CR_11-047 Revise Chapters SPS 341 and 345, relating to boilers and pressure vessels.

Wisconsin Administrative Register No. 677, 5/31/2012

Rules Published with this Register and Final Regulatory Flexibility Analyses

The following administrative rule orders have been adopted and published in this edition of the Wisconsin Administrative Register. Copies of these rules are sent to subscribers of the complete Wisconsin Administrative Code and also to the subscribers of the specific affected Code.

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Natural Resources

Environmental Protection, Solid Waste Management,

Chs. NR 500—

(DNR # WA-33-10)

CR 10-128

The Department of Natural Resources hereby submits the following rule for publication revising Chapters NR 500 , 502 and 518 , relating to composting of solid waste. Effective 6-1-12.

Summary of Final Regulatory Flexibility Analysis

The rule regulates compost facilities. Wisconsin has fewer than 250 licensed compost facilities, three-quarters of which are municipally owned facilities. The remainder are commercial facilities, of which some are owned by large waste disposal companies and the rest are small businesses of one to 10 employees. The current rule and the proposed revisions also apply to farmers engaging in large-scale composting of crop residues, manure or animal carcasses on their property, but they would remain exempt from plan review, certain facility design requirements, and reporting requirements. The current and proposed rules generally do not apply to home and small-scale (less than 50 cubic yards) composting. Neither the current nor the proposed rules mandate composting.

Under existing rules, compost facility operators must manage their compost piles or windrows (through moisture and feedstock mixtures and proper turning) to maintain temperatures that break down the raw materials and reduce the pathogen content in the compost. The proposed rule would increase public safety by requiring most compost operators to adopt the best management practice of maintaining records of temperature and turning to ensure that pathogen reduction is occurring.

The reporting requirements in the rule would not require additional records to be kept by compost operators beyond those already necessary for conducting business (e.g., volume or tonnage records). For owners opting to make Class A compost, periodic sampling of the compost would be required. The producers most likely to produce Class A compost are those who already keep such records and sample their compost for quality testing.

The proposed rule would not require skills any different than those required by the current rule. Compost facility operators will need to understand the principles of composting, how to move large quantities of materials, how to control drainage and traffic, how to make basic physical measurements such as volume, temperature and bulk density, and how to calculate carbon-to-nitrogen ratios using standard recipe calculators. These skills are currently necessary to the business of composting. Under both the current and proposed rules, operators of the largest (i.e., non-exempt) new or expanding non-exempt compost facilities would need to obtain the help of an engineer for facility design and plan preparation.

Summary of Comments of Legislative Standing Committees

No comments reported.

Safety and Professional Services

Safety, Buildings, and Environment, General Part II,
Ch. SPS 326-360

CR 11-047

An order to revise Chapters SPS 341 and 345 , relating to boilers and pressure vessels. Effective 6-1-12.

Summary of Final Regulatory Flexibility Analysis

Less stringent requirements are not proposed for small businesses because (1) the equipment manufacturers that the included nationwide construction standards are directed at are not small businesses, and (2) the included nationwide inspection standards would be more difficult to understand and comply with if they were modified and applied differently in Wisconsin for small businesses.

None of the proposed rule changes are expected to significantly increase the current cost of installing and operating boilers and pressure vessels because the primary effect of the changes is to make Chapter SPS 341 consistent with current regional and national-level standards for boilers and pressure vessels, and with current industry and regulatory practices.

Summary of Comments of Legislative Standing Committees

No comments received.