EPA Proposes Tougher Rules for Safely Treating Explosive Waste

Facilities that treat explosive wastes, such as ammunition, fireworks, flares, and airbag propellants, would face stricter standards under a proposed rule the EPA announced on Tuesday.

Excess, obsolete, or unserviceable munitions have historically been destroyed by either detonating or burning them in the open. That method is “relatively quick, procedurally straightforward, and inexpensive,” the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine said in 2019.

But open burning “can have serious environmental and public health impacts, oftentimes in communities already overburdened by pollution,” Michael Regan, head of the Environmental Protection Agency, said in a statement. Pollutants can get into the air, ...