Minnesota Session Laws - 1994, Regular Session

                            CHAPTER 548-H.F.No. 2010 
                  An act relating to the environment; requiring a person 
                  who arranges for management of solid waste in an 
                  environmentally inferior manner to indemnify 
                  generators of the waste and, for a landfill, set aside 
                  a fund to pay for contamination from the landfill; 
                  proposing coding for new law in Minnesota Statutes, 
                  chapter 115A. 
        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
           Section 1.  [115A.47] [SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT; USE OF 
        ENVIRONMENTALLY INFERIOR FACILITIES.] 
           Subdivision 1.  [LEGISLATIVE FINDINGS.] The legislature 
        finds that: 
           (1) public health and the environment are threatened when 
        persons who arrange for management of solid waste choose to 
        manage the waste in an environmentally inferior manner; 
           (2) historical state and local efforts to protect public 
        health and the environment and to take responsibility for waste 
        generated by their citizens, as encouraged under the federal 
        Resource Conservation and Recovery Act and required under this 
        chapter and chapter 473, are undermined when persons choose to 
        manage waste in an environmentally inferior manner; 
           (3) a person who arranges for management of solid waste in 
        an environmentally inferior manner, places generators at 
        additional risk of liability for contamination that is likely to 
        occur from environmentally inferior facilities and practices; 
           (4) as provided in section 115A.02, land disposal is the 
        least environmentally preferred solid waste management practice, 
        and solid waste disposal facilities that do not meet the 
        standards for new facilities in Code of Federal Regulations, 
        title 40, chapters 257 and 258, are environmentally inferior to 
        facilities that do meet these standards; 
           (5) under federal law, land disposal facilities are not 
        required to provide financial assurance for response costs to 
        clean up contamination until the contamination occurs and under 
        state rules have not been required to provide financial 
        assurance for the total amount of potential response costs; 
           (6) the partial financial assurance for response costs at 
        land disposal facilities located in the state that is required 
        under present state rules amounts to an average of $2.80 per 
        cubic yard or $9.25 per ton of waste managed at a disposal 
        facility that does not meet the standards for new facilities in 
        Code of Federal Regulations, title 40, chapters 257 and 258, and 
        60 cents per cubic yard or $2 per ton of waste managed at a 
        disposal facility that does meet those standards; 
           (7) the potential defense costs for response actions under 
        the federal Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation 
        and Liability Act, United States Code, title 42, sections 9601 
        to 9675, amount to approximately 130 percent of the actual costs 
        to respond to contamination; and 
           (8) it is not in the public interest, in a county that has 
        developed a comprehensive solid waste management plan under this 
        chapter or chapter 458D or 473 and is implementing that plan, 
        that a solid waste generator continue to accrue liability for 
        contamination from a waste management facility or method that is 
        environmentally inferior to a facility or method chosen by the 
        county for management of the waste generated in the county. 
           Subd. 2.  [DEFINITIONS.] (a) The definitions in sections 
        115A.03 and 115B.02 and this subdivision apply to this section. 
           (b) "Arrange for management" means an activity undertaken 
        by a person that determines the ultimate disposition of solid 
        waste that is under the control of the person, including 
        delivery of the waste to a transfer station for transport to 
        another solid waste management facility.  Knowledge of the 
        destination of waste by a generator is by itself insufficient 
        for arranging for management unless the generator knows that the 
        destination is an environmentally inferior facility as defined 
        in this section, has the ability to redirect the waste to an 
        environmentally superior facility and ensure its delivery to 
        that facility, and chooses not to redirect the waste. 
           (c) "County" means a county or the Western Lake Superior 
        Sanitary District established in chapter 458D. 
           (d) "Environmentally inferior" means a solid waste 
        management method that is lower on the list of preferred waste 
        management methods in section 115A.02 than a solid waste 
        management method chosen by a county or, as applied to a 
        facility, means a waste management facility that utilizes a 
        waste management method that is lower on the list of preferred 
        waste management methods than the waste management method chosen 
        by a county.  In addition, as applied to disposal facilities, a 
        facility that does not meet the standards for new facilities in 
        Code of Federal Regulations, title 40, chapters 257 and 258, is 
        environmentally inferior to a facility that does meet these 
        standards. 
           (e) "Inferior disposal facility" means a solid waste 
        disposal facility that does not meet the standards for a new 
        facility in Code of Federal Regulations, title 40, chapters 257 
        and 258. 
           (f) "Superior disposal facility" means a solid waste 
        disposal facility that meets the standards for a new facility in 
        Code of Federal Regulations, title 40, chapters 257 and 258. 
           (g) "Waste management method chosen by a county" means: 
           (1) a waste management method that is mandated for waste 
        generated in the county by section 115A.415, 473.848, 473.849, 
        or other state law, or by county ordinance based on the county 
        solid waste management plan developed, adopted, and approved 
        under section 115A.46 or 458D.05 or the county solid waste 
        management master plan developed, adopted, and approved under 
        section 473.803; or 
           (2) a waste management facility or facilities, developed 
        under the county solid waste management plan or master plan, to 
        which solid waste generated in a county is directed by an 
        ordinance developed, adopted, and approved under sections 
        115A.80 to 115A.893. 
