AN ACT Relating to priority management of hazardous waste; amending RCW 70.105.010 and 70.105.180; adding new sections to chapter 70.105 RCW; and providing an effective date.

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

Sec. 1. Section 1, chapter 101, Laws of 1975-'76 2nd ex. sess. as last amended by section 1, chapter 488, Laws of 1987 and RCW 70.105.010 are each amended to read as follows:

The words and phrases defined in this section shall have the meanings indicated when used in this chapter unless the context clearly requires otherwise.

(1) "Department" means the department of ecology.

(2) "Director" means the director of the department of ecology or his designee.

(3) "Disposal site" means a geographical site in or upon which hazardous wastes are disposed of in accordance with the provisions of this chapter.

(4) "Dispose or disposal" means the discarding or abandoning of hazardous wastes or the treatment, decontamination, or recycling of such wastes once they have been discarded or abandoned.

(5) "Dangerous wastes" means any discarded, useless, unwanted, or abandoned substances, including but not limited to certain pesticides, or any residues or containers of such substances which are disposed of in such quantity or concentration as to pose a substantial present or potential hazard to human health, wildlife, or the environment because such wastes or constituents or combinations of such wastes:

(a) Have short-lived, toxic properties that may cause death, injury, or illness or have mutagenic, teratogenic, or carcinogenic properties; or

(b) Are corrosive, explosive, flammable, or may generate pressure through decomposition or other means.

(6) "Extremely hazardous waste" means any dangerous waste which

(a) will persist in a hazardous form for several years or more at a disposal site and which in its persistent form

(i) presents a significant environmental hazard and may be concentrated by living organisms through a food chain or may affect the genetic make-up of man or wildlife, and

(ii) is highly toxic to man or wildlife

(b) if disposed of at a disposal site in such quantities as would present an extreme hazard to man or the environment.

(7) "Person" means any person, firm, association, county, public or municipal or private corporation, agency, or other entity whatsoever.

(8) "Pesticide" shall have the meaning of the term as defined in RCW 15.58.030 as now or hereafter amended.

(9) "Solid waste advisory committee" means the same advisory committee as per RCW 70.95.040 through 70.95.070.

(10) "Designated zone facility" means any facility that requires an interim or final status permit under rules adopted under this chapter and that is not a preempted facility as defined in this section.

(11) "Facility" means all contiguous land and structures, other appurtenances, and improvements on the land used for recycling, storing, treating, incinerating, or disposing of hazardous waste.

(12) "Preempted facility" means any facility that includes as a significant part of its activities any of the following operations: (a) Landfill, (b) incineration, (c) land treatment, (d) surface impoundment to be closed as a landfill, or (e) waste pile to be closed as a landfill.

(13) "Hazardous household substances" means those substances identified by the department as hazardous household substances in the guidelines developed under RCW 70.105.220.

(14) "Hazardous substances" means any liquid, solid, gas, or sludge, including any material, substance, product, commodity, or waste, regardless of quantity, that exhibits any of the characteristics or criteria of hazardous waste as described in rules adopted under this chapter.

(15) "Hazardous waste" means and includes all dangerous and extremely hazardous waste, including substances composed of radioactive and hazardous components.

(16) "Local government" means a city, town, or county.

(17) "Moderate-risk waste" means (a) any waste that exhibits any of the properties of hazardous waste but is exempt from regulation under this chapter solely because the waste is generated in quantities below the threshold for regulation, and (b) any household wastes which are generated from the disposal of substances identified by the department as hazardous household substances. (18) "Land disposal" means placement of hazardous waste in a facility or on the land with the intent of leaving the hazardous waste at closure and includes, but is not limited to, placement for disposal purposes in a: Landfill; surface impoundment; waste pile; injection well; land treatment facility; salt dome or salt bed formation; underground cave or mine; or concrete vault or bunker.

(19) "Leachable inorganic waste" means those solid hazardous wastes that are not organic/carbonaceous waste and that fail the environmental protection toxicity test methods established by rule under this chapter.

(20) "Organic/carbonaceous waste" means a hazardous waste that contains combined concentrations of greater than ten percent organic/carbonaceous constituents in the waste. Organic/carbonaceous constituents are those substances that contain carbon-hydrogen, carbon-halogen, or carbon-carbon chemical bonding.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. A new section is added to chapter 70.105 RCW to read as follows:

(1) A land disposal fee is imposed and shall be collected by the department of ecology. The land disposal fee shall be assessed to:

(a) Every person who consigns organic/carbonaceous waste or leachable organic waste to land disposal; and

(b) Every owner/operator of a land disposal facility who conducts land disposal of organic/carbonaceous waste or leachable inorganic waste.

The land disposal fee may be assessed to the same person under (a) or (b) of this subsection only one time for a particular waste.

