Issue 3 - the Montana Secretary of State Website

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Access: 40 CFR 258.25 New Rule XIX
Run-on/run-off controls: 40 CFR 258.26 New Rule XX
Surface water: 40 CFR 258.27 New Rule XXI
Liquids restrictions: 40 CFR 258.28 New Rule XXII
Recordkeeping: 40 CFR 258.29 New Rule XXIII
Requirements that are not based on a federal regulation, such as
requirements for liability insurance in New Rule XXV, management of special
wastes, in New Rule XXVI, and salvaging, confining waste to appropriate areas,
controlling litter, and designing, constructing, operating, and maintaining a system to
protect against threats to environmental and health concerns, in New Rule XXVII,
are not more stringent because there are no comparable federal regulations or
guidelines addressing the same circumstances. Therefore, no stringency findings
are required.
COMMENT NO. 74: A commentor stated that the department's cost
evaluations are simplistic and grossly underestimate the cost of submitting plans of
all types to the department and obtaining department approval. While the cost of
mailing is negligible, the department has failed to evaluate the additional cost of
obtaining approval of plans submitted by licensed engineers and qualified ground
water scientists and the cost to the facility of waiting for department approval.
RESPONSE: The cost evaluations that contained only a mailing cost were
for the submittal of plans that are required by other rules to be placed in the
operating record. Because these plans would have to be prepared anyway, the only
additional cost would be the cost of submitting the plan to the department. If the
department determines that a submittal is inadequate, then the department has
done its job in ensuring compliance with the rules, and the cost to correct the
deficiency would not have been caused by the review, but by the fact that the
original submission was deficient.
COMMENT NO. 75: A commentor stated that, in ARM 17.50.513(3), the
department arbitrarily proposed requiring updates to plans of operation and other
plans every five years, based on the regulatory authority in 75-10-221(5), MCA.
This portion of the solid waste statute states: "The department may require
submission of a new application if the department determines that the plan of
operation, the management of the solid waste system, or the geological or ground
water conditions have changed since the license was initially approved." The
requirement that a new application or operation and management plan be submitted
requires an affirmative declaration from the department that something at the facility
has changed. Absent an inspection by the department, and an affirmative
declaration that something has changed, the five-year requirement is arbitrary,
capricious, and presumptuous, and proposed rule changes based on this reasoning
are without merit or legal basis. The cost to upgrade an O & M plan at most facilities
is at least $2,000, with the cost for major landfills being between $7,000 and
$10,000.
RESPONSE: ARM 17.50.513(3) does not require an update of the O & M
plan every five years. ARM 17.50.513(3) requires that an owner, operator, or
Montana Administrative Register 3-2/11/10