224.46-580 Development of statewide programs -- Responsibilities of cabinet -Hazardous waste assessment -- Waiver -- Hazardous waste management fund - Pollution prevention fund -- Response actions to release of waste -- Postclosure site integrity.
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The General Assembly declares that it is the purpose of this section to promote the
development of statewide programs, under the responsibility of a single agency,
which are intended to protect the health of the citizens and the environment of the
Commonwealth from present and future threats associated with the management of
hazardous wastes and the release of toxic chemicals regulated under Title III,
Section 313 of the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986,
including disposal, treatment, recycling, storage, and transportation. The intent of
the General Assembly is to add to and coordinate, and not replace, existing efforts
and responsibilities in the areas of hazardous waste management, toxic chemical
manufacture, processing, or other use, and to leave the primary burden and
responsibility for hazardous waste and toxic chemical reduction on private industry;
and further to finance assistance and coordination by imposing assessments on the
generation of hazardous waste. The assessments are intended to produce a reduction
in waste generated; to promote the use of new techniques in recycling, treatment,
and alternatives other than land disposal; and to place the burden of financing
additional hazardous waste management activities necessarily undertaken by state
agencies on the users of those products associated with the generation of hazardous
waste. The General Assembly further finds that Kentucky's industries need
assistance in developing and implementing pollution prevention goals and that a
fund should be established to provide technical and financial assistance to those
industries.
The Energy and Environment Cabinet is given the authority to administer the
provisions and programs of this section and the responsibility to achieve the
purposes of this section.
In addition to all specific responsibilities contained elsewhere in this chapter, the
cabinet shall:
(a) Respond effectively and in a timely manner to emergencies created by the
release of hazardous substances, as defined in KRS 224.01-400, into the
environment. The cabinet shall provide for adequate containment and removal
of the hazardous substances in order that the threat of a release or actual
release of the substance may be abated and resultant harm to the environment
minimized. The provisions of KRS 45A.695 to 45A.725 may be suspended by
the cabinet if necessary to respond to an environmental emergency.
(b) Provide for post-closure monitoring and maintenance of hazardous waste
disposal sites upon termination of post-closure monitoring and maintenance
responsibilities by persons permitted to operate the facility pursuant to this
chapter.
(c) Identify, investigate, classify, contain, or clean up any release, threatened
release, or disposal of a hazardous substance where responsible parties are
economically or otherwise unavailable to properly address the problem and
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the problem represents an imminent danger to the health of the citizens and
the environment of the Commonwealth.
The cabinet shall have the authority to finance the nonfederal share of the cost for
clean up of sites under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation
and Liability Act of 1980 (Pub. L. 96-510).
The cabinet shall recover, when possible, actual and necessary expenditures
incurred in carrying out the duties under this section. Any expenditures recovered
shall be placed in the hazardous waste management fund.
It is the expressed purpose of this section to accomplish effective hazardous waste
and toxic chemical management that results in a reduction of the generation of
hazardous wastes and the release of toxic chemicals within the Commonwealth;
further, it is a purpose of this chapter to allocate a portion of the cost of
administering necessary governmental programs related to hazardous waste and
toxic chemical management to those industries whose products are reasonably
related to the generation of hazardous waste.
There is hereby imposed upon every person engaged within this state in the
generation of hazardous waste an annual hazardous waste assessment to be
determined pursuant to this section according to the quantity by weight of hazardous
waste generated, except that no assessment shall be levied against generators for
any quantity of "special wastes," waste oil, or spent material from air pollution
control devices controlling emissions from coke manufacturing facilities. The
assessment shall not be imposed upon any person for any quantities of hazardous
waste generated by others for which that person is a secondary handler that stores,
processes, or reclaims the waste. The assessment shall be reported and paid to the
Energy and Environment Cabinet for the generation of hazardous waste on an
annual basis on January 1 of each year. The payment shall be accompanied by a
report or return in a form that the cabinet may prescribe. If a federal law is enacted
which accomplishes or purports to accomplish the purposes set forth in this section
and which levies an assessment or tax upon any business assessed pursuant to this
section, the amount of the assessment to be levied upon the business under this
section shall be reduced by the amount of the federal assessment or tax upon the
business. The reduction shall only be authorized when funds raised by the federal
assessment or tax are made available to the state for any of the activities to be
funded under this section. If federal moneys are available to carry out the duties
imposed by subsection (3) of this section, the assessment shall cease to be levied
and collected until such time as federal moneys are no longer available to the
Commonwealth for these purposes. The assessment shall be charged against
generators of hazardous waste until June 30, 2016. After this date, no further
hazardous waste management assessment shall be charged against generators. The
hazardous waste assessment shall be waived for any generator owing less than fifty
dollars () for the year. However, a return must be filed by generators to whom a
payment waiver applies.
