MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE

1997 Regular Session

To: Environment Prot, Cons and Water Res

By: Senator(s) Robertson

Senate Bill 2566

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 17-17-151, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO IMPOSE A MORATORIUM ON THE ISSUANCE OF A PERMIT FOR CERTAIN NEW COMMERCIAL HAZARDOUS WASTE MANAGEMENT FACILITIES; TO MAKE TECHNICAL REVISIONS; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES. 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:

SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares that it is in the public interest to ensure the public health, safety and welfare by establishing prudent standards for the siting of hazardous waste management facilities. The Legislature further finds and declares that the Capacity Assurance Plan process which was the cornerstone for a rational, reasonable and prudent policy for the management of hazardous wastes and the siting of hazardous waste management facilities has been negated by state court decisions and subsequent federal findings on national capacity. Conformance with the Capacity Assurance Plan was the first of five (5) factors to be considered by the permit board when evaluating the need for a proposed hazardous waste management facility. The Capacity Assurance Plans have been invalidated by the state courts and the United States Environmental Protection Agency has declared that there is adequate national capacity in all hazardous waste management categories for twenty (20) years. The Legislature further finds and declares that to ensure Mississippi's hazardous waste management capacity and siting standards meet the needs of state and national capacity requirements; to develop a coordinated and comprehensive hazardous waste management policy; to prevent a proliferation of unnecessary hazardous waste management facilities and to give the department of environmental quality and the legislature time to develop adequate standards to replace the capacity assurance plan process, there is a need to place a moratorium on the siting and issuance of permits for new commercial hazardous waste management facilities.

SECTION 2. Section 17-17-151, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

17-17-151. (1) Each application for a permit to operate a commercial hazardous waste management facility shall be accompanied by a demonstration of need for that facility in the anticipated service area, which shall be of the form and content as the Permit Board may prescribe.

(2) The demonstration of need shall be specific as to the types of hazardous waste to be managed and shall include, but not be limited to:

(a) Documentation of the available capacity at existing commercial hazardous waste management facilities in the area to be served by the facility;

(b) Documentation of the current volume of hazardous waste generated in the area to be served by the facility and the volume of hazardous waste reasonably expected to be generated in the area to be served over the next twenty (20) years; and

(c) A description of any additional factors, such as physical limitations on the transportation of the hazardous waste or the existence of additional capacity outside the area to be served which may satisfy the projected need.

(3) The Permit Board shall consider the following factors in evaluating the need for the proposed facility:

(a) The extent to which the proposed commercial hazardous waste management facility is in conformance with the Mississippi Capacity Assurance Plan and any interstate or regional agreements associated therewith;

(b) An approximate service area for the proposed facility which takes into account the economics of hazardous waste collection, transportation, treatment, storage and disposal;

(c) The quantity of hazardous waste generated within the anticipated service area suitable for treatment, storage or disposal at the proposed facility;

(d) The design capacity of existing commercial hazardous waste management facilities located within the anticipated service area of the proposed facility; and

(e) The extent to which the proposed facility is needed to replace other facilities, if the need for a proposed commercial hazardous waste management facility cannot be established under paragraphs (a) through (d).

(4) Based on the needs of the State of Mississippi, it is the intent of the Legislature that there shall not be a proliferation of unnecessary facilities in any one (1) county of the state.

(5) If the Permit Board determines that a proposed commercial hazardous waste management facility is inconsistent with or contradictory to the factors set forth in subsection (3), the Permit Board is hereby empowered to deny any permit for such facility.

(6) Because the Environmental Protection Agency is formulating a National Capacity Assurance Plan determining the adequacy of national capacity in all hazardous waste management categories and the need, if any, for additional hazardous waste management facilities, the Permit Board shall not issue a permit for a new commercial hazardous waste management facility for the management categories of the treatment of aqueous hazardous waste or the disposal by incineration or landfilling until the Environmental Protection Agency specifies in the National Capacity Assurance Plan that insufficient national capacity exists for such categories and designates Mississippi as a capacity shortfall state in one or more of these categories in order to ensure that any proposed commercial hazardous waste management shall be in conformance with the needs in the National Capacity Assurance Plan.

(7) The commission shall develop and adopt criteria and standards to be considered in location and permitting of commercial hazardous waste management facilities * * *. The standards and criteria shall be developed through public participation, shall be enforced by the Permit Board and shall include, in addition to all applicable state and federal rules and regulations, consideration of:

(a) Hydrological and geological factors such as flood plains, depth to water table, soil composition and permeability, cavernous bedrock, seismic activity, and slope;

(b) Natural resource factors such as wetlands, endangered species habitats, proximity to parks, forests, wilderness areas and historical sites, and air quality;

(c) Land use factors such as local land use, whether residential, industrial, commercial, recreational or agricultural, proximity to public water supplies, and proximity to incompatible structures such as schools, churches and airports;

(d) Transportation factors, such as proximity to waste generators and to population, route safety and method of transportation; and

(e) Aesthetic factors such as the visibility, appearance and noise level of the facility.

SECTION 3. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage.