§ 23.1-04-01 — Declaration of purpose

The department of environmental quality shall administer this chapter to:
1. Protect human health and the environment from the effects of the improper,
inadequate, or unsafe past or present management of hazardous waste and
underground storage tanks.
2. Establish a program to regulate hazardous waste from the time of generation through
transportation, storage, treatment, and disposal.
3. Promote reduction of hazardous waste generation, reuse, recovery, and treatment as
preferable alternatives to landfill disposal.
4. Assure the safe and adequate management of hazardous waste with a minimum of
hazardous waste disposal sites within the state.
5. Establish a program to regulate underground storage tanks.
6. Promote reduction of surface and ground water contamination resulting from leaking
underground storage tanks.