MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE

1998 Regular Session

To: Conservation and Water Resources

By: Representative Guice (By Request)

AN ACT TO PROHIBIT THE CONSTRUCTION, ESTABLISHMENT OR OPERATION OF A COMMERCIAL HAZARDOUS WASTE MANAGEMENT FACILITY IN ANY COUNTY OF THIS STATE IF THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS OF THE COUNTY AND THE GOVERNING AUTHORITIES OF EVERY MUNICIPALITY IN THE COUNTY HAVE ADOPTED RESOLUTIONS OPPOSING THE CONSTRUCTION, ESTABLISHMENT OR OPERATION OF THE FACILITY AND IF THE CONSTRUCTION, ESTABLISHMENT OR OPERATION OF THE FACILITY HAS BEEN DISAPPROVED IN THAT COUNTY BY THE COUNTY ELECTORATE IN AN ELECTION HELD FOR SUCH PURPOSES; TO AMEND SECTIONS 49-17-29, 17-17-151, 17-17-153, 17-17-3 AND 17-17-9, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, IN CONFORMITY THERETO; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES 

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

SECTION 1. From and after July 1, 1998, no person may construct, establish or operate a commercial hazardous waste management facility in any county of this state if:

(a) The board of supervisors of the county and the governing authorities of every municipality in the county have adopted resolutions, by unanimous vote, opposing the construction, establishment or operation of a commercial hazardous waste management facility in that county; and

(b) The construction, establishment or operation of such facilities has been disapproved by the county electorate in an election held for such purposes as provided under Section 2 of this act.

SECTION 2. (1) From and after July 1, 1998, any person who intends to construct, establish or operate a commercial hazardous waste management facility shall file written notice of intent with the board of supervisors of the county in which such facility is to be located, and shall describe in sufficient detail the location of the facility, the approximate size of the tract of land to be devoted to the facility, the proximity of such facility to residential property and populated areas, the method and manner by which hazardous waste will be stored, discharged, treated and neutralized, and such other information as the board of supervisors may require to determine generally the effect which such facility will have upon the surrounding community. Each person who files notice of intent with the board of supervisors shall attach to the notice a certified copy of all permits issued to such person by the Permit Board for such operation under Section 49-17-29 or, if no permits have been issued to such person, a certified copy of all applications for permits filed with the Permit Board. The notice, along with all papers and documents filed with the notice, shall be kept on file in the office of the chancery clerk and, upon request of any person, shall be made available for examination and reproduction.

(2) Not later than fifteen (15) days following receipt of any person's notice of intent to construct, establish or operate a commercial hazardous waste management facility in the county, the board of supervisors shall cause such notice of intent to be published once each week for three (3) consecutive weeks in some newspaper having a general circulation in the county. The publication shall identify the person who filed the notice of intent, shall describe the property and location where the facility is intended to be operated and shall inform the public where such notice and documents relating thereto may be examined and reproduced.

(3) Upon a petition filed with the board of supervisors and signed by at least twenty percent (20%) or two thousand five hundred (2,500) of the qualified electors of any county, whichever is the lesser, asking for an election to determine whether to prohibit the construction, establishment or operation of commercial hazardous waste management facilities in that county, then an election shall be held throughout the county on such question not more than sixty (60) days following the filing of the petition. Notice of the election shall be published once each week for three (3) consecutive weeks in some newspaper having a general circulation in the county. The election shall be conducted by the county election commissioners in the same manner and according to the same procedure for the holding of special elections. When the results of any such election have been canvassed by the election commissioners of the county, and certified, the construction, establishment or operation of commercial hazardous waste management facilities in that county shall be prohibited if a majority of sixty percent (60%) of the qualified electors who vote in the election vote in favor of prohibiting the construction, establishment or operation of commercial hazardous waste management facilities. If a majority of sixty percent (60%) of the qualified electors who vote in the election vote against prohibiting the construction, establishment or operation of such facilities in the county, then such facilities shall not be prohibited in the county. An election on the question of prohibiting the construction, establishment or operation of commercial hazardous waste management facilities in a county shall not be held in the same county more often than once each five (5) years.