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The assessment on generators shall be one and two-tenths cents (.012) per pound
if the waste is liquid, or two-tenths of a cent (.002) per pound if the waste is
solid.
(a) Hazardous waste that is injected into a permitted underground injection well
shall be assessed on a dry weight basis;
(b) Hazardous waste treated, detoxified, solidified, neutralized, recycled,
incinerated, or disposed of on-site shall be assessed at one-half (1/2) of the
appropriate rate, except for recycled waste used in the steel manufacturing
process which shall be exempt;
(c) Waste that is subject to regulation under Section 402 or 307B of the Federal
Clean Water Act shall be exempt;
(d) Emission control dust and sludge from the primary production of steel that is
recycled by high temperature metals recovery or managed by stabilization of
metals shall be exempt; and
(e) Waste that is delivered from the generator to an on-site or off-site industrial
boiler or furnace and burned for energy recovery in accordance with state and
federal laws and regulations shall be assessed at one-half (1/2) of the
appropriate rate.
(9) Except for waste brought into the state by a company to an affiliated manufacturing
facility of the company receiving the waste, any person who transports hazardous
waste into the state for land disposal or treatment which is generated outside of the
state shall pay an assessment to the hazardous waste facility which first receives the
waste for storage, treatment, or land disposal. The assessment rate shall be identical
to the rate described in subsection (8) of this section. The facility shall remit the
assessment to the cabinet on an annual basis on January 1 of each year. The
payment shall be accompanied by a return the cabinet shall prescribe.
(10) If any generator or hazardous waste facility subject to the provisions of subsection
(8) or (9) of this section fails or refuses to file a return or furnish any information
requested in writing by the cabinet, the cabinet may, from any information in its
possession, make an estimate and issue an assessment against the generator or
hazardous waste facility and add a penalty of ten percent (10%) of the amount of the
assessment so determined. This penalty shall be in addition to all other applicable
penalties in this chapter.
(11) If any generator or hazardous waste facility subject to the provisions of subsection
(8) or (9) of this section fails to make and file a return required by this chapter on or
before the due date of the return or the due date as extended by the cabinet, unless it
is shown to the satisfaction of the cabinet, that the failure is due to reasonable cause,
five percent (5%) of the assessment found to be due by the cabinet shall be added to
the assessment for each thirty (30) days or fraction thereof elapsing between the due
date of the return and the date on which it is filed, but the total penalty shall not
exceed twenty-five percent (25%) of the assessment.
(12) If the assessment imposed by this chapter, whether assessed by the cabinet, or the
generator, or any installment or portion of the assessment is not paid on or before
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the date prescribed for its payment, there shall be collected, as a part of the
assessment, interest upon the unpaid amount at the rate of eight percent (8%) per
annum from the date prescribed for its payment until payment is actually made to
the cabinet.
(a) There is hereby created within the State Treasury a trust and agency fund
which shall not lapse to be known as the hazardous waste management fund.
The fund shall be deposited in an interest-bearing account. The cabinet shall
be responsible for collecting and receiving funds as provided in this section,
and all such assessments collected or received by the State Treasury shall be
deposited in the hazardous waste management fund. All interest earned on the
money deposited in the fund shall be deposited to the fund. When the State
Treasurer certifies to the cabinet that the uncommitted balance of the
hazardous waste management fund exceeds six million dollars (,000,000),
assessments shall not be collected until the State Treasurer certifies to the
cabinet that the balance in the hazardous waste management fund is less than
three million dollars (,000,000). The implementation of the cap on the fund
shall be suspended from July 13, 1990, until July 1, 1991. In addition, for
assessments paid after July 1, 1991, the cabinet shall refund or grant a credit
against the next assessment to come due, on a pro-rated basis, any money
collected in one (1) year in excess of the cap.
