Minnesota Session Laws - 1998, Regular Session

                            CHAPTER 306-S.F.No. 3016 
                  An act relating to the environment; authorizing 
                  acceptance of dump materials at certain qualified 
                  landfills; amending Minnesota Statutes 1997 
                  Supplement, section 115B.39, subdivision 2; proposing 
                  coding for new law in Minnesota Statutes, chapter 115B.
        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
           Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 1997 Supplement, section 
        115B.39, subdivision 2, is amended to read: 
           Subd. 2.  [DEFINITIONS.] (a) In addition to the definitions 
        in this subdivision, the definitions in sections 115A.03 and 
        115B.02 apply to sections 115B.39 to 115B.445, except as 
        specifically modified in this subdivision. 
           (b) "Cleanup order" means a consent order between 
        responsible persons and the agency or an order issued by the 
        United States Environmental Protection Agency under section 106 
        of the federal Superfund Act. 
           (c) "Closure" means actions to prevent or minimize the 
        threat to public health and the environment posed by a mixed 
        municipal solid waste disposal facility that has stopped 
        accepting waste by controlling the sources of releases or 
        threatened releases at the facility.  "Closure" includes 
        removing contaminated equipment and liners; applying final 
        cover; grading and seeding final cover; installing wells, 
        borings, and other monitoring devices; constructing groundwater 
        and surface water diversion structures; and installing gas 
        control systems and site security systems, as necessary.  The 
        commissioner may authorize use of final cover that includes 
        processed materials that meet the requirements in Code of 
        Federal Regulations, title 40, section 503.32, paragraph (a). 
           (d) "Closure upgrade" means construction activity that 
        will, at a minimum, modify an existing cover so that it 
        satisfies current rule requirements for mixed municipal solid 
        waste land disposal facilities. 
           (e) "Contingency action" means organized, planned, or 
        coordinated courses of action to be followed in case of fire, 
        explosion, or release of solid waste, waste by-products, or 
        leachate that could threaten human health or the environment. 
           (e) (f) "Corrective action" means steps taken to repair 
        facility structures including liners, monitoring wells, 
        separation equipment, covers, and aeration devices and to bring 
        the facility into compliance with design, construction, 
        groundwater, surface water, and air emission standards. 
           (f) (g) "Decomposition gases" means gases produced by 
        chemical or microbial activity during the decomposition of solid 
        waste. 
           (h) "Dump materials" means nonhazardous mixed municipal 
        solid wastes disposed at a Minnesota waste disposal site other 
        than a qualified facility prior to 1973. 
           (g) (i) "Environmental response action" means response 
        action at a qualified facility, including corrective action, 
        closure, postclosure care; contingency action; environmental 
        studies, including remedial investigations and feasibility 
        studies; engineering, including remedial design; removal; 
        remedial action; site construction; and other similar 
        cleanup-related activities.  
           (h) (j) "Environmental response costs" means: 
           (1) costs of environmental response action, not including 
        legal or administrative expenses; and 
           (2) costs required to be paid to the federal government 
        under section 107(a) of the federal Superfund Act, as amended. 
           (i) (k) "Postclosure" or "postclosure care" means actions 
        taken for the care, maintenance, and monitoring of closure 
        actions at a mixed municipal solid waste disposal facility. 
           (j) (l) "Qualified facility" means a mixed municipal solid 
        waste disposal facility, including adjacent property used for 
        solid waste disposal, that: 
           (1) is or was permitted by the agency; 
           (2) stopped accepting solid waste, except demolition 
        debris, for disposal by April 9, 1994; and 
           (3) stopped accepting demolition debris for disposal by 
        June 1, 1994, except that demolition debris may be accepted 
        until May 1, 1995, at a permitted area where disposal of 
        demolition debris is allowed, if the area where the demolition 
        debris is deposited is at least 50 feet from the fill boundary 
        of the area where mixed municipal solid waste was deposited. 
           Sec. 2.  [115B.403] [ACCEPTANCE OF DUMP MATERIALS TO 
        AUGMENT CLOSURE OR CLOSURE UPGRADE ACTIVITIES AT QUALIFIED 
        FACILITIES.] 
           (a) The commissioner may allow dump materials at qualified 
        facilities from sites that have been in public ownership on or 
        after January 1, 1998, provided that the commissioner finds that:
           (1) accepting the dump materials will not significantly 
        increase the potential environmental impacts of the qualified 
        facility; 
           (2) accepting the dump materials will benefit the qualified 
        facility by improving final slopes, or in some other tangible 
        manner, and the materials will be provided to the qualified 
        facility according to a schedule consistent with closure or 
        closure upgrade activities at the qualified facility; 
           (3) the owner of the site where the dump materials were 
        disposed complies with the requirements of paragraph (b) and 
        agrees to: 
           (i) pay any costs of screening and inspection needed at 
        point of excavation or point of deposit to ensure that 
        unacceptable materials are not delivered to the qualified 
        facility; 
           (ii) secure any permissions necessary from the owner of the 
        property containing the qualified facility; 
           (iii) transport the dump materials to the qualified 
        facility according to a process and schedule acceptable to the 
        commissioner and, at owner's cost, pay all transportation costs 
        related to the activity; and 
           (iv) complete cleanup, final grading, seeding, and other 
        related activities for the area where the dump existed. 
           (b) in order to qualify for consideration for disposal of 
        dump materials at qualified facilities, the owner of the site 
        where the dump materials were disposed shall notify the 
        commissioner, in writing, at least six months before closure 
        activity at the qualified facility indicating the owner's desire 
        to dispose of the dump material at the qualified facility in 
        order to allow adequate time for construction planning and 
        public information activities.  The commissioner shall consider 
        requests based on the schedule of closure and closure upgrade 
        activities at qualified facilities.  The commissioner shall 
        require the owner of the site to submit, at the owner's expense, 
        physical and chemical evaluation data regarding the dump 
        material including any necessary coring, excavation, or other 
        sampling data at least six months before closure construction to 
        assist the commissioner in making the determination whether or 
        not to accept the material. 
           (c) The commissioner may reject any and all requests to 
        dispose of dump materials at qualified facilities. 
           (d) Nothing in this section shall be construed as allowing 
        unpermitted disposal facilities to be included as qualified 
        facilities in the closed landfill program. 
           Sec. 3.  [EFFECTIVE DATE.] 
           This act is effective the day following final enactment. 
           Presented to the governor March 19, 1998 
           Signed by the governor March 23, 1998, 10:40 a.m.