(4) The failure of a county to prohibit the construction, establishment or operation of commercial hazardous waste management facilities in that county shall not be construed to authorize such a facility to be constructed, established or operated without obtaining and complying with all necessary permits issued by the Permit Board or in violation of all applicable state and federal laws and rules and regulations promulgated thereunder.

SECTION 3. Section 49-17-29, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

49-17-29. (1) (a) It is unlawful for any person (i) to cause pollution of the air in the state or to place or cause to be placed any wastes or other products or substances in a location where they are likely to cause pollution of the air; and (ii) to discharge any wastes, products or substances into the air of the state which exceed standards of performance, hazardous air pollutant standards, other emission standards set by the commission, or which reduce the quality of the air below the air quality standards or increments established by the commission or prevent attainment or maintenance of those air quality standards. Any such action is hereby declared to be a public nuisance.

(b) It is unlawful for any person to build, erect, alter, replace, use or operate any equipment which will cause the issuance of air contaminants unless that person holds a permit from the Permit Board, except repairs or maintenance of equipment for which a permit has been previously issued.

(2) (a) It is unlawful for any person (i) to cause pollution of any waters of the state or to place or cause to be placed any wastes in a location where they are likely to cause pollution of any waters of the state; (ii) to discharge any wastes into any waters of the state which reduce the quality of those waters below the water quality standards established therefor by the commission; or (iii) to violate any applicable pretreatment standards or limitations, technology-based effluent limitations, toxic standards or any other limitations established by the commission. Any such action is hereby declared to be a public nuisance.

(b) It is unlawful for any person to carry on any of the following activities unless that person holds a current permit therefor from the Permit Board as may be required for the disposal of all wastes which are or may be discharged into the waters of the state: (i) the construction, installation, modification or operation of any disposal system or part thereof or any extension or addition thereto; (ii) the increase in volume or strength of any wastes in excess of the permissive discharges specified under any existing permit; (iii) the construction, installation or operation of any industrial, commercial or other establishment, including irrigation projects or any extension or modification thereof or addition thereto, the operation of which would cause an increase in the discharge of wastes into the waters of the state or would otherwise alter the physical, chemical or biological properties of any waters of the state in any manner not already lawfully authorized; (iv) the construction or use of any new outlet for the discharge of any wastes into the waters of the state.

(3) (a) Except as otherwise provided in this subsection, the Permit Board created by Section 49-17-28 shall be the exclusive administrative body to make decisions on permit issuance, denial, modification or revocation of air pollution control and water pollution control permits and permits required under the Solid Wastes Disposal Law of 1974 (Title 17, Chapter 17). Except as otherwise provided in this subsection, the Permit Board, under any conditions that the board may prescribe, may authorize the Executive Director of the Department of Environmental Quality to make decisions on permit issuance, denial, modification or revocation. The executive director shall not be authorized to make decisions on permit issuance, denial, modification or revocation for a commercial hazardous waste management facility or a municipal solid waste landfill or incinerator. A decision by the Executive Director shall be a decision of the Permit Board and shall be subject to formal hearing and appeal as provided in this section. The Executive Director shall report all permit decisions to the Permit Board at its next regularly scheduled meeting and those decisions shall be recorded in the minutes of the Permit Board. The decisions of the Permit Board shall be recorded in minutes of the Permit Board and shall be kept separate and apart from the minutes of the commission. The decision of the Permit Board or the Executive Director to issue, deny, modify or revoke permits shall not be construed to be an order or other action of the commission.

(b) The Executive Director of the Department of Environmental Quality shall also be the Executive Director of the Permit Board and shall have available to him, as Executive Director of the Permit Board, all resources and personnel otherwise available to him as Executive Director of the department.

