HF 3367

1st Engrossment - 86th Legislature (2009 - 2010) Posted on 03/15/2010 01:24pm

A bill for an act
relating to the environment; modifying requirements for solid waste disposal
facilities; amending Minnesota Statutes 2008, section 116.07, subdivisions 4, 4h.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

Section 1.

Minnesota Statutes 2008, section 116.07, subdivision 4, is amended to read:

Subd. 4.

Rules and standards.

Pursuant and subject to the provisions of chapter 14,
and the provisions hereof, the Pollution Control Agency may adopt, amend and rescind
rules and standards having the force of law relating to any purpose within the provisions
of Laws 1967, chapter 882, for the prevention, abatement, or control of air pollution.
Any such rule or standard may be of general application throughout the state, or may be
limited as to times, places, circumstances, or conditions in order to make due allowance
for variations therein. Without limitation, rules or standards may relate to sources or
emissions of air contamination or air pollution, to the quality or composition of such
emissions, or to the quality of or composition of the ambient air or outdoor atmosphere or
to any other matter relevant to the prevention, abatement, or control of air pollution.

Pursuant and subject to the provisions of chapter 14, and the provisions hereof, the
Pollution Control Agency may adopt, amend, and rescind rules and standards having
the force of law relating to any purpose within the provisions of Laws 1969, chapter
1046, for the collection, transportation, storage, processing, and disposal of solid waste
and the prevention, abatement, or control of water, air, and land pollution which may be
related thereto, and the deposit in or on land of any other material that may tend to cause
pollution. The agency shall adopt such rules and standards for sewage sludge, addressing
the intrinsic suitability of land, the volume and rate of application of sewage sludge of
various degrees of intrinsic hazard, design of facilities, and operation of facilities and sites.
Any such rule or standard may be of general application throughout the state or may be
limited as to times, places, circumstances, or conditions in order to make due allowance
for variations therein. Without limitation, rules or standards may relate to collection,
transportation, processing, disposal, equipment, location, procedures, methods, systems
or techniques or to any other matter relevant to the prevention, abatement or control of
water, air, and land pollution which may be advised through the control of collection,
transportation, processing, and disposal of solid waste and sewage sludge, and the deposit
in or on land of any other material that may tend to cause pollution. By January 1, 1983,
the rules for the management of sewage sludge shall include an analysis of the sewage
sludge determined by the commissioner of agriculture to be necessary to meet the soil
amendment labeling requirements of section 18C.215. The rules for the disposal of
solid waste shall include site-specific criteria to prohibit solid waste disposal based on
the area's sensitivity to groundwater contamination, including site-specific testing. new text begin The
rules shall provide criteria to prohibit locating landfills based on a site's sensitivity to
groundwater contamination. Sensitivity to groundwater contamination is based on the
predicted minimum time of travel of groundwater contaminants from the solid waste to
the compliance boundary. The rules shall prohibit landfills in areas where karst is likely
to develop. The rules shall specify testable or otherwise objective thresholds for these
criteria. new text end The rules shall also include modifications to financial assurance requirements
under subdivision 4h that ensure the state is protected from financial responsibility for
future groundwater contamination. new text begin The financial assurance and siting modifications to the
rules specified in this act do not apply to solid waste facilities initially permitted before
January 1, 2011, including future contiguous expansions and noncontiguous expansions
within 600 yards of a permitted boundary. new text end new text begin The rule modification shall not affect solid
waste disposal facilities that accept only construction and demolition debris and incidental
nonrecyclable packaging, and facilities that accept only industrial waste that is limited
to wood, concrete, porcelain fixtures, shingles, or window glass resulting from the
manufacture of construction materials. The rule amendment shall not require new siting or
financial assurance requirements for permit by rule solid waste disposal facilities. new text end Until
the rules are modified to include site-specific criteria to prohibit areas from solid waste
disposal due to groundwater contamination sensitivity, as required under this section, the
agency shall not issue a permit for a new solid waste disposal facility, except for:

