PRIA, Government Policy, Made Personal

Summary

To get federal approval, a State must put specific things in its solid waste plan. The plan must say what state, local, and regional agencies will do, how federal money will be shared, and how planning will be coordinated. The plan must ban new open dumps and require all solid waste (including waste from other States but not hazardous waste) to be either used for resource recovery or put in sanitary landfills or otherwise handled in an environmentally safe way. It must close or upgrade existing open dumps, give the State the regulatory power needed to carry out the plan, allow governments to sign long-term contracts to supply or run resource-recovery facilities and to sell recovered materials or energy, and include resource conservation and recovery practices along with safe disposal. A State may also choose to add rules about recycled oil. These can encourage government use, ask contractors to use recycled oil, inform the public, and set up a program (including licenses and manifests if needed) so used oil is collected, moved, treated, stored, reused, or disposed without harming health or the environment. Plans filed before October 15, 1980 may be changed later to add these oil rules. States with approved or submitted plans can get federal help if a federal official finds the plan will study whether conservation and recovery facilities are technically and economically feasible, identify legal and economic barriers and recommend fixes, help cities plan projects, coordinate planning, and do analyses like market opportunities, cost comparisons with fossil fuels, transport and storage issues, curbside separation, and other barriers. When deciding the size of waste-to-energy plants, planning must leave room for current and reasonably expected future recycling and recovery needs. Sanitary landfills — regulated disposal sites meeting safety standards. Open dumps — unregulated or unsafe waste sites.

Title 42, §6943

The Public Health and Welfare, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Minimum requirements

In order to be approved under section 6947 of this title, each State plan must comply with the following minimum requirements—

(1)The plan shall identify (in accordance with section 6946(b) of this title) (A) the responsibilities of State, local, and regional authorities in the implementation of the State plan, (B) the distribution of Federal funds to the authorities responsible for development and implementation of the State plan, and (C) the means for coordinating regional planning and implementation under the State plan.

(2)The plan shall, in accordance with section 6944(b) and 6945(a) of this title, prohibit the establishment of new open dumps within the State, and contain requirements that all solid waste (including solid waste originating in other States, but not including hazardous waste) shall be (A) utilized for resource recovery or (B) disposed of in sanitary landfills (within the meaning of section 6944(a) of this title) or otherwise disposed of in an environmentally sound manner.

(3)The plan shall provide for the closing or upgrading of all existing open dumps within the State pursuant to the requirements of section 6945 of this title.

(4)The plan shall provide for the establishment of such State regulatory powers as may be necessary to implement the plan.

(5)The plan shall provide that no State or local government within the State shall be prohibited under State or local law from negotiating and entering into long-term contracts for the supply of solid waste to resource recovery facilities, from entering into long-term contracts for the operation of such facilities, or from securing long-term markets for material and energy recovered from such facilities or for conserving materials or energy by reducing the volume of waste.

(6)The plan shall provide for such resource conservation or recovery and for the disposal of solid waste in sanitary landfills or any combination of practices so as may be necessary to use or dispose of such waste in a manner that is environmentally sound.

(b)Discretionary plan provisions relating to recycled oil

Any State plan submitted under this subchapter may include, at the option of the State, provisions to carry out each of the following:

(1)Encouragement, to the maximum extent feasible and consistent with the protection of the public health and the environment, of the use of recycled oil in all appropriate areas of State and local government.

(2)Encouragement of persons contracting with the State to use recycled oil to the maximum extent feasible, consistent with protection of the public health and the environment.

(3)Informing the public of the uses of recycled oil.

(4)Establishment and implementation of a program (including any necessary licensing of persons and including the use, where appropriate, of manifests) to assure that used oil is collected, transported, treated, stored, reused, and disposed of, in a manner which does not present a hazard to the public health or the environment.

Any plan submitted under this chapter before October 15, 1980, may be amended, at the option of the State, at any time after such date to include any provision referred to in this subsection.

(c)Energy and materials conservation and recovery feasibility planning and assistance

(1)A State which has a plan approved under this subchapter or which has submitted a plan for such approval shall be eligible for assistance under section 6948(a)(3) of this title if the Administrator determines that under such plan the State will—

(A)analyze and determine the economic and technical feasibility of facilities and programs to conserve resources which contribute to the waste stream or to recover energy and materials from municipal waste;

(B)analyze the legal, institutional, and economic impediments to the development of systems and facilities for conservation of energy or materials which contribute to the waste stream or for the recovery of energy and materials from municipal waste and make recommendations to appropriate governmental authorities for overcoming such impediments;

(C)assist municipalities within the State in developing plans, programs, and projects to conserve resources or recover energy and materials from municipal waste; and

(D)coordinate the resource conservation and recovery planning under subparagraph (C).

(2)The analysis referred to in paragraph (1)(A) shall include—

(A)the evaluation of, and establishment of priorities among, market opportunities for industrial and commercial users of all types (including public utilities and industrial parks) to utilize energy and materials recovered from municipal waste;

(B)comparisons of the relative costs of energy recovered from municipal waste in relation to the costs of energy derived from fossil fuels and other sources;

(C)studies of the transportation and storage problems and other problems associated with the development of energy and materials recovery technology, including curbside source separation;

(D)the evaluation and establishment of priorities among ways of conserving energy or materials which contribute to the waste stream;

(E)comparison of the relative total costs between conserving resources and disposing of or recovering such waste; and

(F)studies of impediments to resource conservation or recovery, including business practices, transportation requirements, or storage difficulties.

Such studies and analyses shall also include studies of other sources of solid waste from which energy and materials may be recovered or minimized.

(d)Size of waste-to-energy facilities

Notwithstanding any of the above requirements, it is the intention of this chapter and the planning process developed pursuant to this chapter that in determining the size of the waste-to-energy facility, adequate provision shall be given to the present and reasonably anticipated future needs of the recycling and resource recovery interest within the area encompassed by the planning process.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Codification Another section 5(b) of Pub. L. 96–463 amended section 6948 of this title.

Amendments

1984—Subsecs. (b), (c). Pub. L. 98–616, § 502(h), redesignated the subsec. (b) entitled energy and materials conservation and recovery feasibility planning and assistance, as subsec. (c). Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 98–616, § 301(b), added subsec. (d). 1980—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 96–463, § 5(b), and Pub. L. 96–482, § 32(d)(2), designated existing provisions as subsec. (a). Subsec. (a)(2). Pub. L. 96–482, § 18(a), substituted reference to section 6944(b) and 6945(a) of this title for reference to section 6945(c) of this title. Subsec. (a)(5). Pub. L. 96–482, §§ 18(b), 32(d)(1), substituted “State or local government” for “local government” and required State plan recognition of right to enter into long-term contracts for operation of resource recovery facilities and to secure long-term markets for material and energy recovered from such facilities, and required State plan recognition of right to negotiate long-term contracts and to negotiate and enter into such contracts for conserving materials or energy by reducing the volume of waste. Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 96–463, § 5(b), added subsec. (b) relating to discretionary plan provisions for recycled oil. Pub. L. 96–482, § 32(d)(2), added subsec. (b) relating to energy and materials conservation and recovery feasibility planning and assistance.

§6943 Requirements for Approval of Plans

Summary

Title 42, §6943

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Amendments

Citations & Metadata