(c) All persons required to obtain an air pollution control or water pollution control permit or a permit under the Solid Wastes Disposal Law of 1974 (Title 17, Chapter 17) shall make application therefor with the Permit Board. The Permit Board, under any rules and regulations as the board may prescribe, may require the submission of those plans, specifications and other information as it deems necessary to carry out Sections 49-17-1 through 49-17-43 and Title 17, Chapter 17, or to carry out the rules and regulations adopted under those sections. The Permit Board, based upon such information as it deems relevant, shall issue, deny, modify or revoke air pollution control or water pollution control permit or permits required under the Solid Wastes Disposal Law of 1974 (Title 17, Chapter 17) under any conditions as it deems necessary. All permits issued by the Permit Board shall remain in full force and effect until the board makes a final determination regarding any reissuance, modification, or revocation thereof. The Permit Board shall take action upon an application within one hundred eighty (180) days following its receipt in the board's principal office. No action  which affects an existing permit shall take effect until the thirty (30) days mentioned in paragraph (4)(b) of this section has expired or until a formal hearing as prescribed in that paragraph is held, whichever is later. The issuance by the Permit Board of one or more permits to any person for the construction, establishment or operation of a commercial hazardous waste management facility shall not be construed to authorize a facility in any county in which such facilities have been disapproved by the county electorate in an election held for such purposes as provided under Section 2 of this act.

(d)  All hearings in connection with permits issued, denied, modified or revoked and all appeals from decisions of the Permit Board shall be as set forth in this section.

(e) The Permit Board may issue general permits upon any conditions and subject to those procedures for public notice and hearings as provided by law, not inconsistent with federal law and regulations.

(4) (a) Except as required by this section, prior to the issuance, denial, modification or revocation of any air pollution control or water pollution control permit or permit required under the Solid Wastes Disposal Law of 1974 (Title 17, Chapter 17), the Permit Board, in its discretion, may hold a public hearing or meeting to obtain comments from the public on its proposed action.  Prior to the issuance, denial, modification pertaining to the expansion of a facility, transfer or revocation of a permit for a commercial hazardous waste management facility or a commercial municipal solid waste landfill or incinerator, the Permit Board shall conduct a public hearing or meeting to obtain comments from the public on the proposed action. That hearing or meeting shall be informal in nature and conducted under those procedures as the Permit Board may deem appropriate.

(b) Within thirty (30) days after the date the Permit Board takes action upon permit issuance, denial, modification or revocation, as shown on the minutes of the Permit Board, any interested party aggrieved by that action may file a written request for a formal hearing before the Permit Board. An interested party is any person claiming an interest relating to the property or project which is the subject of the permit action, and who is so situated that the person may be affected by the disposition of that action.

The Permit Board shall fix the time and place of the hearing and shall notify the permittee thereof.

In conducting the hearing, the Permit Board shall have the same full powers as to subpoenaing witnesses, administering oaths, examining witnesses under oath and conducting the hearing, as is now vested by law in the Mississippi Public Service Commission, as to the hearings before it, with the additional power that the Executive Director of the Permit Board may issue all subpoenas at the instance of the Permit Board or at the instance of the permittee. Any subpoenas shall be served by any lawful officer in any county to whom the subpoena is directed and return made thereon as provided by law, with the cost of service being paid by the party on whose behalf the subpoena was issued. Witnesses summoned to appear at the hearing shall be entitled to the same per diem and mileage as witnesses attending the circuit court and shall be paid by the person on whose behalf the witness was called. Sufficient sureties for the cost of service of the subpoena and witness fees shall be filed with the Executive Director of the Permit Board at the time that issuance of the subpoena is requested. At a hearing, the permittee may present witnesses and submit evidence and cross-examine witnesses.

The Permit Board may designate a hearing officer to conduct the hearing on all or any part of the issues on behalf of the Permit Board. The hearing officer shall prepare the record of the hearing conducted by that officer for the Permit Board and shall submit findings of fact and recommended decision along with the record to the Permit Board.

Upon conclusion of the formal hearing, the Permit Board shall enter in its minutes the board's final decision affirming, modifying or reversing its prior decision to deny, modify or revoke a permit. That decision shall be final unless an appeal, as provided in this section, is taken to chancery court within twenty (20) days following the date the decision is entered in the board's minutes.