(1) the reissuance of a permit for a land disposal facility operating as of March
1, 2008;

(2) a permit to expand a land disposal facility operating as of March 1, 2008, beyond
its permitted boundaries, including expansion on land that is not contiguous to, but is
located within 600 yards of, the land disposal facility's permitted boundaries;

(3) a permit to modify the type of waste accepted at a land disposal facility operating
as of March 1, 2008;

(4) a permit to locate a disposal facility that accepts only construction debris as
defined in section 115A.03, subdivision 7;

(5) a permit to locate a disposal facility that:

(i) accepts boiler ash from an electric energy power plant that has wet scrubbed units
or has units that have been converted from wet scrubbed units to dry scrubbed units as
those terms are defined in section 216B.68;

(ii) is on land that was owned on May 1, 2008, by the utility operating the electric
energy power plant; and

(iii) is located within three miles of the existing ash disposal facility for the power
plant; or

(6) a permit to locate a new solid waste disposal facility for ferrous metallic minerals
regulated under Minnesota Rules, chapter 6130, or for nonferrous metallic minerals
regulated under Minnesota Rules, chapter 6132.

Pursuant and subject to the provisions of chapter 14, and the provisions hereof, the
Pollution Control Agency may adopt, amend and rescind rules and standards having the
force of law relating to any purpose within the provisions of Laws 1971, chapter 727, for
the prevention, abatement, or control of noise pollution. Any such rule or standard may
be of general application throughout the state, or may be limited as to times, places,
circumstances or conditions in order to make due allowances for variations therein.
Without limitation, rules or standards may relate to sources or emissions of noise or noise
pollution, to the quality or composition of noises in the natural environment, or to any
other matter relevant to the prevention, abatement, or control of noise pollution.

As to any matters subject to this chapter, local units of government may set emission
regulations with respect to stationary sources which are more stringent than those set
by the Pollution Control Agency.

Pursuant to chapter 14, the Pollution Control Agency may adopt, amend, and rescind
rules and standards having the force of law relating to any purpose within the provisions of
this chapter for generators of hazardous waste, the management, identification, labeling,
classification, storage, collection, treatment, transportation, processing, and disposal
of hazardous waste and the location of hazardous waste facilities. A rule or standard
may be of general application throughout the state or may be limited as to time, places,
circumstances, or conditions. In implementing its hazardous waste rules, the Pollution
Control Agency shall give high priority to providing planning and technical assistance
to hazardous waste generators. The agency shall assist generators in investigating the
availability and feasibility of both interim and long-term hazardous waste management
methods. The methods shall include waste reduction, waste separation, waste processing,
resource recovery, and temporary storage.

The Pollution Control Agency shall give highest priority in the consideration of
permits to authorize disposal of diseased shade trees by open burning at designated sites to
evidence concerning economic costs of transportation and disposal of diseased shade trees
by alternative methods.

new text begin EFFECTIVE DATE. new text end

new text begin This section is effective the day following final enactment.
new text end

Sec. 2.

Minnesota Statutes 2008, section 116.07, subdivision 4h, is amended to read:

Subd. 4h.

Financial responsibility rules.

(a) The agency shall adopt rules requiring
the operator or owner of a solid waste disposal facility to submit to the agency proof of the
operator's or owner's financial capability to provide reasonable and necessary response
during the operating life of the facility and for new text begin a minimum of new text end 30 years after closure for a
mixed municipal solid waste disposal facility or for a minimum of 20 years after closure,
as determined by agency rules, for any other solid waste disposal facility, and to provide
for the closure of the facility and postclosure care required under agency rules. Proof of
financial responsibility is required of the operator or owner of a facility receiving an
original permit or a permit for expansion after adoption of the rules. Within 180 days of
the effective date of the rules or by July 1, 1987, whichever is later, proof of financial
responsibility is required of an operator or owner of a facility with a remaining capacity of
more than five years or 500,000 cubic yards that is in operation at the time the rules are
adopted. Compliance with the rules and the requirements of paragraph (b) is a condition
of obtaining or retaining a permit to operate the facility.