(b) In any fiscal year in which the fees assessed under this section total less than
one million eight hundred thousand dollars (,800,000) in fiscal year 20072008 dollars, adjusted annually to reflect any increase in the cost-of-living
index, the difference between the fee receipts and the adjusted minimum
balance shall be transferred from funds collected pursuant to KRS 224.60-130.
(c) The cabinet shall file with the Legislative Research Commission a biennial
report, beginning two (2) years after July 15, 2008, on the revenues and
expenditures of the fund.
There is hereby created within the State Treasury a trust and agency account which
shall not lapse to be known as the pollution prevention fund. The fund shall be
placed in an interest-bearing account. The fund shall be administered by the Center
for Pollution Prevention. The cabinet shall remit to the fund each fiscal year twenty
percent (20%) of the funds received by the hazardous waste management fund
subject to the enacted budget bill.
Upon request of the secretary, moneys accumulated in the hazardous waste
management fund shall be released in amounts necessary to accomplish the
performance of the duties imposed by subsection (3) of this section. However,
moneys from the fund shall not be used when federal moneys are available to carry
out these duties, except when immediate action is required to protect public health
or the environment, in which case the cabinet shall actively pursue reimbursement
of the fund by any available federal moneys.
If any person responsible for a release or threatened release of a hazardous
substance fails to take response actions or to make reasonable progress in
completing response actions ordered by the cabinet, the cabinet may bring an action
to compel performance or may take appropriate response actions and order the
responsible person to reimburse the cabinet for the actual costs incurred by the
cabinet.
(17) If disposal activities have occurred at a hazardous waste site, the cabinet shall
record in the office of the county clerk in the county in which a waste site is situated
a notice containing a legal description of the property that discloses to any potential
transferee that the land was used to dispose hazardous waste and that further
information on the hazardous waste site may be obtained from the cabinet.
(18) No person shall affect the integrity of the final cover, liners, or any other
components of any containment system after closure of a hazardous waste site on or
in which hazardous waste remains without prior written approval of the cabinet.
Effective: July 15, 2010
History: Amended 2010 Ky. Acts ch. 24, sec. 372, effective July 15, 2010. -- Amended
2008 Ky. Acts ch. 104, sec. 1, effective July 15, 2008. -- Amended 2006 Ky. Acts
ch. 36, sec. 1, effective July 12, 2006. -- Amended 2004 Ky. Acts ch. 44, sec. 1,
effective July 13, 2004. -- Amended 2002 Ky. Acts ch. 54, sec. 1, effective July 15,
2002. -- Amended 2000 Ky. Acts ch. 351, sec. 1, effective July 14, 2000. -- Amended
1994 Ky. Acts ch. 460, sec. 8, effective July 15, 1994. -- Amended 1990 Ky. Acts
ch. 432, sec. 1, effective July 13, 1990; and ch. 496, sec. 57, effective July 13, 1990.
-- Amended 1988 Ky. Acts ch. 159, sec. 1, effective July 15, 1988. -- Amended 1986
Ky. Acts ch. 237, sec. 8, effective July 15, 1986; and ch. 298, sec. 1, effective July
15, 1986. -- Amended 1984 Ky. Acts ch. 363, sec. 1, effective July 13, 1984. -Created 1980 Ky. Acts ch. 263, sec. 1, effective July 15, 1980.
Formerly codified as KRS 224.876.
Legislative Research Commission Note. See definition of "special wastes" in KRS
224.50-760(1).
Legislative Research Commission Note (7/15/2008). The numbering of subsections in
this section has been altered by the Reviser of Statutes from the numbering in 2008
Ky. Acts ch. 104, sec. 1, under the authority of KRS 7.136.
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