§ 30:2226 — Hazardous Waste Assessment Report; requirements; submission

A. The secretary is hereby authorized and mandated to develop a comprehensive evaluation of hazardous waste in Louisiana, and to issue such evaluation in the form of a report as provided for herein. The department shall assist the secretary in the development and ongoing update of the report.
B. Prior to January 31, 1986, the secretary shall present a report as authorized in Subsection A of this Section to the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and House Committee on Natural Resources and Environment. The report shall, at a minimum, provide the following information:
(1) An inventory of the known hazardous waste sites in Louisiana, including:
(a) The types of wastes as determined by the secretary to be present in the waste sites.
(b) An estimate of the amount of each type of waste in a waste site as may be reasonably determined by the secretary.
(c) The actual methods used to reduce, recycle, neutralize, or dispose of the various amounts of hazardous waste.
(d) An enumeration of those facilities operating under a valid permit within the state and of those facilities deemed abandoned or inactive.
(2) An assessment of Louisiana's hazardous waste disposal capacity, which at a minimum shall include:
(a) A compilation of available hazardous waste data indicative of the volume of hazardous waste generated in Louisiana heretofore.
(b) An estimate of anticipated hazardous waste generation from the date the report is to be presented to five years from that date.
(c) A determination by the secretary as to Louisiana's ability to properly manage the volume of waste generated and disposed of in Louisiana given the number and capacity of permitted facilities within the state.
(d) A recommendation by the secretary as regards the necessity to:
(i) Further reduce the generation of hazardous waste within Louisiana.
(ii) Increase the number of permitted facilities and/or increase the handling and disposal capacity of existing facilities.
(3) An assessment of the potential environmental and public health risks associated with known and presently permitted facilities, which at a minimum shall include:
(a) A separate assessment of each known hazardous waste facility to determine the enforcement history and risk potential of said facility, including any actual or threatened water, air, and land pollution.
(b) Any recommendations by the secretary to reduce the potential for environmental and public health risks.
(4) An assessment of available funding for the clean up of hazardous waste in Louisiana, including:
(a) Anticipated availability of federal, state, regional, local, or other sources of funding which might be used to clean up hazardous waste sites in Louisiana.
(b) Amount of funds generated through the imposition of fees on the regulated community, including:
(i) The percentage of expenditures by the department which have been funded by the imposition of fees on the regulated community.
(ii) Any anticipated changes in such fees imposed.
(c) An estimate of the total funds needed to clean up Louisiana's hazardous waste sites.
(d) Any action the secretary anticipates taking to insure adequate funding for the clean up of hazardous waste sites in Louisiana.
C. The secretary shall establish a five-year plan for the clean up of hazardous waste sites. Such plan shall include at a minimum:
(1) A determination by the secretary of that percentage of hazardous waste sites in Louisiana which should be immediately cleaned up and which can be cleaned up with present funding.
(2) Any recommendations by the secretary to secure additional funding as necessary to clean up any remaining sites which should be immediately addressed but for which there is inadequate funding.
(3) A timetable developed for the purpose of establishing the rate of expected clean up of the state's hazardous waste sites.
D. The secretary shall evaluate and include in his report all those grants made for theoretical and practical research and development of alternative technologies for destroying, reducing, recycling, neutralizing, and disposing of hazardous waste pursuant to R.S. 30:2011(G)(19).
E. Following the initial report required to be presented prior to January 31, 1986, the secretary shall report any updates on a semiannual basis to the Senate Committee on Environmental Quality and the House Committee on Natural Resources and Environment which shall reflect any new technological or regulatory developments, anticipated fee changes, newly available funds from any source, any grants made by the secretary for research, and the effect of any of the aforementioned phenomena on the secretary's five-year plan as herein required.
F. The secretary shall make all necessary investigations and shall obtain all information from any person as necessary to carry out the requirements and purposes of this Section.
G. All reports, plans, presentations, and information provided for herein shall be public record.
H.(1) The secretary shall promulgate rules and regulations implementing a comprehensive state inactive and abandoned hazardous waste site cleanup program. Such rules and regulations shall be promulgated after public hearing thereon in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act, R.S. 49:950 et seq. The purpose of the program shall be to identify each inactive and abandoned hazardous waste site in the state, and to implement procedures for cleanup of those sites, and to carry out a program of research, evaluation, testing, development, and demonstration of alternative or innovative technologies which may be utilized in response actions to achieve more permanent protection of human health and the environment. The department shall consider the use of innovative technologies, such as horizontally or vertically positioned high density polyethylene for preventing contamination of groundwater from migration of substances from inactive and abandoned sites.
(2) The secretary shall provide a written report to the legislature prior to March 1, 1989 which shall contain a list of all inactive and abandoned hazardous waste sites in the state, and a proposed time frame for the cleanup of each site. Each site cleanup shall be completed within the minimum time feasible. The Department of Environmental Quality shall provide an initial timetable for such cleanup proposed as provided in R.S. 30:2226(C) within six months of discovery of the site, and shall update this timetable annually until cleanup is completed.

Legislative History

Acts 1985, No. 361, §1; Acts 1988, No. 874, §1, eff. July 19, 1988; Acts 1990, No. 998, §1; Acts 1991, No. 21, §1, eff. June 14, 1991; Acts 1996, 1st Ex. Sess., No. 36, §1, eff. May 7, 1996; Acts 1997, No. 27, §1; Acts 1999, No. 303, §1, eff. June 14, 1999; Acts 2003, No. 280, §1; Acts 2008, No. 580, §2.