(b) A municipality, as defined in section 475.51, subdivision 2, including a sanitary
district, that owns or operates a solid waste disposal facility that was in operation on May
15, 1989, may meet its financial responsibility for all or a portion of the contingency
action portion of the reasonable and necessary response costs at the facility by pledging its
full faith and credit to meet its responsibility.

The pledge must be made in accordance with the requirements in chapter 475 for
issuing bonds of the municipality, and the following additional requirements:

(1) The governing body of the municipality shall enact an ordinance that clearly
accepts responsibility for the costs of contingency action at the facility and that reserves,
during the operating life of the facility and for the time period required in paragraph (a)
after closure, a portion of the debt limit of the municipality, as established under section
475.53 or other law, that is equal to the total contingency action costs.

(2) The municipality shall require that all collectors that haul to the facility
implement a plan for reducing solid waste by using volume-based pricing, recycling
incentives, or other means.

(3) When a municipality opts to meet a portion of its financial responsibility by
relying on its authority to issue bonds, it shall also begin setting aside in a dedicated
long-term care trust fund money that will cover a portion of the potential contingency
action costs at the facility, the amount to be determined by the agency for each facility
based on at least the amount of waste deposited in the disposal facility each year, and the
likelihood and potential timing of conditions arising at the facility that will necessitate
response action. The agency may not require a municipality to set aside more than five
percent of the total cost in a single year.

(4) A municipality shall have and consistently maintain an investment grade bond
rating as a condition of using bonding authority to meet financial responsibility under
this section.

(5) The municipality shall file with the commissioner of revenue its consent to have
the amount of its contingency action costs deducted from state aid payments otherwise
due the municipality and paid instead to the remediation fund created in section 116.155,
if the municipality fails to conduct the contingency action at the facility when ordered
by the agency. If the agency notifies the commissioner that the municipality has failed to
conduct contingency action when ordered by the agency, the commissioner shall deduct
the amounts indicated by the agency from the state aids in accordance with the consent
filed with the commissioner.

(6) The municipality shall file with the agency written proof that it has complied
with the requirements of paragraph (b).

(c) The method for proving financial responsibility under paragraph (b) may not be
applied to a new solid waste disposal facility or to expansion of an existing facility, unless
the expansion is a vertical expansion. Vertical expansions of qualifying existing facilities
cannot be permitted for a duration of longer than three years.

new text begin (d) The commissioner shall consult with the commissioner of management and
budget for guidance on the forms of financial assurance that are acceptable for private
owners and public owners, and in carrying out a periodic review of the adequacy of
financial assurance for solid waste disposal facilities. Financial assurance rules shall
allow financial mechanisms to public owners of solid waste disposal facilities that are
appropriate to their status as subdivisions of the state.
new text end

new text begin EFFECTIVE DATE. new text end

new text begin This section is effective the day following final enactment.
new text end

Sec. 3. new text begin SOLID WASTE FACILITY FINANCIAL ASSURANCE MECHANISMS;
INPUT.
new text end

new text begin Within six months after the effective date of this section, and before publishing
the rules required for groundwater sensitivity and financial assurance in Minnesota
Statutes, section 116.07, subdivision 4, the Pollution Control Agency shall consult with
experts and interested persons on financial assurance adequacy for solid waste facilities,
including, but not limited to, staff from the Department of Natural Resources, Minnesota
Management and Budget, local governments, private and public landfill operators, and
environmental groups. The commissioner shall seek the input to determine the adequacy
of existing financial assurance rules to address environmental risks, the length of time
financial assurance is needed, based on the threat to human health and the environment,
the reliability of financial assurance in covering risks from land disposal of waste in
Minnesota and other states, and the role of private insurance.
new text end

new text begin EFFECTIVE DATE. new text end

new text begin This section is effective the day following final enactment.
new text end