Code of Maine Rules
06 - DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
096 - DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION - GENERAL
Chapter 854 - STANDARDS FOR HAZARDOUS WASTE FACILITIES
Section 096-854-8 - Additional Standards Applicable to Hazardous Waste Landfills

Universal Citation: 06 ME Code Rules ยง 096-854-8

Current through 2024-13, March 27, 2024

A. Performance Standards

(1) Landfills are regarded by the Board as the least preferable method of hazardous waste handling. While it is expected that the expense of landfilling will discourage its use, the Board, prior to approval of any application for a hazardous waste landfill, will consider whether alternative preferred method(s) exist for handling a waste proposed to be landfilled.

(2) A hazardous waste landfill must be designed, constructed, and installed to prevent any migration of wastes out of the landfill to adjacent subsurface soil or ground water or surface water at any time during the life, including the post-closure period, of the landfill.

(3) A hazardous waste landfill must be established, constructed, altered and operated to meet the following performance standards:
(a) A landfilled hazardous waste or constituent or derivative thereof must not appear in ground or surface waters at a concentration above background level, or above current public health drinking water standards for Maine, including the "Maine CDC Maximum Exposure Guidelines (MEGs) for Drinking Water, December 31, 2016", or standards for aquatic toxicity, whichever is most stringent. Background levels must be those established by the pre-construction analysis required by 06-096 C.M.R. ch. 856, § 10(C)(10)(g) or of the upgradient monitoring well required by Section 8(D)(1) of this Chapter, whichever is lower.

NOTE: Drinking water and aquatic toxicity standards are obtained from current manuals including but not limited to: State of Maine Rules of the Department of Health and Human Services relating to Drinking Water; "Maine CDC Maximum Exposure Guidelines (MEGs) for Drinking Water, December 31, 2016"; "Drinking Water and Health" published by the National Research Council; "Suggested No-Adverse Response Levels (SNARLs)" as determined by the Environmental Protection Agency; "Ambient Water Quality Criteria" manuals, published by the Environmental Protection Agency.

(b) A landfilled hazardous waste or constituent or derivative thereof, must not appear in the atmosphere in concentrations significantly above the background level or exceed current ambient air quality standards for Maine at any time. Background levels must be established by monitoring or demonstrated to have been previously established by monitoring.

B. Design. The facility must comply with the provisions of 40 C.F.R. §§264.301(a), 264.301(c), and 264.301(g) -(k) in addition to the following:

(1) All new, replacement, or expanded portions of a landfill established in the State of Maine must be at least double-lined and have systems for leachate collection and removal, run-on and run-off control and wind dispersal control that meet or exceed the specifications in 40 C.F.R. §264.301(c) and (g) -(k).

(2) A landfill must have at least two impervious liners of or equivalent to:
(a) A synthetic top liner (e.g., geomembrane), which is underneath the landfilled waste and is designed and constructed of materials to prevent the migration of hazardous constituents into such liner during the active life and post-closure care period; and

(b) A composite bottom liner, which is underneath the top synthetic liner and overtop the subsoil and consists of at least two components, including an upper synthetic component designed and constructed of materials (e.g., geomembrane) to prevent the migration of hazardous constituents into this component during the active life and post-closure care period and a lower component of recompacted clay of a minimum of ten (10) feet thick, with a hydraulic conductivity of 1 x 10-7 cm/sec. or less.

If the clay lower component cannot meet this standard by recompaction, its permeability must be decreased by addition of bentonite or other approved sealing compounds to meet the standard.

(3) Where the landfill is located in a ground water discharge zone, the applicant must evaluate the potential for upward rupture of the liner or basal layer and design the landfill so as to prevent such a rupture.

(4) Any synthetic liner approved by the Board and installed after December 31, 1993 must be a minimum thickness of 80 mils, and be able to meet the following criteria:
(a) Meet National Sanitary Foundation (NSF) Standard #54 specifications, if one exists for the proposed material; and

(b) Meet required performance specifications for the proposed project application.

