Section 514.09. Expedited plan modifications.

 

(1)   Applicability.

(a) If an expedited plan modification is requested by an owner or operator, this section applies to all proposals that can be determined by the department to be low risk to modify provisions in approved plans of operation, except those identified in par. (b) , that would not result in a violation of a statute or administrative rule, and would not require issuance of an exemption by the department. Modifications to which this section applies include, but are not limited to the following:

1. Revisions to surface water control systems.

2. Use of an alternate borrow source, other than for landfill liner material, following the department's performance of an initial site inspection of the borrow source.

3. Soil daily cover.

4. Use of foundry sand, bottom ash or papermill sludge for alternate daily cover material. Also, if soil daily cover will be placed at the end of each operating week, use of tarps, geotextiles, spray-on foams and similar alternate daily cover materials.

5. Access roads within a landfill.

6. Waste filling or closure sequence, if the unclosed area of the landfill would not be increased at any point in the landfill's remaining operational life relative to the existing approved plan.

7. Minor changes in design and material substitutions for gas extraction systems or leachate head wells, that do not include changes to the gas flare design, and do not include a reduced number of gas extraction wells or leachate head wells within a particular phase of the landfill. Also, replacement of damaged or nonfunctional features of gas extraction systems or leachate head wells that do not involve significant changes in design, location or materials of construction.

8. Installation, abandonment or sampling of groundwater, gas or leachate monitoring devices not required in the existing approved plan.

9. Environmental sampling methods.

10. Except as provided under par. (b) , other modifications determined by the department to pose low potential risk of adverse impacts on public health or the environment.

(b) This section does not apply to proposals to modify approved plans of operation that would result in any of the following:

1. Enlargement, relocation or expansion of a landfill.

2. A change in the design or construction of landfill liners, final cover or leachate collection, transfer, recirculation or storage systems.

3. Termination of groundwater monitoring at any landfill.

4. Reduction of groundwater monitoring at any landfill to less than the minimum required in chs. NR 503 and 507 , according to the type of landfill and wastes disposed.

5. Reduction of groundwater monitoring at facilities that have written approval for groundwater monitoring less than the minimum required in chs. NR 503 and 507 .

6. The need for an additional regulatory permit or review under legal authority other than chs. NR 500 to 538 .

7. A change which would be less stringent than a federally-mandated requirement including those in 40 CFR, Subchapter I , Parts 257 and 258.

8. Violation of an existing written condition contained in a department approval document, except if the applicant provides a list of each condition in the cover letter and the applicant is also requesting to modify these conditions.

9. Expenditure of department technical review time in excess of 8 hours to determine whether the proposal is low risk and complete any other tasks necessary to review the request.

(2)   Procedure. A proposal to modify an approved plan of operation is deemed approved under s. 289.30 (6) , Stats., if all of the following occur:

(a) The owner or operator submits a written proposal to the department which describes the proposed plan modification. With the proposal, the owner or operator shall submit a cover letter that includes all of the following:

1. Identification of the applicable subdivision of sub. (1) (a) under which the proposal falls and a statement requesting review of the proposal under the expedited process outlined in this section.

2. A brief description of the proposal.

(b) Either the department does not object to the proposed modification within 30 days after receipt of the notice under par. (a) , or the department withdraws its objection to the proposal. Notification by the department that it does not consider a proposed plan modification submitted under sub. (1) (a) 10. to pose a low potential risk of adverse impacts on public health or the environment shall be considered to be an objection, and therefore, subject to the dispute resolution process of sub. (3) .

(c) The department determines the proposal is low risk including, but not limited to the following criteria: improper design of the component or feature being modified could not result in leachate being released outside the limits of waste fill and would not require removal of waste to complete future replacement or repair of the component.

(d) The appropriate expedited plan modification review fee is paid in accordance with ch. NR 520 , Table 3.

(3)   Dispute resolution.

(a) If the department objects to a proposed modification under sub. (2) , the following procedures shall apply:

1. Within 20 days after the department objects to the proposed modification, the owner or operator may file a request with the secretary of the department for a conference to discuss the reasonableness of the department's objection to the proposed modification.

2. The secretary may designate appropriate department personnel to confer with the owner or operator regarding the reasonableness of the objection. The designated department personnel shall include supervisory personnel who did not participate in the objection to the proposed modification.

3. The department personnel designated by the secretary shall make arrangements to confer with the owner or operator at the earliest practical time. The department shall promptly notify the owner or operator in writing whether or not the objection to the proposed modification will be withdrawn.

(b) This section does not affect in any manner any other provision of law authorizing administrative or judicial review of a department objection under this section.

Cr. Register, June, 199 , No. 486, eff. 7-1-96; renum. (1) (a) 1. to 10. to be (1) (a) 4. to 13., am. (1) (a) (intro.) and (b) 2., cr. (1) (a) 1. to 3., Register, August, 1997, No. 500 , eff. 9-1-97; CR 05-020 : r. and recr. Register January 2006 No. 601 , eff. 2-1-06.

Note

No approvals are necessary when a landfill owner initiates a contaminant investigation or assessment monitoring according to chs. NR 507 and 508 . However, if an alternate assessment plan is proposed under s. NR 508.05 (2) , the landfill owner must request an approval under that section. Microsoft Windows NT 6.1.7601 Service Pack 1