Exhibit  31.1


I,  Stephen  A.  Romano,  certify  that:

1.  I  have  reviewed  this  quarterly  report  on Form 10-Q of American Ecology
Corporation;

2.  Based  on  my  knowledge,  this quarterly report does not contain any untrue
statement  of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to make
the  statements  made, in light of the circumstances under which such statements
were  made,  not misleading with respect to the period covered by this quarterly
report;

3.  Based  on  my  knowledge,  the  financial  statements,  and  other financial
information  included  in  this quarterly report, fairly present in all material
respects  the  financial  condition, results of operations and cash flows of the
registrant  as  of,  and  for,  the  periods presented in this quarterly report;

4.  The  registrant's  other  certifying  officers  and  I  are  responsible for
establishing  and  maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in
Exchange  Act  Rules  13a-15(e)  and  15d-15(e))  for  the  registrant and have:
a)  designed  such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such disclosure
controls  and  procedures  to  be designed under our supervision, to ensure that
material  information  relating  to  the  registrant, including its consolidated
subsidiaries,  is made known to us by others within those entities, particularly
during  the  period  in  which  this  quarterly  report  is  being  prepared;
b)  evaluated  the  effectiveness  of  the  registrant's disclosure controls and
procedures  and presented in this report our conclusions about the effectiveness
of  the  disclosure controls and procedures, as of the end of the period covered
by  this  quarterly  report  based  on  such  evaluation;  and
c)  disclosed  in  this quarterly report any change in the registrant's internal
control  over  financial  reporting  that  occurred during the registrant's most
recent  fiscal  quarter that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to
materially  affect,  the registrant's internal control over financial reporting;
and

5. The registrant's other certifying officers and I have disclosed, based on our
most  recent  evaluation  of  internal  control over financial reporting, to the
registrant's auditors and the audit committee of registrant's board of directors
(or  persons  performing  the  equivalent  functions):
a)  all  significant  deficiencies  and  material  weaknesses  in  the design or
operation  of  internal  control  over  financial reporting which are reasonably
likely  to  adversely  affect  the  registrant's  ability  to  record,  process,
summarize  and  report  financial  information;  and
b)  any  fraud,  whether  or  not  material,  that  involves management or other
employees  who have a significant role in the registrant's internal control over
financial  reporting.

April 30, 2004

/S/ Stephen A. Romano
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Chief Executive Officer