Texas Administrative Code › Title 30 - ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY › Part 1 - TEXAS COMMISSION ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY › Chapter 330 - MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE › Subchapter M - LOCATION RESTRICTIONS › Section 330.543 - Easements and Buffer Zones

Current through Reg. 49, No. 28; July 12, 2024
(a) Easement
				  protection. No solid waste unloading, storage, disposal, or processing
				  operations shall occur within any easement, buffer zone, or right-of-way that
				  crosses the facility. No solid waste disposal shall occur within 25 feet of the
				  center line of any utility line or pipeline easement but no closer than the
				  easement, unless otherwise authorized by the executive director. All pipeline
				  and utility easements shall be clearly marked with posts that extend at least
				  six feet above ground level, spaced at intervals no greater than 300
				  feet.
(b) Buffer zones.
(1) Except for facilities that are authorized
				  by a notification, the owner or operator shall maintain a minimum separating
				  distance of 50 feet between feedstock or final product storage areas; solid
				  waste storage, processing, Type IAE landfill units, Type IV landfill units, and
				  Type IVAE landfill units within and adjacent to the facility boundary on
				  property owned or controlled by the owner or operator. The buffer zone shall
				  not be narrower than that necessary to provide for safe passage for fire
				  fighting and other emergency vehicles. The executive director may consider
				  alternatives to buffer zone requirements for permitted and registered storage
				  and processing municipal solid waste facilities.
(2) For landfill permits that existed before
				  the comprehensive rule revisions of this chapter as adopted in 2006 became
				  effective, the owner or operator is subject to the former rules and shall
				  establish and maintain a buffer zone in compliance with the permit. For new
				  Type I landfills, vertical or lateral expansions of existing Type I landfills,
				  and existing Type IAE landfills that subsequently no longer satisfy the
				  conditions specified in §
											330.5(b)(1)
				  of this title (relating to Classification of Municipal Solid Waste Facilities),
				  the owner or operator shall establish and maintain the buffer zone prescribed
				  by this paragraph. All buffer zones must be within and adjacent to the facility
				  boundary on property owned or controlled by the owner or operator.
(A) For any new Type I landfill, the owner or
				  operator shall establish and maintain a 125-foot buffer zone.
(B) For any vertical expansion, the owner or
				  operator shall establish and maintain a 125-foot buffer zone. A vertical
				  expansion is any height increase that exceeds the maximum permitted final
				  contour for any cell or unit for which an increase is requested. For a vertical
				  expansion, the buffer distance must be measured from the outermost edge of the
				  newly permitted solid waste disposal airspace.
(C) For any lateral expansion to areas not
				  previously permitted, the owner or operator shall establish and maintain a
				  125-foot buffer zone. For a lateral expansion, the buffer distance must be
				  measured from the edge of the horizontally expanded portion of the
				  landfill.
(D) For vertical or
				  lateral expansions of existing landfills, the new buffer zone requirements
				  shall apply only to newly permitted airspace and shall not apply to any
				  previously permitted airspace, regardless of whether or not the previously
				  permitted airspace has been constructed or filled with solid waste. The new
				  buffer zone may include any previously permitted airspace.
(3) The executive director may consider
				  alternatives to buffer zone requirements in paragraph (2) of this subsection.
				  Alternatives may be approved where the owner or operator demonstrates that:
(A) the prescribed buffer zone standard is
				  not feasible; and
(B) there is a
				  specific engineered design alternative that:
(i) is consistent with the performance goal
				  of providing a visual screening of solid waste processing and disposal
				  activities;
(ii) affords ready
				  access for emergency response, maintenance, and monitoring;
(iii) affords equivalent control of odors and
				  windblown waste as the prescribed buffer zone; and
(iv) provides sufficient distance to meet the
				  drainage and sediment control requirements applicable to the
				  facility.