1.1                          A bill for an act 
  1.2             relating to the environment; authorizing inventory and 
  1.3             ranking of dumps by counties; providing grants for 
  1.4             cleanup of dumps by counties; appropriating money; 
  1.5             amending Minnesota Statutes 1998, section 115B.42, 
  1.6             subdivision 2; proposing coding for new law in 
  1.7             Minnesota Statutes, chapter 115B. 
  1.8   BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.9      Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 1998, section 115B.42, 
  1.10  subdivision 2, is amended to read: 
  1.11     Subd. 2.  [EXPENDITURES.] (a) Money in the fund may be 
  1.12  spent by the commissioner to: 
  1.13     (1) inspect permitted mixed municipal solid waste disposal 
  1.14  facilities to: 
  1.15     (i) evaluate the adequacy of final cover, slopes, 
  1.16  vegetation, and erosion control; 
  1.17     (ii) determine the presence and concentration of hazardous 
  1.18  substances, pollutants or contaminants, and decomposition gases; 
  1.19  and 
  1.20     (iii) determine the boundaries of fill areas; 
  1.21     (2) monitor and take, or reimburse others for, 
  1.22  environmental response actions, including emergency response 
  1.23  actions, at qualified facilities; 
  1.24     (3) acquire and dispose of property under section 115B.412, 
  1.25  subdivision 3; 
  1.26     (4) recover costs under section 115B.39; 
  2.1      (5) administer, including providing staff and 
  2.2   administrative support for, sections 115B.39 to 115B.445; 
  2.3      (6) enforce sections 115B.39 to 115B.445; 
  2.4      (7) subject to appropriation, administer the agency's 
  2.5   groundwater and solid waste management programs; 
  2.6      (8) reimburse persons under section 115B.43; and 
  2.7      (9) reimburse mediation expenses up to a total of $250,000 
  2.8   annually or defense costs up to a total of $250,000 annually for 
  2.9   third-party claims for response costs under state or federal law 
  2.10  as provided in section 115B.414; and 
  2.11     (10) subject to appropriation, make grants for cleanups of 
  2.12  dumps pursuant to sections 115B.451 to 115B.454. 
  2.13     Sec. 2.  [115B.451] [DEFINITIONS.] 
  2.14     Subdivision 1.  [SCOPE.] For purposes of sections 115B.451 
  2.15  to 115B.454, the terms defined in this section have the meanings 
  2.16  given them, unless the context requires otherwise. 
  2.17     Subd. 2.  [CLEANUP.] "Cleanup" means the removal of solid 
  2.18  waste materials from a dump, investigation and assessment of 
  2.19  contaminants at a dump, or a response action as defined in 
  2.20  section 115B.02 to address contaminants at a dump. 
  2.21     Subd. 3.  [DUMP.] "Dump" means an unpermitted solid waste 
  2.22  disposal site where mixed municipal solid waste materials have 
  2.23  been placed on the surface of the land at the site. 
  2.24     Sec. 3.  [115B.452] [INVENTORY AND RANKING OF DUMP SITES.] 
  2.25     Each county in the state may inventory and prioritize for 
  2.26  cleanup all dumps in the county by July 31, 2000.  In 
  2.27  prioritizing dumps for cleanup, the county must consider any 
  2.28  actual or potential environmental or public health hazard at a 
  2.29  dump and the aesthetic benefits of cleaning up a dump. 
  2.30     Sec. 4.  [115B.453] [GRANT APPLICATION.] 
  2.31     (a) A county may apply for a grant from the commissioner of 
  2.32  the pollution control agency to fund the cleanup of a dump site 
  2.33  in the county.  The governing body of the county must approve 
  2.34  the application. 
  2.35     (b) The commissioner shall prescribe and provide the 
  2.36  application form.  The form must be simple and require the 
  3.1   following: 
  3.2      (1) identification of the dump proposed to receive the 
  3.3   grant funds; 
  3.4      (2) identification of the owner of the dump and if the dump 
  3.5   is owned, in whole or in part, by a person other than the 
  3.6   county, evidence that the owner or owners have authorized 
  3.7   cleanup of the dump property by the county; 
  3.8      (3) an estimate of the total cost of cleanup for the dump 
  3.9   and the cleanup work to be performed at the dump; and 
  3.10     (4) any additional information the commissioner determines 
  3.11  is necessary for evaluating the grant application. 
  3.12     Sec. 5.  [115B.454] [GRANTS.] 
  3.13     Subdivision 1.  [AUTHORITY.] The commissioner may make a 
  3.14  grant to an applicant county to pay for up to 100 percent of the 
  3.15  cleanup costs at a dump in the county, except that no grant may 
  3.16  exceed $....... 
  3.17     Subd. 2.  [LIMITED FUNDS.] If the applications for grants 
  3.18  to clean up dumps prioritized by counties exceed the available 
  3.19  appropriations, the commissioner shall prioritize the grants 
  3.20  based on the following factors: 
  3.21     (1) the lack of available financing for cleanup of the dump 
  3.22  under other state and federal programs; 
  3.23     (2) the amount of funds the county has already received 
  3.24  under this section; and 
  3.25     (3) the extent to which the cleanup of the dump would 
  3.26  improve the aesthetics of the site or eliminate an actual or 
  3.27  potential threat to human health or the environment created by 
  3.28  the waste at the dump. 
  3.29     The factors are not listed in order of priority.  The 
  3.30  commissioner may weigh each factor, depending upon the facts and 
  3.31  circumstances. 
  3.32     Subd. 3.  [USE OF GRANT FUNDS.] A county that receives a 
  3.33  grant under this section may only use the funds for costs 
  3.34  incurred at the dump after the award of the grant.  The funds 
  3.35  may be used, in part, to fund the cost of disposing of waste 
  3.36  materials removed from the dump at a permitted waste disposal 
  4.1   facility.  The cleanup of a dump for which grant funds have been 
  4.2   awarded may be conducted by the county in conjunction with the 
  4.3   township or city where the dump is located.  A county that 
  4.4   conducts a cleanup of a dump using funds granted under this 
  4.5   section may seek protection from liability in accordance with 
  4.6   section 115B.175. 
  4.7      Subd. 4.  [REPORTING TO THE LEGISLATURE.] By January 1 of 
  4.8   each odd-numbered year, the commissioner shall report to the 
  4.9   legislative committees with jurisdiction over environmental 
  4.10  policy and finance issues on the status of the cleanup projects 
  4.11  undertaken with grants made under this section during the 
  4.12  previous two years. 
  4.13     Sec. 6.  [APPROPRIATION.] 
  4.14     $....... in fiscal year 2000 and $....... in fiscal year 
  4.15  2001 are appropriated from the solid waste fund to the pollution 
  4.16  control agency for dump cleanup grants under sections 2 to 5.  
  4.17  This appropriation is available until June 30, 2001. 
  4.18     Sec. 7.  [EFFECTIVE DATE.] 
  4.19     Sections 1 to 6 are effective the day following final 
  4.20  enactment.