(c) Within twenty (20) days after the date the Permit Board takes action upon permit issuance as shown on minutes of the Permit Board, any person aggrieved of that action may appeal the action as set forth in subsection (5) of this section.

(5) (a) Appeals from any decision or action of the Permit Board shall be only to chancery court as provided in this subsection.

(b) Any person who is aggrieved by any final decision of the Permit Board issuing, denying, revoking or modifying may appeal that such final decision to the chancery court of the county of the situs in whole or in part of the subject matter. The appellant shall give a cost bond with sufficient sureties, payable to the state in the sum of not less than One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) nor more than Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00), to be fixed by the Permit Board and to be filed with and approved by the Executive Director of the Permit Board, who shall forthwith certify the filing of the bond together with a certified copy of the record of the Permit Board in the matter to the chancery court to which the appeal is taken, which shall thereupon become the record of the cause. An appeal to the chancery court as provided herein shall not stay the decision of the Permit Board. The aggrieved party may, within twenty (20) days following the date the final decision is entered on the board's minutes, petition the chancery court for an appeal with supersedeas and the chancellor shall grant a hearing on that petition. Upon good cause shown the chancellor may grant that appeal with supersedeas. If granted, the appellant shall be required to post a bond with sufficient sureties according to law in an amount to be determined by the chancellor. Appeals shall be considered only upon the record as made before the Permit Board. The chancery court shall always be deemed open for hearing of an appeal and the chancellor may hear the same in termtime or in vacation at any place in his district, and the appeal shall have precedence over all civil cases, except election contests. The chancery court shall review all questions of law and of fact. If no prejudicial error is found, the matter shall be affirmed. If prejudicial error is found the decision of the board shall be reversed and the chancery court shall remand the matter to the Permit Board for appropriate action as may be indicated or necessary under the circumstances. Appeals may be taken from the chancery court to the Supreme Court in the manner as now required by law, except that if a supersedeas is desired by the party appealing to the chancery court, that party may apply therefor to the chancellor thereof, who shall award a writ of supersedeas, without additional bond, if in the chancellor's judgment material damage is not likely to result thereby; but otherwise, the chancellor shall require a supersedeas bond as the chancellor deems proper, which shall be liable to the state for any damage.

SECTION 4. Section 17-17-151, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

17-17-151. (1) Each application for the issuance of 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. Applications for the reissuance, transfer or modification of previously issued permits, except modifications seeking an increase in the volume of hazardous waste to be managed on an annual basis, shall not be subject to the requirements of this section.

(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) No commercial hazardous waste management facility may be constructed or operated in any county which has disapproved such a facility under Section 1 of this act. 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 5. Section 17-17-153, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

17-17-153. (1) The Legislature finds that:

(a) The beauty and quality of Mississippi's environment and the public health, safety and welfare of the citizens of the State of Mississippi must be protected from unsound waste management practices which might result from lack of access to proper hazardous waste management facilities.

(b) Inefficient and improper methods of managing waste create hazards to public health, cause pollution of the lands, air and water resources, and constitute a waste of natural resources.

(c) It is the policy of the State of Mississippi that the generation of waste should be reduced or eliminated at the source, whenever feasible; waste that is generated should be recycled or reused, whenever feasible; waste that cannot be reduced, recycled or reused should be treated in an environmentally safe manner; and disposal should be employed only as a last resort and should be conducted in an environmentally safe manner.

(d) It is a requirement under Section 104(c)(9) of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act of 1980, Pub. L. No. 96-510, 94 Stat. 2767, 42 U.S.C. 9601 et seq., as amended, and the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986, Pub. L. No. 99-499, 100 Stat. 1613, as amended, as a condition of receiving nonemergency federal remedial action funding after October 17, 1989, that each state assure that it has adequate capacity to manage the hazardous waste generated in the state and expected to be generated in the state for the next twenty (20) years.

(e) In response to the federal requirement for hazardous waste capacity assurance, the State of Mississippi has developed and submitted its Capacity Assurance Plan to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The Capacity Assurance Plan sets out the state's need with respect to the types of hazardous waste management required by the state and the proposal for siting needed facilities.

