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           ENGROSSED SECOND SUBSTITUTE SENATE BILL 5730

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State of Washington      56th Legislature     1999 Regular Session

By Senate Committee on Ways & Means (originally sponsored by Senators Rasmussen and Swecker)

Read first time 03/08/1999.

Changing financial responsibility requirements for operators of solid waste landfills. 

    AN ACT Relating to financial responsibility requirements for operators of solid waste landfills; amending RCW 70.95.215; and declaring an emergency.

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

    Sec. 1.  RCW 70.95.215 and 1985 c 436 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:

    (1) ((By July 1, 1987,)) Each holder or applicant of a permit for a landfill disposal facility issued under this chapter shall establish a reserve account to cover the costs of closing the facility in accordance with state and federal regulations.  The account shall be designed to ensure that there will be adequate revenue available by the projected date of closure.  Landfill disposal facilities maintained on private property for the sole use of the entity owning the site shall not be required to establish a reserve account if, to the satisfaction of the department, they provide another form of financial assurance adequate to comply with the requirements of this section.

    (2) ((By July 1, 1986,)) The department shall adopt rules ((under chapter 34.05 RCW)) to implement subsection (1) of this section.  The rules shall include but not be limited to:

    (a) Methods to estimate closure costs, including postclosure monitoring, pollution prevention measures, and any other procedures required under state and federal regulations;

    (b) Methods to ensure that reserve accounts receive adequate funds, including:

    (i) Requirements that the reserve account be generated by user fees.  However, the department may waive this requirement for existing landfills if user fees would be prohibitively high;

    (ii) Requirements that moneys be placed in the reserve account on a regular basis and that the reserve account be kept separate from all other accounts; and

    (iii) Procedures for the department to verify that adequate sums are deposited in the reserve account; and

    (c) Methods to ensure that other types of financial assurance provided in accordance with subsection (1) of this section are adequate to cover the costs of closing the facility.

(3) In addition to the reserve account required under subsections (1) and (2) of this section, each holder or applicant for a new, above-ground landfill disposal facility shall demonstrate sufficient financial capability in the form of a surety bond to provide for any temporary or permanent facility clean up and closure due to any unforeseen emergency event including, but not limited to, a geologic or weather-related event or fire, that results in a breach of integrity of the landfill.  This financial assurance requirement shall be incorporated as a condition of the permit issued for the facility by the jurisdictional health department.  The condition shall be jointly reviewed and approved by the department of ecology and the jurisdictional health department.

For purposes of this subsection, new, above-ground landfill disposal facilities are those:  (a) That as designed and when completed will exceed one hundred acres; (b) whose horizontal height at design capacity averages one hundred feet or more above existing site elevations; and (c) no part or unit of which has had construction commence before the effective date of this section.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2.  This act is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety, or support of the state government and its existing public institutions, and takes effect immediately.

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