           Subd. 3.  [INDEMNIFICATION; FINANCIAL ASSURANCE FOR LAND 
        DISPOSAL.] (a) A person who arranges for management of solid 
        waste at a facility that uses a primary waste management method 
        that is environmentally inferior to the primary waste management 
        method chosen by the county in which the waste is generated: 
           (1) shall indemnify and hold harmless each solid waste 
        generator whose waste is under the control of the person who 
        arranges for management for all costs that may be assessed 
        against the generator for response to a release from the 
        facility of a hazardous substance or pollutant or contaminant 
        under chapter 115B or United States Code, title 42, sections 
        9601 to 9675; and 
           (2) shall defend each generator indemnified under clause (1)
        against any action to recover response costs related to that 
        facility. 
           (b) When the environmentally inferior facility chosen by 
        the person who arranges for management is a disposal facility, 
        the person shall also provide to the commissioner proof of the 
        person's financial capability to provide for response and 
        defense costs.  For the purpose of this paragraph, "proof of 
        financial capability" means a trust fund into which the person 
        must pay: 
           (1) $6.45 per cubic yard or $21.25 per ton of waste 
        delivered to an inferior disposal facility or to an intermediate 
        facility that transfers waste to an inferior disposal facility; 
        or 
           (2) $1.38 per cubic yard or $4.60 per ton of waste 
        delivered to a superior disposal facility or to an intermediate 
        facility that transfers waste to a superior disposal facility.  
           (c) A person required to provide proof of financial 
        capability under paragraph (b) shall make payments into a trust 
        fund on a monthly basis for use of the environmentally inferior 
        facility or for use of intermediate facilities that transfer 
        waste to the facility.  A person that arranges for management of 
        solid waste at more than one environmentally inferior facility 
        that is a disposal facility may establish a single trust fund 
        with separate accounting for each facility. 
           (d) The trustee of a trust required in paragraph (b) must 
        be an entity that has the authority to act as a trustee and 
        whose trust operations are regulated under state or federal law. 
           (e) Until 30 years after closure of the facility, money in 
        a trust fund established under paragraphs (b) and (c) may be 
        spent only on approval of the commissioner for response and 
        defense costs as provided in paragraph (a). 
           (f) A person subject to this subdivision shall provide a 
        quarterly report to the commissioner that includes: 
           (1) the number of cubic yards or tons of waste for which 
        the person arranged for management at an environmentally 
        inferior facility during each quarter; 
           (2) the amount paid or to be paid into the trust fund each 
        quarter; 
           (3) any request for use of money in the trust fund; and 
           (4) any other information necessary for the commissioner to 
        adequately monitor and audit the trust fund or the need for 
        payment from it. 
           (g) The requirements of this section that apply to an 
        environmentally inferior facility also apply to a transfer 
        station from which waste is primarily transferred to the 
        facility. 
           (h) A person required to make payments to a trust fund 
        under this subdivision shall pay to the commissioner a fee of 30 
        cents per cubic yard or $1 per ton of waste delivered to the 
        environmentally inferior facility.  Proceeds of the fee must be 
        credited to the environmental fund and are annually appropriated 
        to the commissioner for implementation of this section. 
           Subd. 4.  [RULES.] The commissioner shall adopt rules to 
        implement this section. 
           Subd. 5.  [RECORD KEEPING.] A hauler of solid waste shall 
        keep records at its central record keeping location regarding 
        the date, amount of solid waste by cubic yard or ton, and 
        facility to which each load of solid waste is delivered for 
        disposal by the hauler.  The hauler shall keep the records for 
        two years and, when reasonable notice has been given, shall make 
        the records available to the commissioner for inspection.  
        Records inspected by the commissioner under this section are 
        nonpublic data as defined in section 13.02, subdivision 9, and 
        may be used solely for the purpose of enforcing this section. 
           Subd. 6.  [ENFORCEMENT.] The commissioner may enforce this 
        section under section 116.072. 
           Subd. 7.  [EFFECT.] This section has no effect on the 
        operation of an ordinance adopted under sections 115A.80 to 
        115A.893.  Nothing in this section authorizes a person to 
        arrange for the management of solid waste that is subject to a 
        designation ordinance at a facility other than the designated 
        facility or facilities. 
           Sec. 2.  [EFFECTIVE DATE.] 
           (a) Except as provided in paragraph (b), section 1 is 
        effective February 1, 1995, or when the rules adopted under 
        section 1, subdivision 4, are effective, whichever is sooner. 
           (b) Section 1, subdivision 4, is effective the day 
        following final enactment. 
           Presented to the governor May 2, 1994 
           Signed by the governor May 4, 1994, 3:14 p.m.