California Drafting Revised Landfill Financial Assurance Rules

Date: August 21, 2009

Source: News Room

The California Integrated Waste Management Board (CIWMB) has nearly finalized draft rules for how landfill operators must fund post-closure maintenance. The latest draft proposal would require operators to initially provide a financial assurance demonstration that matches the state water board's "corrective action" cost estimate. Like many states, current law does not require landfill operators to demonstrate financial assurance beyond the first 30 years after closure. Industry has been generally supportive of the latest draft rules but is concerned about flexibility in the event that the legislature adopts a so-called "pooled fund" which acts as a kind of insurance policy to cover potential corrective actions.

The revisions to the state's financial assurance rules are seen as significant because half of California's landfills are expected to require post-closure maintenance by the end of this year, according to some estimates. Environmental groups including Californians Against Waste and others worry that the draft financial assurance requirements do not go far enough in covering non-water quality corrective action. They also worry that the CIWMB is rushing the rules through before the end of the year when the board is eliminated and the agency is transformed into a branch of Cal EPA under a bill signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger earlier this year.

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