All facilities shall meet the following standards:
(a) Assessment of corrective measures: All facilities required to start a corrective measures assessment shall initiate an assessment of corrective measures within ninety (90) days of a groundwater quality exceedance and complete the assessment in a reasonable time, determined by the Administrator. The owner or operator shall: - (i) Continue to conduct an assessment monitoring program;
- (ii) Analyze the effectiveness of potential corrective measures to meet any alternate remedies which are being considered under paragraph (b) of this section, considering:
- (A) The performance, reliability, ease of implementation, and potential impacts of appropriate alternate remedies, including safety impacts, cross-media impacts, and control of exposure to any residual contamination;
- (B) The time required to begin and complete the remedy;
- (C) The costs of remedy implementation; and
- (D) The institutional requirements such as state or local permits or other environmental or public health requirements that may substantially affect implementation of the remedy.
- (iii) Provide an opportunity for public review of the corrective measures assessment, prior to selection of the remedy.
(b) Selection of remedy: - (i) The landfill operator must demonstrate to the Administrator how the selected corrective action remedy meets the remedy standards established in this subsection. The Administrator must approve the selected remedy and the remedial activities schedule before it is implemented.
- (ii) The selected remedy must:
- (A) Be protective of human health and the environment;
- (B) Attain the groundwater protection standard;
- (C) Control the source of releases of pollution so as to reduce or eliminate, to the maximum extent practicable, further releases of constituents into the environment that may pose a threat to human health or the environment; and
- (D) Comply with standards for management of wastes specified in this chapter.
- (iii) The selection of the corrective action remedy must consider the following factors:
- (A) Short- and long-term effectiveness of the remedy, and the degree of certainty that the remedy will be effective, considering:
- (I) Magnitude of reduction of existing risk to public health and the environment;
- (II) Magnitude of risk of further releases of pollution;
- (III) Type and degree of long-term management required, including monitoring, operation, and maintenance;
- (IV) Short-term risks of exposure to the community, workers, or the environment during any excavation, transportation and redisposal of wastes;
- (V) Time until full protection is achieved;
- (VI) Potential for exposure to humans and the environment from remaining wastes;
- (VII) Long-term reliability of the engineering and any institutional controls; and
- (VIII) Potential need for replacement of the remedy.
- (B) The effectiveness of the remedy in controlling the source to reduce further releases based on consideration of the following factors:
- (I) The extent to which containment will reduce further releases; and
- (II) The extent to which treatment technologies will be used.
- (C) The ease or difficulty of implementing the potential remedy, considering:
- (I) Difficulty in constructing the technology;
- (II) Expected reliability of the technology;
- (III) Availability of necessary equipment and specialists; and
- (IV) Available capacity of needed treatment, storage, and disposal facilities.
- (D) Practicable capability of the owner or operator, including a consideration of the technical and economic capability.
- (E) The degree to which community concerns are addressed by a potential remedy.
- (F) The need to coordinate with and obtain necessary approvals and permits from other agencies.
- (iv) The Administrator shall approve a schedule for initiating and completing remedial activities, considering the following factors:
- (A) Extent and nature of contamination;
- (B) Practical capabilities of remedial technologies in achieving compliance with groundwater protection standards and other objectives of the remedy;
- (C) Availability of treatment or disposal capacity for wastes managed during implementation of the remedy;
- (D) Desirability of utilizing technologies that are not currently available but which may offer significant advantages over already available technologies in terms of effectiveness, reliability, safety, or ability to achieve remedial objectives;
- (E) Potential risks to human health and the environment from exposure to contamination prior to completion of the remedy;
- (F) Classification of the aquifer under Chapter 8 of the Water Quality Rules and Regulations, plus a consideration of the following factors:
- (I) Current and future uses;
- (II) Proximity and withdrawal rate of users;
- (III) Groundwater quantity and quality;
- (IV) The potential damage to wildlife, crops, vegetation, and physical structures caused by exposure to waste;
- (V) The hydrologic characteristics of the facility and surrounding lands;
- (VI) Groundwater removal and treatment costs; and
- (VII) The cost and availability of alternative water supplies;
- (G) Practicable capability of the owner or operator; and
- (H) Any other factor considered relevant by the Administrator.