(2) It is the intent of the Legislature that facilities must be sited as needed for the management of hazardous waste to meet the needs of Mississippi generators, and allow maximum effective use of regional hazardous waste management facilities, provided that such facilities have not been disapproved in a county under Section 1 of this act. 

SECTION 6. Section 17-17-3, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

17-17-3. For purposes of this chapter, the following words shall have the definitions ascribed herein unless the context requires otherwise:

(a) "Agency" means any controlling agency, public or private, elected, appointed or volunteer, controlling and supervising the collection and/or disposal of solid wastes.

(b) "Ashes" means the solid residue from burning of wood, coal, coke or other combustible materials used for heating, or from incineration of solid wastes, but excepting solid residue the storage or disposition of which is controlled by other agencies.

(c) "Commercial hazardous waste management facility" means any facility engaged in the storage, treatment, recovery or disposal of hazardous waste for a fee and which accepts hazardous waste from more than one (1) generator. A facility (i) which is designed principally for treatment of aqueous hazardous wastes and residue; and (ii) which is situated within an industrial park or area; and (iii) which disposes of no hazardous waste within the State of Mississippi shall not constitute a commercial hazardous waste management facility for purposes of Section 17-17-151(3)(a) only. Any commercial hazardous waste management facility situated within the State of Mississippi shall be constructed and operated in accordance with Section 1 of this act.

(d) "Commercial nonhazardous solid waste management facility" means any facility engaged in the storage, treatment, processing or disposal of nonhazardous solid waste for compensation or which accepts nonhazardous solid waste from more than one (1) generator not owned by the facility owner.

(e) "Commercial oil field exploration and production waste disposal" means storage, treatment, recovery, processing, disposal or acceptance of oil field exploration and production waste from more than one (1) generator or for a fee.

(f) "Commercial purpose" means for the purpose of economic gain.

(g) "Commission" means the Mississippi Commission on Environmental Quality.

(h) "Composting or compost plant" means an officially controlled method or operation whereby putrescible solid wastes are broken down through microbic action to a material offering no hazard or nuisance factors to public health or well-being.

(i) "Department" means the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality.

(j) "Disposal" means the discharge, deposit, injection, dumping, spilling, leaking or placing of any solid waste or hazardous waste into or on any land or water so that such solid waste or hazardous waste or any constituent thereof may enter the environment or be emitted into the air or discharged into any waters, including groundwaters.

(k) "Executive director" means the Executive Director of the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality.

(l) "Garbage" means putrescible animal and vegetable wastes resulting from the handling, preparation, cooking and consumption of food, including wastes from markets, storage facilities, handling and sale of produce and other food products, and excepting such materials that may be serviced by garbage grinders and handled as household sewage.

(m) "Hazardous wastes" means any waste or combination of waste of a solid, liquid, contained gaseous, or semisolid form which because of its quantity, concentration or physical, chemical or infectious characteristics, may (i) cause, or significantly contribute to an increase in mortality or an increase in serious irreversible or incapacitating reversible illness; or (ii) pose a substantial present or potential hazard to human health or the environment when improperly treated, stored, transported, disposed of, or otherwise managed which are listed by the Environmental Protection Agency as hazardous wastes which exceed the threshold limits set forth in the Environmental Protection Agency regulations for classifying hazardous waste. Such wastes include, but are not limited to, those wastes which are toxic, corrosive, flammable, irritants, strong sensitizers, or which generate pressure through decomposition, heat or other means. Such wastes do not include those radioactive materials regulated pursuant to the Mississippi Radiation Protection Law of 1976, appearing in Section 45-14-1 et seq.

(n) "Hazardous waste management" means the systematic control of the collection, source separation, storage, transportation, processing, treatment, recovery and disposal of hazardous waste.

(o) "Head" means the head of the Office of Pollution Control of the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality or his designee.

(p) "Health department" means the Mississippi State Health Department and every county or district health department. "Health officer" means the state or affected county health officer or his designee.

(q) "Manifest" means the form used for identifying the quantity, composition, origin, routing and destination of hazardous waste during its transport.