(5) Any synthetic liner proposed for use must meet all of the following criteria. A synthetic liner must:
(a) Be of adequate strength and durability to ensure mechanical integrity during emplacement, freeze-thaw cycles in the underlying soils and operation of the facility; and

(b) Be of uniform thickness and free from thin spots, cracks, tears, blisters and foreign particles; and

(c) Be resistant to attack from soil bacteria, fungus, burrowing animals and birds; and

(d) Be resistant to ozone cracking, sun weathering and stiffening in frosty conditions; and

(e) Be able to withstand extreme heat either by itself or in combination with a protective layer of earthen material; and

(f) Be compatible with and unaffected by hazardous waste(s) which may be landfilled at the facility and any constituents or derivatives thereof; and

(g) Be impermeably sealed in the field, without defects in the seams between sections or in the parent material itself; and

(h) Be properly installed on a base which is both smooth and structurally capable of supporting the entire landfill; and

(i) Be covered by a sufficient layer of well-graded fine soil material (not less than six inches in depth) so as to prevent damage to the liner due to facility operation, such as the movement of heavy equipment used at the site.

(j) Be installed to cover all surrounding earth likely to be in contact with a waste or leachate; and

(k) Be able to generate sufficient friction force between itself and the surrounding materials in order to maintain a short term factor of safety of 1.25 and a long term factor of safety of 1.50; and

(l) Be able to meet the manufacturer's minimum specifications for the material being proposed for use.

Manufacturers' specifications on the standard leak rate of the liner must be specified in the application.

(6) A leachate detection, collection, and removal system must be installed immediately above the top synthetic liner to assure that leachate is collected and removed. In addition, a leachate detection, collection and removal system must be installed between the top synthetic liner and bottom composite liner.

(7) The leachate detection, collection and removal system must be constructed such that:
(a) The system immediately above the top synthetic liner must be designed, constructed, maintained, and operated to collect and remove leachate from the landfill during the active life and post-closure care period. The design of the collection and removal system must be such that no more than 30 cm (1 foot) of leachate is permitted to accumulate on the top synthetic liner at any one time.

(b) The leachate collection system between the top synthetic liner and the bottom composite liner must be designed, constructed, maintained, and operated to detect, collect, and remove liquids that may leak through the top synthetic liner during the active life and post-closure care period and meet the specifications for the action leakage rate approved for the landfill in accordance with 40 C.F.R. §264.302 and the requirements of 40 C.F.R. §264.301(c)(3)(i) -(v), including at a minimum:
(i) Constructed with a bottom slope of one percent or more;

(ii) Constructed of granular drainage material with a hydraulic conductivity of 1 x 10-2 cm/sec or more and a thickness of 12 inches (30.5 cm) or more; or constructed of synthetic or geonet drainage materials with a transmissivity of 3x 10-5 m2/sec or more;

(iii) Constructed of materials that are chemically resistant to the waste managed in the landfill and the leachate expected to be generated and of sufficient strength and thickness to prevent collapse under the pressures exerted by overlying wastes, waste cover materials, and by any equipment used at the surface impoundment;

(iv) Designed and operated to function without clogging during the active life and post-closure care period; and

(v) Constructed with sumps and liquid removal methods of sufficient size to collect and remove liquids from the sump and prevent liquids from backing up into the drainage layer. Each unit must have its own sump(s) and each sump and removal system must provide a method for measuring and recording the volume of liquids present and removed.

(8) The applicant must evaluate the potential for generation of gas within buried wastes. If a potential for build up or explosion of gases exists, a gas discharge system capable of collecting gases must be designed into the landfill cover system.

(9) The applicant must evaluate the compaction and consolidation of materials placed within the landfill. If compaction could result in ponding of drainage on the final cover system, an impermeable plastic cap or cover liner must be used to prevent infiltration. Otherwise, the final cover may be a layer of re-compacted clay at least 2 feet thick with a hydraulic conductivity of less than 1 x 10-7 cm/sec.

NOTE: Design of the closure cap/final cover system is integral to the design of a landfill.

(10) A sand and gravel drain layer must be placed over the final cover system.

(11) Final cover must be protected from disruption. Disruption due to frost heaving and penetration by burrowing rodents must be prevented by grading the site with soil material and at least six inches of topsoil. Disruption by plant roots must be prevented by the planting of shallow-rooted vegetation and its maintenance in perpetuity. The final grade of the landfill surface must be between two and ten percent grade.