- (v) The Administrator may determine that remediation of a release from a facility is not necessary if the owner or operator demonstrates to the satisfaction of the Administrator that:
- (A) The groundwater is additionally contaminated by substances that have originated from a source other than the facility, and those substances are present in concentrations such that the cleanup of the release from the facility would provide no significant reduction in risk to actual or potential receptors; or
- (B) The constituent(s) is present in groundwater that:
- (I) Is not currently or reasonably expected to be a source of drinking water; and
- (II) Is not hydraulically connected with waters to which the hazardous constituents are migrating or are likely to migrate in a concentration(s) that would exceed groundwater protection standards ; or
- (C) Remediation of the release(s) is technically impracticable; or
- (D) Remediation results in unacceptable cross-media impacts.
- (vi) A determination by the Administrator not to require remediation under paragraph (v) of this section shall not affect the authority of the Administrator to require the owner or operator to undertake source control measures or other measures that may be necessary to eliminate or minimize further releases to the groundwater, to prevent exposure to the groundwater, or to remediate the groundwater to concentrations that are technically practicable and significantly reduce threats to human health or the environment.
(c) Corrective action implementation: - (i) On a schedule approved by the Administrator, the operator must:
- (A) Implement the selected remedy as approved by the Administrator;
- (B) Continue groundwater monitoring to meet the requirements of the assessment monitoring program and to demonstrate the effectiveness of the selected remedy in meeting established water quality standards; and
- (C) Take interim measures as determined necessary by the Administrator to ensure protection of public health and the environment. The Administrator shall consider the following factors in determining the need for interim measures:
- (I) Time required to develop and implement a final remedy;
- (II) Actual or potential exposure of nearby populations or environmental receptors to hazardous constituents;
- (III) Actual or potential contamination of drinking water supplies or sensitive ecosystems;
- (IV) Further degradation of the groundwater that may occur if remedial action is not initiated expeditiously;
- (V) Weather conditions that may cause hazardous constituents to migrate or be released;
- (VI) Risks of fire or explosion, or potential for exposure to hazardous constituents as a result of an accident or failure of a container or handling system; and
- (VII) Other situations that may pose threats to human health and the environment.
- (ii) If the selected remedy is not meeting the corrective action standards, the owner or operator shall implement other methods or techniques which have been approved by the Administrator that could practicably achieve compliance with the requirements, unless there is no practicable alternative and the owner or operator meets the requirements of paragraph (c)(iii) of this section.
- (iii) If a selected remedy cannot be practically achieved with any currently available methods, the owner or operator must:
- (A) Demonstrate to the satisfaction of the Administrator that the remedy cannot be achieved;
- (B) Implement alternative measures which have been approved by the Administrator to control exposure of humans or the environment to residual contamination, as necessary to protect human health and the environment; and
- (C) Implement alternate measures for control of the sources of contamination or for removal or decontamination of equipment, units, devices, or structures, which are consistent with the overall objective of the remedy and which are technically practicable.
- (iv) All solid wastes managed pursuant to a remedy or interim measure under this section shall be managed in a manner that complies with the requirements of this chapter and that is protective of human health and the environment.
(d) Remedy completion: Remedies shall be considered complete when: - (i) The owner or operator complies with groundwater protection standards at all points within the plume of contamination that lie beyond the relevant point of compliance established by the Administrator;
- (ii) Compliance with the groundwater protection standards shall be considered complete when concentrations of constituents have not exceeded the groundwater protection standard(s) for a period of three (3) consecutive years using the approved statistical procedures. The Administrator may approve an alternate length of time during which the owner or operator must demonstrate compliance with the standard(s), considering:
- (A) Extent and concentration of the release(s);
- (B) Behavior characteristics of the hazardous constituents in the groundwater;
- (C) Accuracy of the monitoring or modeling techniques, including any seasonal, meteorological, or other environmental variables that may affect the accuracy; and
- (D) Characteristics of the groundwater; and
- (iii) All actions required to complete the remedy have been satisfied.
- (iv) When the corrective action remedy is complete, the operator must:
- (A) Notify the Administrator in writing, with supporting documentation, and place a a copy of the notice in the facility operating record certifying that the remedy has been completed in compliance with paragraph (c)(v) of this section; and
- (B) Petition the Administrator to be released from the financial assurance requirements for corrective action under Chapter 7 of these rules and regulations.
- (C) When, upon completion of the certification, the Administrator determines that the corrective action remedy has been completed, the owner or operator shall be released from the requirements of financial assurance for corrective action.
020-2 Wyo. Code R. § 2-14