BILL ANALYSIS
AB 274
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 13, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES
Nancy Skinner, Chair
AB 274 (Portantino) - As Introduced: February 12, 2009
SUBJECT : Solid waste: landfills: closure plans.
SUMMARY : This bill clarifies that financial assurances are
required for the sale of closed landfills.
EXISTING LAW requires:
1)Under Federal Subtitle D regulations, owners and operators of
landfills to conduct postclosure maintenance activities for a
period of 30 years.
2)Under Title 27 of the California Code of Regulations, all
operators of Class II and Class III municipal solid waste
landfills to prepare and file a preliminary closure plan, a
postclosure maintenance plan, and a partial final, or a final
closure plan at time an operator files for a permit or
revisions of project or permit review or renewal.
3)Under the Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989, an owner or
operator of a landfill to submit to the California Integrated
Waste Management Board (CIWMB), the appropriate California
regional water quality control board, and the local
enforcement agency, a closure plan and a postclosure
maintenance plan for the solid waste landfill.
4)An owner or operator of a landfill to submit to CIWMB evidence
of financial ability to provide for closure and postclosure
maintenance contained in the closure and postclosure plans for
the landfill for a minimum of 30 years.
5)On or before January 1, 2008, the CIWMB to conduct a study to
define the conditions and address financial assurance
mechanisms that potentially affect the closure and postclosure
maintenance periods of landfills.
THIS BILL prohibits the owner or operator of a closed solid
waste landfill that is subject to a closure or postclosure
maintenance plan from selling, or offering for sale, any portion
of the landfill unless the purchaser provides evidence of
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ability to meet the financial assurance requirements of the Act
to the satisfaction of CIWMB.
FISCAL EFFECT : This bill has potential, unknown costs to CIWMB
to determine adequate financial assurances for sales of landfill
property. This bill may also result in long-term cost savings
to the state due to decreased liabilities from closed landfill
properties that are sold.
COMMENTS :
Closure is the process during which a landfill is no longer
receiving waste and is being prepared for postclosure
maintenance according to an approved plan and construction
schedule. When a site is closed, it has ceased accepting waste
and has been closed in accordance with applicable statutes,
regulations, and local ordinances in effect at the time.
Closure and postclosure maintenance plans ensure that landfill
closure and postclosure maintenance and the eventual reuse of
disposal sites will conform to state performance standards and
minimum substantive requirements. Common postclosure
maintenance activities include leachate collection and
treatment, groundwater monitoring, inspection and maintenance of
the final landfill cover, and monitoring to ensure that landfill
gases don't migrate off site or into onsite buildings.
According to CIWMB, by the end of this year half of the state's
282 landfills subject to financial assurance requirements will
be closed and entering the postclosure maintenance period. By
2021, the first California landfill could exhaust its required
30-year postclosure maintenance financial assurance
demonstration and the state would enter into an unassured
postclosure maintenance period. While the owner or operator
still maintains the legal requirement to provide for maintenance
and corrective action costs, there is no assurance in place that
the owner or operator will be able to fund landfill costs,
including catastrophic failures. By the middle of this century,
CIWMB estimates that unassured risk of closed landfills will be
more than $600 million.
In November 2007, CIWMB completed a report on financial
assurance risks. The report identified divestiture of landfill
property to a party that is incapable of providing financial
assurances as a significant risk to the state and local
governments. This bill is intended to alleviate this concern by
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ensuring that a purchaser of landfill property provide adequate
financial assurances to cover the postclosure maintenance costs.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Waste Management, Inc. (sponsor)
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Elizabeth MacMillan / NAT. RES. / (916)
319-2092