compare the global warming impact of different greenhouse gases relative to CO2 over a 100-year timeframe?
- Ozone Depletion Potential (ODP)
- Global Warming Potential (GWP) (Correct answer)
- Eutrophication Potential (EP)
- Acidification Potential (AP)
Correct answer: Global Warming Potential (GWP)
Global Warming Potential (GWP) normalizes the radiative forcing of greenhouse gases to CO2-equivalents over a 100-year period for standardized comparison.
CES Waste Management and Pollution Control 2
Under RCRA, which characteristic makes a solid waste a hazardous waste due to its ability to cause fire during routine management?