2007 Minnesota Statutes

115A.84 DESIGNATION PLAN.
    Subdivision 1. Requirement. Before commencing the designation procedure under section
115A.85, the district or county shall adopt a comprehensive solid waste management plan or,
under chapter 473, a master plan. The county or district shall then submit a plan for designation
to be approved under this section. A county's or district's designation plan must be consistent
with its solid waste management plan or master plan and with statewide and regional waste
management goals.
    Subd. 2. Designation; plan contents. (a) The designation plan must evaluate:
(1) the benefits of the designation, including the public purposes achieved by the
conservation and recovery of resources, the furtherance of local and any district or regional
waste management plans and policies, and the furtherance of the state policies and purposes
expressed in section 115A.02; and
(2) the estimated costs of the designation, including the direct capital, operating, and
maintenance costs of the facility designated, the indirect costs, and the long-term effects of
the designation.
(b) In particular the designation plan must evaluate:
(1) whether the designation will result in the recovery of resources or energy from materials
which would otherwise be wasted;
(2) whether the designation will lessen the demand for and use of indiscriminate land
disposal;
(3) whether the designation is necessary for the financial support of the facility;
(4) whether less restrictive methods for ensuring an adequate solid waste supply are available;
(5) other feasible and prudent waste management alternatives for accomplishing the purposes
of the proposed designation, the direct and indirect costs of the alternatives, including capital and
operating costs, and the effects of the alternatives on the cost to generators; and
(6) whether the designation takes into account and promotes local, regional, and state waste
management goals.
(c) When the plan proposes designation to disposal facilities, the designation plan must also
evaluate:
(1) whether the disposal facility is part of an integrated waste management system involving
a processing facility and the designation is necessary for the financial support of the processing
facility;
(2) whether the designation will better serve to protect public health and safety;
(3) the impacts on other disposal facilities inside and outside the area;
(4) whether the designation is necessary to promote regional waste management programs
and cooperation; and
(5) the extent to which the design and operation of the disposal facility protects the
environment including whether it is permitted under current agency rules and whether any portion
of the facility's site is listed under section 115B.17, subdivision 13.
(d) When the plan proposes designation to a disposal facility, mixed municipal solid waste
that is subject to a contract between a hauler and a different facility that is in effect on the date
notice is given under section 115A.85, subdivision 2, is not subject to the designation during the
contract period or for one year after the date notice is given, whichever period is shorter.
    Subd. 3. Plan approval. (a) A district or county planning a designation shall submit the
designation plan to the commissioner for review and approval or disapproval.
(b) The commissioner shall complete the review and make a decision within 120 days
following submission of the plan for review. The commissioner shall approve the designation
plan if the plan satisfies the requirements of subdivision 2 and, in the case of designation to
disposal facilities, if the commissioner finds that the plan has demonstrated that the designation is
necessary and is consistent with section 115A.02. The commissioner may attach conditions to
the approval that relate to matters required in a designation ordinance under section 115A.86,
subdivision 1 , paragraph (a), clauses (1) to (4), and paragraph (b). Amendments to plans must
be submitted for review in accordance with this subdivision.
    Subd. 4. Exclusion of certain materials. (a) When the commissioner approves the
designation plan, the commissioner shall exclude from the designation materials that the
commissioner determines will be processed at a resource recovery facility separate from the
designated facility if:
(1) the resource recovery facility requesting the exclusion is substantially completed or will
be substantially completed within 18 months of the time that the designation plan is approved
by the commissioner;
(2) the facility requesting the exclusion has or will have contracts for purchases of its
product; and
(3) the materials are or will be under contract for delivery to the facility requesting the
exclusion at the time that facility is completed.
(b) In order to qualify for the exclusion of materials under this subdivision, the operator or
owner of the resource recovery facility requesting the exclusion shall file with the commissioner
and the district or county or counties a written description of the facility, its intended location, its
waste supply sources, purchasers of its products, its design capacity and other information that
the commissioner and the district or county or counties may reasonably require. The information
must be filed as soon as it becomes available but not later than 30 days following the date when
the county or district submits its designation plan for approval.
(c) The commissioner may revoke the exclusion granted under this subdivision when the
commissioner approves the designation ordinance under section 115A.86 if in the commissioner's
judgment the excluded materials will not be processed at the other facility.
    Subd. 5. Exclusion of materials separated at certain facilities. (a) A county or district
shall exclude from the designation, subject to approval by the commissioner, materials that the
county or district determines will be separated for recycling at a transfer station located outside of
the area subject to designation if:
(1) the residual materials left after separation of the recyclable materials are delivered to a
facility designated by the county or district;
(2) each waste collector who would otherwise be subject to the designation ordinance and
who delivers waste to the transfer station has not been found in violation of the designation
ordinance in the six months prior to filing for an exclusion;
(3) the materials separated at the transfer station are delivered to a recycler and are actually
recycled; and
(4) the owner or operator of the transfer station agrees to report and actually reports to the
county or district the quantities of materials, by categories to be specified by the county or district,
that are recycled by the facility that otherwise would have been subject to designation.
(b) In order to qualify for the exclusion in this subdivision, the owner of a transfer station
shall file with the county or district a written description of the transfer station, its operation,
location, and waste supply sources, the quantity of waste delivered to the transfer station by the
owner of the transfer station, the market for the materials separated for recycling, where the
recyclable materials are delivered for recycling, and other information the county or district may
reasonably require. Information received by the county or district is nonpublic data as defined in
section 13.02, subdivision 9.
(c) A county or district that grants an exclusion under this subdivision may revoke the
exclusion if any of the conditions of paragraph (a) are not being met.
History: 1984 c 644 s 39; 1985 c 274 s 7,8; 1989 c 325 s 12; 1989 c 335 art 1 s 269; 1991 c
337 s 31,32; 1994 c 639 art 5 s 3; 1995 c 247 art 2 s 18; 1Sp2005 c 1 art 2 s 161