Title 23, Title 23 and Safety

This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the “Hazardous Waste Management Act”.

(a) After the rules and regulations required to be promulgated under this chapter take effect, no person shall construct, substantially alter, or operate any hazardous waste management facility, nor shall any person store, transport, treat, or dispose of any hazardous waste, exce…

The director shall only grant permits to hazardous waste management facilities upon a showing that the facilities are required to manage hazardous waste generated in the state.

The director shall only grant permits to hazardous waste management facilities upon a showing that the facilities are required to manage hazardous waste generated in the state.

(a) The director is authorized to issue emergency permits for the storage, transportation, treatment, or disposal of hazardous waste when the director finds that a situation, if not immediately remediated, presents an imminent hazard to the public health or safety, or to the envi…

(a) Where the application for or compliance with any permit required under this chapter would, in the judgment of the director, and upon presentation by the applicant of adequate proof, cause undue or unreasonable hardship to any person, and that a variance would not be contrary …

No hazardous waste, including septic waste, shall be disposed of in an area overlying an actual, planned, or potential underground drinking water source as described on the ground water maps of the U.S. geological survey and the Rhode Island water resources board, providing the u…

(a) For the purposes of enforcing this chapter or any rule or regulation issued pursuant to this chapter, the director may: (1) Enter any hazardous waste management facility or any place that the director has reason to believe hazardous wastes are generated, stored, treated, or d…

For the purpose of investigating and hearing any application for a permit or renewal of a permit required under this chapter, or in connection with proceedings under § 23-19.1-10(e), the director may employ official stenographers, engineers, chemists, accountants, legal counsel, …

(a) The director may establish reasonable application and renewal fees for permits issued under this chapter to be not less than one hundred dollars ($100) for any vehicle, or to be not less than one thousand dollars ($1,000) for any hazardous waste management facility. (b) Any p…

The superior court for Providence county shall have concurrent jurisdiction to enforce the provisions of this chapter and any rule, regulation, or order issued pursuant to this chapter. Proceedings for enforcement may be instituted and prosecuted in the name of the director, by e…

Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, the director, upon finding that the storage, transportation, treatment, or disposal of any hazardous waste, or any other activity with respect to the wastes, presents an imminent hazard to the public health and safety, or to th…

Any person who shall violate the provisions of this chapter, or of any rule, regulation, or order issued pursuant to this chapter, shall be subject to a civil penalty, of not more than twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000). In the case of a continuing violation, each day’s conti…

(a) It shall be unlawful to willfully, knowingly, and intentionally use, or possess with the intention to so use, any aircraft, vehicle, vessel, draft animal, or other property to transport or dispose hazardous waste in violation of this chapter. Any property used this way may be…

Hazardous waste which has been seized or which is in the possession of law enforcement authorities and which may be used in a criminal prosecution may be destroyed or disposed of as provided in this section: (1) There shall be kept a full and complete record of all hazardous wast…

(a) Unless otherwise specified, any person who shall refuse to obey or who shall knowingly violate, or reasonably should know that he or she is violating, the provisions of an order issued by the director under the provisions of this chapter or any rules or regulations promulgate…

(a) In any case where the court is of the opinion that the sentence should consist of or include the amount of the cost of restoring to its original state the area where hazardous wastes were stored, treated, or disposed of in violation of the provisions of this chapter, the cour…

No person shall be convicted of any offense for any violation of this chapter or any rule or regulation of the department, unless the complaint or warrant for the violation shall have been issued within seven (7) years from the time that the facts constituting the offense or viol…

Any person, firm, or corporation engaged in the business of collecting and/or disposing of hazardous waste, which has been convicted of violating any statute relating to bribery, fraud, or bid-rigging in this state or in any other state in this country, shall for a period of thre…

The Rhode Island general assembly encourages cooperative activities by the department with other states for the improved management of hazardous wastes; for improved, and so far as is practicable, uniform state laws relating to hazardous waste management; and compacts between thi…

The general assembly recognizes and declares that: (1) Continuing technological progress, increases in the amounts of manufacture, and the abatement of air and water pollution have resulted in ever-increasing quantities of hazardous wastes; (2) The environment and the public heal…

The provisions of this chapter shall be interpreted and construed liberally in aid of its declared purpose. If any provision of this chapter, or of any rule or regulation issued under this chapter, is held invalid by a court of competent jurisdiction, the remainder of the chapter…

Nothing in this chapter shall be construed as affecting or in any way invalidating any existing regulatory jurisdiction and authority pursuant to title 39, as amended, of the public utilities commission and the division of public utilities and carriers over motor vehicles, railro…

(a) Any person who shall violate the provisions of this chapter through the transportation, storage, or disposal of hazardous wastes in a manner or location not authorized by this chapter or the rules and regulations promulgated pursuant to this chapter, or who shall have caused …

There is established a separate fund within the general fund to be called the environmental response fund which shall be administered by the general treasurer in accordance with the same laws and fiscal procedures as the general funds of the state. The fund shall consist of any s…

The department of environmental management shall prepare and adopt rules and regulations and establish procedures consistent with the purposes of § 23-19.1-23.

