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Georgia EPD Update: Land Protection Branch and Annual Meeting

Get the latest updates from the Georgia EPD Land Protection Branch at the Annual Meeting. Explore topics such as budget trends, initiatives, legislation, and regulations in waste management and land protection.

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Georgia EPD Update: Land Protection Branch and Annual Meeting

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  1. Georgia EPD UpdateLand Protection BranchAir and Waste Management Association Annual MeetingApril 2013 Keith Bentley Land Protection Branch Chief

  2. Georgia Statistics • 29,000 Underground storage tanks • 7,100+ Scrap tire generators • 4,000+ Hazardous waste generators • 78 RCRA TSD facilities • 2,000+ Asbestos projects/year • 2,000+ Landfills • 2,000+ inert waste • 380 closed landfills • 189 solid waste facilities • 824 Active surface mining permits • 558 Sites on Hazardous Site Inventory • 440Brownfields applications processed (258 LOLsissued) • 300+ Active hazardous site remediation projects • 1,400+ Active UST cleanups • 290Identified scrap tire piles • 63 VRP applications received, 52 approved, 3 remediated and delisted from HSI • 11 NPL sites

  3. Organization

  4. Budget Trends and Impacts • LPB is funded from ~20 sources (federal and state) • Since 2008 staff has been reduced by ~20% • Funding has been reduced by 35% • Most reductions have been from state-based funding • Seeing reductions in federal funding as well • Spending on orphan site cleanups (scrap tires, HSI sites, landfills) has been minimal recently • Continue with inspections and enforcement to prevent problems from getting worse

  5. Initiatives • General theme: How to get job done with declining resources? • Expedited permitting for borrow pits • So far so good • IT projects • Online permit tracking • Unified Facility Registration System • Online fee payments • VRP/HSRA work process improvements

  6. Legislation: Hazardous Waste Trust Fund • Hazardous Waste Trust Fund reauthorized through July 2018 • Funded through fees (landfill tipping, hazardous waste generators, hazardous waste disposal) • Funds staff to run HSRA and VRP programs • Funds orphaned site cleanups • Funds emergency response

  7. Legislation: Scrap Tires • Legislation targets dumping of scrap tires • Regulates used tire carriers to close loophole • Requires decal for all used/scrap tire carriers • Allows enforcement by police and local code enforcement officers • New rulemaking required; probably this fall

  8. Legislation: Inert Waste Landfills • Inert waste landfills were subject to permit by rule • Reached unmanageable numbers and non-compliance rates were high • New rules final January 2013 • Requires permit, methane control and financial assurance • Legislature passed law exempting facilities that can certify compliance with PBR requirements • New rulemaking will be required

  9. Regulation: Composting • Composting industry evolved and existing rules were inadequate to address variety of applications • Food residuals of 800,000 tons per year could be diverted from MSWs • Composting capacity < 10% of that needed • Engaged stakeholder group to determine what was needed • Draft regulations developed with tiered requirements based on feedstock and technology • Proposed rule out for comment in May?

  10. Regulation: GUST Fees • Georgia Underground Storage Tank (GUST) Fees • Fund cleanups for leaking USTs • Voluntary program • Participants are smaller operators • Market forces reducing fees collected • Ability to fund cleanups threatened • Rule raising fees proposed in February (short-term fix) • Strategy for long-term stability TBD

  11. Solid Waste Handling Permits

  12. Hazardous Site Inventory

  13. Brownfields

  14. Questions? Keith Bentley, EPD Land Protection Branch Chief

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