An Act To Expand Eligibility of Certain Municipal Landfills To Participate in the State's Remediation and Closure Program
Sec. 1. 38 MRSA §1310-E-1, sub-§2, ¶A, as amended by PL 1999, c. 556, §37, is further amended to read:
Sec. 2. 38 MRSA §1310-F, sub-§1-B, as repealed and replaced by PL 1997, c. 479, §1, is amended to read:
(1) The costs are incurred pursuant to a written agreement between the municipality and the department executed before July 1, 1994; or
(2) The commissioner determines that the closure work was delayed for reasons beyond the control of the municipality and the costs are identified in and incurred pursuant to a written agreement between the municipality and the department.
(1) The commissioner issued a license for operation of the landfill and found that the landfill met the design requirements and environmental protection standards at the time of licensing; and
(2) The commissioner has since determined that the landfill or portion of the landfill must be closed or encapsulated based on the finding that the original design no longer meets the environmental protection standards.
The state cost share is 0% of landfill closure costs incurred on or after January 1, 2000, except that the commissioner may issue grants or payments as provided in paragraph E or for 30% of those costs if incurred pursuant to an alternative closure schedule commitment executed before January 1, 2000, and if specifically identified in a department order or license, schedule of compliance or consent agreement.
As used in this subsection, "landfill cover costs" means the cost of materials and the cost of placement of materials associated with the physical construction of that portion of a cover over a landfill that meets the minimum landfill cover permeability of 1 x 10(-5)cm./sec. and the thickness standards of 40 Code of Federal Regulations, Part 258, Section 258.60(a).
summary
This bill allows municipal landfills that were allowed to remain in operation after January 1, 2000 but are subsequently ordered closed or encapsulated by December 31, 2014 because they do not meet current environmental protection standards to receive funding from the State's remediation and closure program for a portion of closure costs if funding is available.