2023 Oklahoma Statutes › Title 27A. Environment and Natural Resources › §27A-2-7-105. Powers and duties of Department of Environmental Quality.

The Department of Environmental Quality shall have the power and duty to:
1. Issue permits for the construction and operation and for the post-closure, maintenance and monitoring of hazardous waste facilities;
2. Provide the owner or operator of a hazardous waste facility a list of all materials which the Department deems acceptable for treatment, recycling, storage, and disposal at the facility;
3. Make periodic inspections of hazardous waste facilities and recycling, transporting, and generating facilities to determine the extent of compliance with the Oklahoma Hazardous Waste Management Act and rules promulgated thereunder, and orders, permits and licenses issued pursuant thereto;
4. Develop, maintain, and monitor public records of the source and amount of hazardous waste generated in Oklahoma and the methods used to dispose of, recycle, or treat said waste or material;
5. Require and prescribe manifest forms to all persons generating and transporting hazardous waste off-site for storage, recycling, treatment, or disposal;
6. Require periodic reports or manifest certifications regarding such programs and efforts to reduce the volume or quantity and toxicity of such hazardous waste as may be required by or pursuant to authority of the Oklahoma Hazardous Waste Management Act;
7. Require reports from all operators of hazardous waste facilities who receive hazardous waste for treatment or storage or disposal, listing the amount, transporter, and generator of all hazardous waste received. Such reports are to be made on at least a monthly or quarterly basis, as designated by the Department;
8. Approve or disapprove methods of disposal of hazardous waste, and may prohibit certain specific disposal practices including, but not limited to, any type of land disposal of any form of such waste. Land disposal includes, but is not limited to, landfills, surface impoundments, waste piles, deep injection wells, land treatment facilities, salt dome and bed formations and underground mines or caves;
9. Inform persons generating hazardous waste of available, alternative methods of disposal of such waste;
10. Develop a system to provide information on recyclable wastes to potential users of such materials. Such information shall not include any information which the Department deems confidential or private in nature;
11. Cooperate and share information with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency;
12. Prepare an emergency response plan for spills of hazardous waste and for spills of hazardous materials;
13. Make information obtained by the Department regarding hazardous waste facilities and sites available to the public in substantially the same manner, and to the same degree, as would be the case if the hazardous waste program in this state were being carried out by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency;
14. Develop rules with respect to any existing surface impoundment or landfill or class of surface impoundments or landfills from which the Department determines hazardous waste may migrate into groundwater, impose such requirements, including but not limited to double liners and leachate detection and collection systems, as may be necessary to protect human health and the environment;
15. Prohibit or restrict the use of any specific disposal methods or practices for specific hazardous waste material, substances or classes, as may be necessary to protect human health and the environment;
16. Identify areas within the state which are unsuitable for specific hazardous waste disposal methods, and deny permits for such disposal methods in such areas;
17. Issue a one-year research development and demonstration permit for any treatment facility which proposes an innovative and experimental hazardous waste treatment technology or process not yet regulated. Permits may be renewed no more than three times. No renewal may exceed one (1) year;
18. Waive or modify general permit application and issuance requirements for research and development permits, except for financial responsibility and public participation requirements;
19. Terminate experimental activity if necessary to protect human health and the environment;
20. Require oil recycling facilities using hazardous waste to have a hazardous waste facility permit;
21. Issue permits containing any conditions necessary to protect human health and the environment;
22. Issue permits for the storage of hazardous waste in underground tanks;
23. Require groundwater monitoring for any landfill, surface impoundment, land treatment site or pile;
24. Determine and enforce penalties for violations of the Oklahoma Hazardous Waste Management Act and rules promulgated thereunder;
25. Evaluate the benefit of rules governing labeling practices for any containers used for the disposal, storage, or transportation of hazardous waste which accurately identify such waste, and govern the use of appropriate containers for such waste not otherwise regulated by the federal government;
26. Monitor research and development regarding methods of the handling, storage, use, processing, and disposal of hazardous waste;
27. Cooperate with existing technical reference centers on hazardous waste disposal, recycling practices, and related information for public and private use;
28. Monitor research in the technical and managerial aspects of management and use of hazardous waste and recycling and recovery of resources from hazardous wastes;
29. Determine existing rates of production of hazardous waste;
30. Promote recycling and recovery of resources from hazardous wastes;
31. Encourage the reduction or exchange, or both, of hazardous waste; and
32. Cooperate with an existing information clearinghouse, to develop records of recyclable waste. Every generator of hazardous waste shall supply the Department with information for the clearinghouse. Each generator shall not be required to supply any more information than is required by the manifests. The Department shall make this information available to persons who desire to recycle the wastes. The information shall be made available in such a way that the trade secrets of the producer are protected.
Added by Laws 1976, c. 251, § 4. Amended by Laws 1978, c. 260, § 3, emerg. eff. May 10, 1978; Laws 1981, c. 322, § 4, eff. July 1, 1981. Renumbered from Title 63, § 2754 by Laws 1981, c. 322, § 18, eff. July 1, 1981. Amended by Laws 1986, c. 180, § 1, emerg. eff. May 15, 1986; Laws 1990, c. 296, § 2, operative July 1, 1990; Laws 1991, c. 173, § 3; Laws 1992, c. 403, § 9, eff. Sept. 1, 1992; Laws 1993, c. 145, § 88, eff. July 1, 1993. Renumbered from Title 63, § 1-2004 by Laws 1993, c. 145, § 359, eff. July 1, 1993. Amended by Laws 1994, c. 373, § 17, eff. July 1, 1994; Laws 2021, c. 33, § 1, eff. July 1, 2021.