(a) The department shall issue hazardous waste facilities permits to use and operate one or more hazardous waste management units at a facility that in the judgment of the department meet the building standards published in the State Building Standards Code relating to hazardous waste facilities and the other standards and requirements adopted pursuant to this chapter. The department shall impose conditions on each hazardous waste facilities permit specifying the types of hazardous wastes that may be accepted for transfer, storage, treatment, or disposal. The department may impose any other conditions on a hazardous waste facilities permit that are consistent with the intent of this chapter.
(b) The department may impose, as a condition of a hazardous waste facilities permit, a requirement that the owner or operator of a hazardous waste facility that receives hazardous waste from more than one producer comply with any order of the director that prohibits the facility operator from refusing to accept a hazardous waste based on geographical origin that is authorized to be accepted and may be accepted by the facility without extraordinary hazard.
(c) (1) (A) Any hazardous waste facilities permit issued by the department shall be for a fixed term, which shall not exceed 10 years for any land disposal facility, storage facility, incinerator, or other treatment facility.
(B) Before the fixed term of a permit expires, the owner or operator of a facility intending to extend the term of the facility’s permit shall submit a complete Part A application for a permit renewal. At any time following the submittal of the Part A application, the owner or operator of a facility shall submit a complete Part B application, or any portion thereof, as well as any other relevant information, as and when requested by the department. To the extent not inconsistent with the federal act, when a complete Part A renewal application, and any other requested information, has been submitted before the end of the permit’s fixed term, the permit is deemed extended until the renewal application is approved or denied and the owner or operator has exhausted all applicable rights of appeal.
(C) This section does not limit or restrict the department’s authority to impose any additional or different conditions on an extended permit that are necessary to protect human health and the environment.
(D) In adopting new conditions for an extended permit, the department shall follow the applicable permit modification procedures specified in this chapter and the regulations adopted pursuant to this chapter.
(E) When prioritizing pending renewal applications for processing and in determining the need for any new conditions on an extended permit, the department shall consider any input received from the public.
(2) The department shall review each hazardous waste facilities permit for a land disposal facility five years after the date of issuance or reissuance, and shall modify the permit, as necessary, to assure that the facility continues to comply with the currently applicable requirements of this chapter and the regulations adopted pursuant to this chapter.
(3) This subdivision does not prohibit the department from reviewing, modifying, or revoking a permit at any time during its term.
(d) (1) When reviewing any application for a permit renewal, the department shall consider improvements in the state of control and measurement technology as well as changes in applicable regulations.
(2) Each permit issued or renewed under this section shall contain the terms and conditions that the department determines necessary to protect human health and the environment.
(e) A permit issued pursuant to the federal act by the Environmental Protection Agency in the state for which no state hazardous waste facilities permit has been issued shall be deemed to be a state permit enforceable by the department until a state permit is issued. In addition to complying with the terms and conditions specified in a federal permit deemed to be a state permit pursuant to this section, an owner or operator who holds that permit shall comply with the requirements of this chapter and the regulations adopted by the department to implement this chapter.
(Amended by Stats. 2004, Ch. 779, Sec. 2. Effective January 1, 2005.)
Last modified: October 25, 2018