(12) The applicant must evaluate the earthquake risk. The applicant must show that the facility is designed so that any disruption due to earthquake will not cause any performance standard to be violated.

(13) A buffer zone of at least 200 feet must be designed and maintained between the boundaries of the facility property and the boundaries of the landfill and of any other area of the property where hazardous waste will be handled.

(14) Fugitive emissions, including volatile organic compounds, from the facility must be controlled in accordance with a plan approved by the Board.

C. Operation. The facility must comply with the provisions of 40 C.F.R. §§264.302, 264.303, 264.304, 264.312, 264.313, 264.316 and 264.317, except that references to 40 C.F.R. Part 268 or sections thereof mean 06-096 C.M.R. ch. 852 and:

(1) Run-on must be diverted away from the facility.

(2) Run-off from the facility must be collected, analyzed and managed according to a design and plan approved by the Board.

(3) Cover material, sufficient to control odors, dispersion by wind and excessive water infiltration into a hazardous landfill cell, must be placed daily or after the landfill has received new wastes, whichever is the longer period.

(4) Access to active portions of the facility must be restricted to facility personnel needed for operation or management and to authorized federal, state and local officials while in performance of their official duties.

(5) Liquid waste must not be placed in a landfill except in accordance with 40 C.F.R. §264.314 and the following:
(a) Bulk or non-containerized liquid hazardous or nonhazardous waste, or hazardous or nonhazardous waste containing free liquids, must not be placed in a landfill unless, before disposal, the liquid waste or waste containing free liquids is treated or stabilized, chemically or physically, so that free liquids are no longer present and that the wastes are altered in such a way so that the materials that have absorbed or adsorbed the liquids will not biodegrade or release liquids when compressed.

(b) Containers holding hazardous or nonhazardous free liquids must not be placed in a landfill unless:
(i) all free liquid has been removed by decanting or other methods, or solidified so that no free liquid is present, or otherwise eliminated in such a way that the materials that have absorbed or adsorbed the liquids will not biodegrade or release liquids when compressed; or

(ii) the container is a lab pack as defined in 40 C.F.R. §264.316 and is disposed of in accordance with 40 C.F.R. §264.316.

(c) To demonstrate the absence or presence of free liquids Method 9095B (Paint Filter Liquids Test) in EPA Publication SW-846 must be used.

(6) Incompatible wastes must not be placed in the same landfill cell and must be separated horizontally by such barriers as will prevent any mixing of them in accordance with a plan approved by the Department. Vertical landfilling of incompatible wastes is prohibited.

(7) Containers placed in landfills must be:
(a) At least 90 percent full; or

(b) Crushed, shredded, or similarly reduced in volume to the maximum practical extent before burial.

(8) Leachate must be removed from the leachate collection system either continuously or with sufficient regularity that no hydraulic head builds up within it.
(a) An action leakage rate, representing the maximum design flow rate that the leak detection system can remove without fluid head on the bottom liner exceeding one foot, must be identified.

(b) Liquids removed from the leachate collection system must be recorded weekly and converted to an average daily flow rate in gallons per acre per day at each sump where liquid is removed and used to determine exceedances of the action leakage rate.

(c) Owners or operators must have an approved response action plan specifying response actions to be taken in the event the action leakage rate has been exceeded. The response action plan must comply with 40 C.F.R. §264.304.

D. Ground Water Protection. Ground water beneath and adjacent to the facility must be protected and monitored in accordance with the requirements of:

(1) This Chapter, including the following:
(a) A minimum of four wells, sampled at levels specified or approved by the Department, are required to monitor ground water quality. At least one monitoring well must be located hydraulically upgradient from the landfill and three downgradient. The downgradient wells must be located as close to the landfill as possible without disturbing the design or operational systems.

(b) Monitoring wells must, at a minimum, be packed and cased through surficial deposits and screened where appropriate flow zones exist. The top of the well casing must be sealed to prevent contamination of ground water by run-off. Materials used in construction must not affect water quality.

(c) Water level measurements must be taken and sampling and analysis must be performed by the operator according to a schedule specified or approved by the Department. Additional sampling may be required if the performance standards are not being met. Water levels and results of analyses must be sent to the Department within ten working days of being taken or performed.

