A.
Applicability. This Chapter applies to solid waste disposal
facilities landfilling municipal solid waste, special waste,
construction/demolition debris, land clearing debris, and wood wastes, and
permit-by-rule facilities disposing of cull potatoes. A license is required to
locate, establish, construct, and operate any new landfill facility site, or to
alter an existing landfill facility site, pursuant to 06-096 CMR ch. 400 and
this Chapter.
Construction/demolition debris, land clearing debris, and
wood waste landfills meeting the standards and requirements of section 7 need
only meet and may be licensed under the requirements of section 7. Cull potato
disposal facilities may be eligible for a permit-by-rule to the extent that the
standards of section 8 are met. All other landfills are subject to the
requirements of sections 1-6.
B.
Two Stage Process for Licensing
Landfills. The licensing of new landfills or expansions of existing
landfills under the provisions of sections 1-6 of this Chapter occurs in two
stages: a "Preliminary Information Report" (PIR) and an application. This
two-staged process allows the applicant and the Department to work
interactively to ensure that the site assessment work is adequate to determine
whether or not the facility will pose an unreasonable threat to ground and
surface water or to public health and safety, and that the engineering design
is developed based on the site characteristics identified during the site
assessment. The PIR must demonstrate that prohibitive siting criteria are not
violated in the area proposed for landfill development.
C.
Performance Standards and Siting
Criteria
(1)
Performance
Standards. Applicants for new or expanded landfill licenses or
amendments to an existing landfill license, must demonstrate that the landfill
will be sited, designed, constructed, operated, and closed to meet the
standards in 06-096 CMR ch. 400, section 4 and the following:
(a) Landfills may not contaminate ground
water outside the solid waste boundary;
(b) Landfills with waste handling areas that
are located within 10,000 feet of any airport runway used by turbojet aircraft
or within 5000 feet of any airport runway used by piston-type aircraft only
must demonstrate that the landfill will be designed and operated so that the
landfill does not pose a bird hazard to aircraft;
(c) Time of travel to sensitive receptors
from the bottom of the landfill and leachate pond liner systems must be greater
than 6 years including any offsets gained through the use of improvement
allowances pursuant to section 2.D(2). Time of travel to sensitive receptors
from leachate storage structures and pump stations must be greater than 3
years;
(d) Contaminant releases
from the area within the solid waste boundary must not pose an unreasonable
threat to sensitive receptors; and
(e) At facilities where ground water
monitoring is anticipated or is being conducted, the disturbance of soil
material must not affect the ability to monitor water quality at the facility
site.
(2)
Prohibitive Siting Criteria. To protect public health, safety, and
the environment, the locations listed below are not suitable for siting new
landfills or expansions of existing landfills. Variances from these siting
prohibitions will not be granted.
(a) The
waste handling area must not be located within 1000 feet of Class AA or Class
SA waters, as defined in 38 M.R.S.A. §§ 465 and 465-B.
(b) The area within the solid waste boundary
must not lie over or be within 300 feet of a significant sand and gravel
aquifer.
(c) The area within the
solid waste boundary must not be located within 200 feet of a fault that has
had displacement in Holocene time.
(d) The facility site must not be located in,
on, or over a coastal sand dune system, coastal wetland, or fragile mountain
area, as these terms are defined in 38 M.R.S.A. §480-B.
(3)
Restrictive Siting
Criteria. The siting criteria listed below apply to siting new landfills
or expansions of existing landfills unless the applicant or licensee receives a
variance in accordance with 06-096 CMR ch. 400, section 13.
(a) The following set-backs must be
maintained:
(i) A minimum 300 foot set-back
between the solid waste boundary and all public roads;
(ii) A minimum 300 foot set-back between the
solid waste boundary and the property boundary;
(iii) A minimum 1000 foot set-back between
the solid waste boundary and the nearest residence not owned by the applicant
at the time the application is filed with the Department;
(iv) A minimum 100 foot setback between the
solid waste boundary and stratified sand and gravel deposits that are capable
of providing sufficient water for domestic use or are a contaminant migration
pathway to a significant ground water aquifer, a significant sand and gravel
aquifer, a fractured bedrock aquifer, or a surface water body;
(v) A minimum 100 foot setback between the
waste handling area and classified surface water; and
(vi) A minimum 1000 foot setback between the
solid waste boundary and any water supply spring at the time the Preliminary
Information Report is filed with the Department.
(vii) A minimum 1000 foot setback between the
solid waste boundary and any water supply well not owned by the applicant at
the time the Preliminary Information Report is filed with the
Department.
(b) The area
within the solid waste boundary must be located on soils that contain
sufficient fines and clay-size particles to minimize infiltration of leachate.
The in-situ soils must have an undisturbed hydraulic conductivity less than or
equal to 1 x 10-5 cm/sec.
