Code of Maine Rules › 06 - DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION › 096 - DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION - GENERAL › Chapter 401 - LANDFILL SITING, DESIGN, AND OPERATION › Section 096-401-1 - General Licensing Requirements

Current through 2024-29, July 17, 2024
A.
Applicability.
This Chapter applies to solid waste disposal
				facilities landfilling municipal solid waste, special waste,
				construction/demolition debris, land clearing debris, and wood wastes, and
				permit-by-rule facilities disposing of cull potatoes. A license is required to
				locate, establish, construct, and operate any new landfill facility site, or to
				alter an existing landfill facility site, pursuant to 06-096 CMR ch. 400 and
				this Chapter.
Construction/demolition debris, land clearing debris, and
				  wood waste landfills meeting the standards and requirements of section 7 need
				  only meet and may be licensed under the requirements of section 7. Cull potato
				  disposal facilities may be eligible for a permit-by-rule to the extent that the
				  standards of section 8 are met. All other landfills are subject to the
				  requirements of sections 1-6.
B.
Two Stage Process for Licensing
				Landfills.
The licensing of new landfills or expansions of existing
				landfills under the provisions of sections 1-6 of this Chapter occurs in two
				stages: a "Preliminary Information Report" (PIR) and an application. This
				two-staged process allows the applicant and the Department to work
				interactively to ensure that the site assessment work is adequate to determine
				whether or not the facility will pose an unreasonable threat to ground and
				surface water or to public health and safety, and that the engineering design
				is developed based on the site characteristics identified during the site
				assessment. The PIR must demonstrate that prohibitive siting criteria are not
				violated in the area proposed for landfill development.
C.
Performance Standards and Siting
				Criteria
(1)
Performance
				Standards
. Applicants for new or expanded landfill licenses or
				amendments to an existing landfill license, must demonstrate that the landfill
				will be sited, designed, constructed, operated, and closed to meet the
				standards in 06-096 CMR ch. 400, section 4 and the following:
(a) Landfills may not contaminate ground
				water outside the solid waste boundary;
(b) Landfills with waste handling areas that
				are located within 10,000 feet of any airport runway used by turbojet aircraft
				or within 5000 feet of any airport runway used by piston-type aircraft only
				must demonstrate that the landfill will be designed and operated so that the
				landfill does not pose a bird hazard to aircraft;
(c) Time of travel to sensitive receptors
				from the bottom of the landfill and leachate pond liner systems must be greater
				than 6 years including any offsets gained through the use of improvement
				allowances pursuant to section 2.D(2). Time of travel to sensitive receptors
				from leachate storage structures and pump stations must be greater than 3
				years;
(d) Contaminant releases
				from the area within the solid waste boundary must not pose an unreasonable
				threat to sensitive receptors; and
(e) At facilities where ground water
				monitoring is anticipated or is being conducted, the disturbance of soil
				material must not affect the ability to monitor water quality at the facility
				site.