Section 2. Duties and responsibilities of the Department of
Environmental Resources.
(a) Comprehensive plan.--The Department of Environmental Resources, over a period of not less than one year, shall conduct a thorough study and an investigation of infectious and chemotherapeutic wastes and prepare a Pennsylvania Infectious and Chemotherapeutic Wastes Plan addressing the following issues:
(1) The determination of present and projected volumes
of infectious and chemotherapeutic wastes which will be
produced in this Commonwealth as well as the market and
demand for importation of such wastes from neighboring states
and facilities for the treatment, storage and disposal of
such wastes.
(2) The adequacy of the present number of facilities in
this Commonwealth for the incineration or other disposal of
infectious or chemotherapeutic wastes and the projected need
for additional commercial facilities, including commercial
incinerators.
(3) The geographical distribution of existing and
currently, or subsequently, proposed commercial facilities
for the incineration or other disposal of infectious or
chemotherapeutic wastes, based on factors such as economic
feasibility, transportation concerns and the proximity of
other waste disposal facilities.
(4) The policy criteria required for siting of
commercial facilities for the incineration or other disposal
of infectious or chemotherapeutic wastes, including material
demand, transportation access and an enforcement strategy
addressing both the in-State and out-of-State sources.
(b) Regulations and standards.--In addition to preparing a comprehensive plan as provided for in subsection (a), the Department of Environmental Resources shall review and revise existing regulations and standards, under section 4, relating to infectious and chemotherapeutic wastes within one year of the effective date of this act and shall propose, under the authority of the act of January 8, 1960 (1959 P.L.2119, No.787), known as the Air Pollution Control Act, or the act of July 7, 1980 (P.L.380, No.97), known as the Solid Waste Management Act, such additional regulations as may be necessary or appropriate to accomplish the purposes of this act. They shall include, but not be limited to:
(1) Regulations governing the collection,
transportation, processing, storage and incineration and
disposal of infectious and chemotherapeutic wastes and the
siting of commercial infectious and chemotherapeutic waste
management facilities.
(2) The best available technology standards for air
quality control of emissions from new onsite facilities and
commercial facilities and reasonably available technology
control standards for air quality control of emissions from
existing onsite facilities and commercial facilities to be
used for the incineration of infectious or chemotherapeutic
wastes.
(3) Regulations governing liability insurance
requirements and emergency planning.
(c) Manifest system.--It is unlawful under the Solid Waste Management Act and this act for a person or municipality who generates, transports, stores, processes or disposes of infectious or chemotherapeutic wastes to fail to use a manifest system required by the department to assure that all infectious and chemotherapeutic wastes generated are designated for processing, storage or disposal facilities approved by the department. The transporter of infectious or chemotherapeutic wastes shall transport the waste to a facility permitted to receive the waste or to an out-of-State facility designated on the manifest.
(d) License for transporters.--It is unlawful under the Solid Waste Management Act and this act for a person or municipality to transport infectious or chemotherapeutic waste unless such person or municipality has first obtained a license from the department. The department may, by regulation, exempt persons or municipalities transporting small quantities of infectious or chemotherapeutic waste from the requirements of this subsection.
(e) Development of plan.--Within 14 months of the effective date of this act, the Department of Environmental Resources shall present the comprehensive plan referred to in subsection (a) to the Environmental Quality Board. This comprehensive plan shall be prepared only after the Department of Environmental Resources has conducted at least one public hearing on the issues to be addressed in the plan.
Compiler's Note: The Department of Environmental Resources,
referred to in this section, was abolished by Act 18 of
1995. Its functions were transferred to the Department of
Conservation and Natural Resources and the Department of
Environmental Protection.