(d) Analysis of samples must be performed by a laboratory certified by the State of Maine or the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

(e) A final set of monitoring well specifications must be sent to the Department upon completion of well installation, showing:
(i) Exact location of monitoring wells;

(ii) Elevation of the land surface and the top of the well casing to the nearest tenth of a foot;

(iii) Depth to the bottom of the well;

(iv) Screened interval (depth to top and bottom of well screen);

(v) Type and size of casing;

(vi) Type and size of screen; and

(vii) Type and grain size of packing, grouting and other sealing materials, and fluids used in drilling.

(2) 40 C.F.R. §264.93 and §§264.95-264.100, except that references to 40 C.F.R. §§264.92 or 264.94 or portions thereof shall mean the performance standards of Section 8(A) of this Chapter and variance from these standards are not allowed, references to 40 C.F.R. Part 261 shall mean 06-096 C.M.R. ch. 850, and references to Appendix IX of Part 264 shall mean Appendix IX of this Chapter.

(3) Assurance of financial responsibility for corrective action must be provided in accordance with Section 6(C)(17) of this Chapter.

(4) For the purposes of this section, "detection" is defined as statistically significant evidence of contamination, and "exceedence" is defined as statistically significant evidence of increased contamination.

E. Surface Water Monitoring. The Board or Department may require surface waters within or adjacent to a facility or facility property to be monitored in accordance with a plan approved by the Board or Department, as applicable.

F. Air Monitoring

(1) Emissions, including fugitive emissions, from the facility must be monitored in accordance with a plan approved by the Board.

(2) If, at any time during operation, closure or post-closure of the facility, the monitoring demonstrates that the performance standards are not being met, a corrective action program must be implemented, details of which must be specified or approved by the Board or Department, as applicable.

G. Surveying and Recordkeeping

(1) The owner or operator of a hazardous waste landfill facility must prepare and keep current a map showing the exact location and dimensions, including depth, of each cell with respect to permanently surveyed benchmarks, the contents of each cell and the total amount and location of each type of hazardous waste within each cell. In addition, the owner or operator must keep a record of all repairs, accidents and abatement measures taken.

(2) The map and record must be maintained in the facility operating record and kept current for as long as the facility is operated and must be kept at the facility. The Department may require that a current copy of the map and record be kept on file with the Department. Upon closure the map and the record must be delivered to the Department.

H. Closure and Post-Closure Requirements. The facility must comply with the requirements of 40 C.F.R. §264.310, except that references to other sections or subparts of 40 C.F.R. Part 264 shall mean this Chapter. Furthermore, in the closure and post-closure plans, the owner or operator must address the following objectives and indicate how they will be achieved:

(1) Control of pollutant migration from the facility via ground water, surface water, and air;

(2) Control of surface water infiltration, including prevention of pooling; and

(3) Prevention of erosion.

(4) The owner or operator must consider at least the following factors in addressing the closure and post-closure care objectives of this section:
(a) Type and amount of hazardous waste and hazardous waste constituents in the landfill;

(b) The mobility and the expected rate of migration of the hazardous waste and hazardous waste constituents;

(c) Site location, topography, and surrounding land use, with respect to the potential effects of pollutant migration (e.g., proximity to ground water, surface water, and drinking water sources);

(d) Climate, including amount, frequency, and pH of precipitation;

(e) Characteristics of the cover including material, final surface contours, thickness, porosity and permeability, slope, length of run of slope, and type of vegetation on the cover; and

(f) Geological and soil profiles and surface and subsurface hydrology of the site.

(5) During the post-closure care period, the owner or operator of a hazardous waste landfill must, at a minimum:
(a) Maintain the function and integrity of the final cover as specified in the approved closure plan; and

(b) Maintain and monitor the leachate collection, removal, and treatment system (if there is one present in the landfill) to prevent excess accumulation of leachate in the system.

NOTE: If the collected leachate is a hazardous waste under 06-096 C.M.R. ch. 850, it must be managed as a hazardous waste in accordance with all applicable requirements of these rules.

Disclaimer: These regulations may not be the most recent version. Maine may have more current or accurate information. We make no warranties or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of the information contained on this site or the information linked to on the state site. Please check official sources.
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