Section 096-401-1 - General Licensing RequirementsA.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: (d) Known sensitive receptors;(e) Water supply wells and water supply springs; and(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.
06- 096 C.M.R. ch. 401, § 1