FINAL BILL REPORT

                  SSB 5729

                          C 116 L 99

                      Synopsis as Enacted

Brief Description:  Establishing parameters for solid waste facility locational standards.

Sponsors:  Senate Committee on Environmental Quality & Water Resources (originally sponsored by Senators Rasmussen and Swecker).

Senate Committee on Environmental Quality & Water Resources

Background:  The Department of Ecology (DOE) has adopted Aminimum functional standards@ to describe the performance, design, siting, maintenance, and operating requirements for solid waste landfills.  In 1993, DOE issued its final regulations addressing the minimum functional standards which apply to municipal solid waste landfills.  The minimum functional standards which apply to all other types of landfills are covered by rule under a less stringent standard.  Local health departments may require more stringent measures for landfill facilities in their jurisdiction.

The current minimal functional standards for municipal solid waste landfills include location criteria, construction and liner requirements, operational standards, and ground and surface water monitoring requirements.

Summary:  Stringent siting and design standards are specified for large, above-grade landfills.  These landfills have a design of greater than 100 acres, average more than 100 feet in height above the existing site and are wholly new facilities.  For these facilities, the following new requirements apply:

(1)must be more than five miles from a national park or a public or private nonprofit zoological park displaying native animals in the native habitats;

(2)not allowed over a designated sole source aquifer;

(3)must have an impermeable berm constructed around the landfill, large enough to contain all material inside the landfill.

Votes on Final Passage:

Senate 32 16

House     56 38

Effective:  April 27, 1999