(2) The fee imposed by this section is due and payable on June 30th of each year and shall cover the land disposal of organic/carbonaceous waste and leachable inorganic waste during the previous calendar year. The department of ecology shall allow at least thirty days between the date the fee is assessed and the date the fee is due. The land disposal fee shall be assessed according to the following rates:

(a) For leachable inorganic waste, twenty dollars for each ton committed to land disposal;

(b) For organic/carbonaceous waste that is dangerous waste only, one hundred dollars for each ton committed to land disposal;

(c) For organic/carbonaceous waste that is extremely hazardous waste, three hundred dollars for each ton committed to land disposal;

(d) For labpacks that contain organic/carbonaceous waste or leachable inorganic waste, one dollar for each labpack committed to land disposal.

The land disposal fee shall be prorated for each portion of waste that is less than one ton.

(3) The department of ecology shall adopt by rule procedures for assessing the land disposal fee, calculating prorated fees, and granting waivers from the land disposal fee. The department may grant waivers from the land disposal fee as follows:

(a) To encourage the hazardous waste management priorities established in RCW 70.105.150;

(b) To encourage research into alternatives to land disposal. Up to seventy-five percent of a person's assessed land disposal fee may be waived if that person can show that he or she has expended research money to develop or implement alternatives to land disposal for hazardous wastes subject to the land disposal fee. A person seeking this waiver is responsible for demonstrating that the expenditures are directly related to land disposal alternatives, and that good cost accounting practices have been used;

(c) To encourage stabilization of leachable inorganic wastes. Up to one hundred percent of a person's assessed leachable inorganic waste land disposal fee may be waived if that person can show that the leachable inorganic waste has been stabilized prior to land disposal. Only those leachable inorganic wastes that have actually been subjected to stabilization processes prior to land disposal may qualify for inclusion under this waiver. The department may prorate the amount of the waiver depending on the degree of stabilization achieved and the effectiveness of the stabilization procedures used. A person seeking this waiver is responsible for demonstrating that stabilization of the leachable inorganic waste has been conducted and the degree and effectiveness of stabilization that has been achieved;

(d) When waste management alternatives to land disposal do not exist. Waivers from the land disposal fee may be granted to any person who can show that no waste management alternatives identified in RCW 70.105.150 to land disposal existed at the time that the waste was consigned to land disposal. A person seeking this waiver must demonstrate that no alternative to land disposal existed and cannot depend on demonstrating that although an alternative existed it was not available. A waiver will not be granted if the department determines that an alternative described in RCW 70.105.150 existed but was not used because it was not available.

Sec. 3. Section 4, chapter 70, Laws of 1983 1st ex. sess. as amended by section 70, chapter 57, Laws of 1985 and RCW 70.105.180 are each amended to read as follows:

All fines , land disposal fees, and penalties collected under this chapter shall be deposited in the hazardous waste control and elimination account, which is hereby created in the state treasury. Moneys in the account collected from fines, land disposal fees, and penalties shall be expended exclusively by the department of ecology for the purposes of this act, subject to legislative appropriation. Other sources of funds deposited in this account may also be used for the purposes of this act. All earnings of investments of balances in the hazardous waste control and elimination account shall be credited to the general fund.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. A new section is added to chapter 70.105 RCW to read as follows:

(1) The land disposal fee required by section 2 of this act, when due and payable, shall bear interest at the rate of nine percent per annum for each month (or portion thereof) that the fee is not paid.

(2) The department of ecology may levy civil penalties in the amount of up to five hundred dollars for each day fees and interest due and owing under section 2 of this act and this section are unpaid. The procedures relating to levying and collection of penalties set forth in RCW 90.48.144 shall be applied to penalties levied under this section. Moneys collected under this section shall be placed in the hazardous waste control and elimination account.

(3) The attorney general is authorized to initiate such actions in the courts as are necessary and appropriate to insure compliance with the provisions of this act.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 5. A new section is added to chapter 70.105 RCW to read as follows:

Any person aggrieved by a determination of the department of ecology pertaining to the land disposal fee imposed under section 2 of this act may obtain review thereof by the pollution control hearings board in the same manner as review may be obtained of permits issued by the department pursuant to RCW 90.48.160, if a petition requesting review is filed with the board within thirty days of the day of service of the statement of fees due. There shall be no increase in an amount set forth in a statement, as provided in section 4 of this act, during any period of time when a review proceeding is pending before the board or a reviewing court. This section shall have no applicability to the adoption of rules by the department pursuant to section 2 of this act.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 6. This act shall take effect July 1, 1988. The department of ecology shall adopt such rules as are necessary to ensure that this act is implemented on its effective date. The rules shall provide for prorated fees under section 2 of this act for the portion of the 1988 calendar year for which fees are due on June 30, 1989.