(c) The
landfill and leachate storage ponds must be located so that site
characterization monitoring, detection monitoring, and
assessment monitoringcan be conducted. (See 06-096 CMR ch. 405 for detailed
monitoring requirements)
(d) The
waste handling areamay not be located on a 100-year flood plain.
(e) A waste handling area may not overlie an
unstable area.
(f) The facility
site must not be located in, on, or over a significant wildlife habitat, as
this term is defined in 38 M.R.S.A. §480-B.
D.
General Requirements. The
applicant must comply with the following requirements during the site
investigation and licensing process.
(1)
Monitoring wells, observation wells, piezometers, and borings shall be
designed, constructed, and monitored in accordance with the procedures
specified in 06-096 CMR ch. 405.
(2) Wells and piezometers must be maintained
in operating condition during the entire application and review
process.
(3) The applicant must
establish protected permanent benchmark(s) on the site for use in surveying the
landfill, constructed to U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey standards. Horizontal
and vertical control must be established for each benchmark. The benchmark(s)
must be:
(a) Coordinated and reported
according to National Geodetic Vertical Datum Standards, if readily
available;
(b) Shown on all
application drawings and record drawings, as applicable; and
(c) Clearly marked and labeled.
(4) Applicants must notify the
affected airport and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) whenever a new
landfill or expansion of an existing landfill is proposed within a five-mile
radius of any airport runway.
(5)
All construction associated with facility site development shall comply with
the specific stormwater control standards contained in sections 3 and 4,
including section 4 (B), of 06-096 CMR ch. 500.
E.
Preliminary Information Reports and
Other Pre-Application Requirements. Pre-application requirements are
intended to screen out unsuitable sites and to identify unacceptable approaches
to development of a landfill. Prior to preparation of an application for a
license to develop a new or expanded landfill,
and at least two months prior to the pre-application meeting, the applicant
must develop and submit to the Department for review a complete Preliminary
Information Report (PIR). The PIR will be the basis for discussion at the
pre-application meeting. Subsequent to the pre-application meeting the
Department will provide the applicant with written comments on the PIR. These
comments will address the adequacy of the PIR in demonstrating that the
landfill has been located so that none of the siting criteria in section
1(C)(2) will prohibit the proposed development. The applicant must also attend
a pre-submission meeting with the Department and hold a public informational
meeting in accordance with 06-096 CMR ch. 2.
The purpose of the PIR is to demonstrate that the landfill
has been located so that none of the siting criteria in section 1(C)(2) will
prohibit the proposed development, and to preliminarily identify restrictive
siting criteria and any siting variances which may be requested. It must
include an introduction, a summary of findings and conclusions, and the
following information:
(1) Type of
facility, such as municipal, construction/demolition debris, industrial,
commercial;
(2) Surficial geologic
map at a scale of 1:25,000 or larger;
(3) Medium intensity soils map;
(4) The most recent full-size U.S. Geological
Survey topographic map of the area (7-1/2 minute series if printed), with the
facility siteand the property boundary clearly delineated;
(5) The most current available aquifer map
from the Maine Geological Survey;
(6) Locations of mapped faults, and an
earthquake epicenter map;
(7)
Subsurface information adequate to demonstrate that in-situ soils meet the
restrictive siting criteria in section 1(C)(3)(b) and to identify any areas
where the proposed development will disturb soils within five feet of the
bedrock surface;
(8) Identification
of all classified bodies of surface water within 1000 feet of the solid waste
boundary;
(9) A map of any coastal
sand dune systems, coastal wetlands, significant wildlife habitat, or fragile
mountain areas located within 500 feet of the proposedfacility site;
(10) Flood plain map showing the 100-year
flood elevation, or, if a flood plain map is not available for the project
area, a flood plain investigation adequate to determine whether the waste
handling area will be located in the 100-year flood plain;
(11) A map showing the set-back distances for
the proposed solid waste boundary and/or the waste handling area from the
following:
(a) Public roads;
(b) Property boundaries;
(c) Residences;
(d) Known sensitive receptors;
(e) Water supply wells and water supply
springs; and
(f)
Airports.
(12) A synopsis
of all the hydrogeologic, geologic and soils information that the applicant has
researched and utilized; and
(13) A
list of any variances that the applicant expects to apply for.
In addition to the PIR, an applicant may elect to submit to
the Department a workplan for conducting further site investigations and for
developing engineered designs, operating requirements, and monitoring programs.
The submission of a workplan will allow the Department to provide the applicant
with comments on the scope of the work proposed before the work is initiated.
The workplan may include provisions for submitting to the Department for review
and comment a conceptual design based on the findings of the Site Assessment
Report as described in section2 (C). The workplan may also identify other
points for submissions or meetings with the Department to review progress to
date and to discuss any issues identified and any need to vary from the
workplan.