(a) The general treasurer is authorized and empowered, with the approval of the governor and in accordance with the provisions of this chapter, to issue bonds in the name and behalf of the state and in any amounts as may be specified in an amount not to exceed five million dollar…

The general treasurer is directed to deposit the proceeds of the sale of the bonds, including any premium or premiums and any accrued interest which may be received from the sale of these, in one or more of the depositories in which the funds of the state may be lawfully kept, in…

(a) The general treasurer is authorized and empowered, with the approval of the governor, and in accordance with the provisions of this chapter, to borrow upon temporary notes issued in anticipation of the issuance of the bonds in the name and behalf of the state, sums of money f…

The general treasurer is authorized, with the approval of the governor, in the anticipation of the issue of notes or bonds under the authority of this chapter, to advance to the fund, to be used for the purposes specified in § 23-19.1-23, any funds of the state not specifically h…

All bonds and notes issued under the authority of this chapter shall be exempt from taxation in the state and shall be general obligations of the state, and the full faith and credit of the state is pledged for the due payment of the principal and the interest on the bonds and no…

The purposes of this chapter shall be: (1) To protect the environment and the public health and safety from the effects of the improper, inadequate, or unsound management of hazardous wastes; (2) To establish a program of regulation over the storage, transportation, treatment, an…

(a) Any bond or note issued under the authority of this chapter shall be sold at not less than the principal amount of these bonds on any terms and conditions as the general treasurer, with the approval of the governor, shall be deemed to be for the best interest of the state. Th…

All moneys in the fund not immediately required for payment pursuant to the provisions of this chapter may be invested by the state investment commission, as established by chapter 10 of title 35, pursuant to the provisions of chapter 10 of title 35; provided, that the securities…

For the purpose of paying any expenses incurred by the general treasurer in the issuance of the bonds or notes under the authority of this chapter and any interest and any principal becoming payable on the bonds or notes issued under the authority of this chapter and then outstan…

Whenever the director issues a notice of violation and order pursuant to this chapter that disposal of hazardous waste has occurred onto or into real property or in any landfill not permitted under the provisions of this chapter, the director shall cause the notice or a summary o…

No driver shall operate a vehicle hauling hazardous waste as defined in this chapter, unless the driver possesses a valid license of the appropriate class and a hazardous waste driver’s certificate issued by the department of environmental management. Applicants for the certifica…

(a) The department of environmental management shall deny any application for the issuance of a hazardous waste materials driver’s certificate made by an applicant who has been convicted, within the last three (3) years preceding the applicant’s application for the certificate, o…

Violation of § 23-19.1-33 shall cause the suspension of the transporters permit issued pursuant to § 23-19.1-10, until the time as the employer or holder of the transporters permit shall provide the department of environmental management with evidence of certification of the driv…

When used in this chapter: (1) “Department” means the department of environmental management; (2) “Director” means the director of the department of environmental management or the director’s designee; (3) “Disposal” means the discharge, deposit, injection, dumping, spilling, lea…

(a) Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to apply to any discharge which is authorized by a NPDES (national pollutant discharge elimination system) permit under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, 33 U.S.C. § 1251 et seq., or which is authorized under chapter 12 of tit…

(a) The director shall adopt any plans, rules, regulations, procedures, and standards as may be necessary to ensure proper, adequate, and sound hazardous waste management and to protect the health and safety of the public, and the environment from the effects of improper hazardou…

It shall be unlawful for any person to transport hazardous wastes or to receive hazardous wastes from any person within the state without a manifest prepared and maintained in conformity with any requirements that the director by regulation may adopt.

It shall be unlawful for any person to generate, store, transport, treat, or dispose of hazardous wastes within the state of without complying with any requirements that the director by regulation may prescribe for: (1) The establishment of records; (2) The making of reports, the…

It shall be unlawful for any person to generate hazardous wastes within the state without complying with any requirements that the director by regulation may prescribe with respect to the manifest system, and for the containerization and labeling of the hazardous wastes.

The councils of the several cities and towns may make any rules and regulations that they shall deem necessary to regulate and control the construction, location, and maintenance of all places for keeping animals, may provide for the summary removal or reconstruction of these pla…