(r) "Office" means the Office of Pollution Control of the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality.

(s) "Open dump" means any officially recognized place, land or building which serves as a final depository for solid wastes, whether or not burned or buried, which does not meet the minimum requirements for a sanitary landfill, except approved incinerators, compost plants and salvage yards.

(t) "Permit board" means the permit board created by Section 49-17-28.

(u) "Person" means any individual, trust, firm, joint-stock company, public or private corporation (including a government corporation), partnership, association, state, or any agency or institution thereof, municipality, commission, political subdivision of a state or any interstate body, and includes any officer or governing or managing body of any municipality, political subdivision, or the United States or any officer or employee thereof.

(v) "Pollution Emergency Fund" means the fund created under Section 49-17-68.

(w) "Rubbish" means nonputrescible solid wastes (excluding ashes) consisting of both combustible and noncombustible wastes. Combustible rubbish includes paper, rags, cartons, wood, furniture, rubber, plastics, yard trimmings, leaves and similar materials. Noncombustible rubbish includes glass, crockery, metal cans, metal furniture and like materials which will not burn at ordinary incinerator temperatures (not less than 1600 degrees F.).

(x) "Sanitary landfill" means a controlled area of land upon which solid waste is deposited, and is compacted and covered with no on-site burning of wastes, and so located, contoured, drained and operated so that it will not cause an adverse effect on public health or the environment.

(y) "Solid wastes" means any garbage, refuse, sludge from a waste treatment plant, water supply treatment plant or air pollution control facility and other discarded material, including solid, liquid, semisolid or contained gaseous material resulting from industrial, commercial, mining and agricultural operations, and from community activities, but does not include solid or dissolved material in domestic sewage, or solid or dissolved materials in irrigation return flows or industrial discharges which are point sources subject to permits under Section 402 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, as amended (86 Stat. 880), or source, special nuclear or by-product material as defined by the Atomic Energy Act of 1954.

(z) "Storage" means the containment of wastes, either on a temporary basis or for a period of years, except as provided in 40 C.F.R. 263.12, in such a manner as not to constitute disposal of such wastes.

(aa) "Transport" means the movement of wastes from the point of generation to any intermediate points, and finally to the point of ultimate storage or disposal.

(bb) "Treatment" means any method, technique or process, including neutralization, designed to change the physical, chemical or biological character or composition of any solid waste in order to neutralize such character or composition of any solid waste, neutralize such waste or render such waste, safer for transport, amenable for recovery, amenable for storage or reduced in volume.

(cc) "Treatment facility" means a location at which waste is subjected to treatment and may include a facility where waste has been generated.

(dd) "Unauthorized dump" means any collection of solid wastes either dumped or caused to be dumped or placed on any property either public or private, whether or not regularly used. An abandoned automobile, large appliance, or similar large item of solid waste shall be considered as forming an unauthorized dump within the meaning of this chapter, but not the careless, scattered littering of smaller individual items as tires, bottles, cans and the like. An unauthorized dump shall also mean any solid waste disposal site which does not meet the regulatory provisions of this chapter.

SECTION 7. Section 17-17-9, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

17-17-9. No garbage, or rubbish containing garbage or other putrescible materials, or hazardous wastes shall be burned except in approved incinerators meeting the necessary temperature requirements and air pollution controls as now established or may later be established. Any incinerator engaged in the disposal of commercial hazardous wastes shall be constructed and operated in accordance with Section 1 of this act. The open burning of rubbish shall be permitted only under controlled circumstances where sanitary landfill and landfill is not feasible, and not in proximity to sanitary landfill or landfill operations where spread of fire to these operations may be a hazard in the opinion of the controlling agency.

SECTION 8. The Attorney General of the State of Mississippi shall submit this act, immediately upon approval by the Governor, or upon approval by the Legislature subsequent to a veto, to the Attorney General of the United States or to the United States District Court for the District of Columbia in accordance with the provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, as amended and extended.

SECTION 9. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 1998, or the date it is effectuated under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, as amended and extended, whichever date is later.