House Bill 3701e1

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                                   CS/HB 3701, First Engrossed/ntc



  1                      A bill to be entitled

  2         An act relating to pollution control; creating

  3         s. 403.7211, F.S.; restricting authority of the

  4         Department of Environmental Protection to issue

  5         permits for construction, modification, and

  6         initial operation of facilities for disposal,

  7         storage, or treatment of hazardous wastes

  8         generated off-site; restricting the locations

  9         of hazardous waste transfer facilities;

10         providing application to pending permits and

11         proposed transfer stations; providing an

12         effective date.

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14  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

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16         Section 1.  Section 403.7211, Florida Statutes, is

17  created to read:

18         403.7211  Hazardous waste facilities managing hazardous

19  wastes generated off-site; federal facilities managing

20  hazardous waste.

21         (1)  This section applies to facilities managing

22  hazardous waste generated off-site.  This section does not

23  apply to manufacturers, power generators, or other industrial

24  operations that have received or apply for a permit or a

25  modification to a permit from the department for the

26  treatment, storage, or disposal of hazardous waste generated

27  only on-site or from other sites owned or acquired by the

28  permittee.  Power generators are electric utilities as defined

29  in s. 403.522 which own or operate facilities necessary for

30  the generation, transmission, or distribution of electric

31  energy, federally qualified facilities under the Public


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                                   CS/HB 3701, First Engrossed/ntc



  1  Utility Regulatory Act of 1978 or exempt wholesale generators

  2  under the Energy Policy Act of 1992.  Notwithstanding the

  3  foregoing, this section shall apply to all federal facilities

  4  that manage hazardous waste.

  5         (2)  The department shall not issue any permit under s.

  6  403.722 for the construction, initial operation, or

  7  substantial modification of a facility for the disposal,

  8  storage, or treatment of hazardous waste generated off-site

  9  which is proposed to be located in any of the following

10  locations:

11         (a)  Any area where life-threatening concentrations of

12  hazardous substances could accumulate at any residence or

13  residential subdivision as the result of a catastrophic event

14  at the proposed facility, unless each such residence or

15  residential subdivision is served by at least one arterial

16  road or urban minor arterial road, as defined in s. 334.03,

17  which provides safe and direct egress by land to an area where

18  such life-threatening concentrations of hazardous substances

19  could not accumulate in a catastrophic event.  Egress by any

20  road leading from any residence or residential subdivision to

21  any point located within 1,000 yards of the proposed facility

22  is unsafe for the purposes of this paragraph.  In determing

23  whether egress proposed by the applicant is safe and direct,

24  the department shall also consider, at a minimum, the

25  following factors:

26         1.  natural barriers such as water bodies, and whether

27  any road in the proposed evacuation route is impaired by a

28  natural barrier such as a water body;

29         2.  potential exposure during egress and potential

30  increases in the duration of exposure;

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                                   CS/HB 3701, First Engrossed/ntc



  1         3.  whether any road in a proposed evacuation route

  2  passes in close proximity to the facility; and

  3         4.  whether any portion of the evacuation route is

  4  inherently directed toward the facility.

  5         (b)  Any location within 1,500 yards of any hospital,

  6  prison, school, nursing home facility, day care facility,

  7  stadium, place of assembled workship, or any other similar

  8  site where individuals are routinely confined or assembled in

  9  such a manner that reasonable access to immediate evacuation

10  is likely to be unavailable;

11         (c)  Any location within 1,000 yards of any residence;

12  or

13         (d)  Any location which is inconsistent with rules

14  adopted by the department under part IV.

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16  For the purposes of this subsection, all distances shall be

17  measured from the outer limit of the active hazardous waste

18  management area.  "Substantial modification" includes:  any

19  physical change in, change in the operations of, or addition

20  to a facility which could increase the potential off-site

21  impact, or risk of impact, from a release at that facility;

22  and any change in permit conditions which is reasonably

23  expected to lead to greater potential impacts or risks of

24  impacts, from a release at that facility.  "Substantial

25  modification" does not include a change in operations,

26  structures or permit conditions which does not substantially

27  increase either the potential impact from, or the risk of, a

28  release.  Physical or operational changes to a facility

29  related solely to the management of non-hazardous waste at the

30  facility shall not be considered a substantial

31  modification.  The department shall, by rule, adopt criteria


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                                   CS/HB 3701, First Engrossed/ntc



  1  to determine whether a facility has been substantially

  2  modified. "Initial operation" means the initial commencement

  3  of operations at the facility.

  4         (3)  It shall be presumed, for the purposes of section

  5  2(a) only, that life-threatening concentrations of hazardous

  6  substances could accumulate in a catastrophic event in any

  7  area within a radius of 3 miles of a hazardous waste transfer,

  8  disposal, storage, or treatment facility.  This presumption

  9  may be rebutted by a demonstration that such life-threatening

10  concentrations could accumulate at a greater distance, or that

11  such life-threatening concentrations could accumulate only at

12  a lesser distance, in light of the composition, quantity, and

13  concentration of hazardous waste proposed to be disposed of,

14  treated, or stored at the proposed facility.  This

15  demonstration may be made, at the election of the facility, in

16  the form of the submissions required under Program 3 of the

17  Accidental Release Prevention Program of s. 112(r)(7) of the

18  Clean Air Act.

19         (4)  For the purposes of this section, a concentration

20  of hazardous substances shall be deemed to be life-threatening

21  when the concentration could cause susceptible or sensitive

22  individuals, excluding hypersensitive or hypersusceptible

23  individuals, to experience irreversible or other serious,

24  long-lasting effects or impaired ability to escape.

25         (5)  No person shall construct or operate a transfer

26  facility for the management of hazardous waste unless the

27  facility meets the siting requirements of subsection (2).

28         (6)  This section shall not prohibit the operation of

29  existing transfer facilities that have commenced operation as

30  of the effective date of this section, if the transfer

31  facility is not relocated or if there is no substantial


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                                   CS/HB 3701, First Engrossed/ntc



  1  modification in the structure or operation of the facility

  2  after the effective date of this section.

  3         Section 2.  Section 403.7211, Florida Statutes, as

  4  created by this act, shall apply to any permit applications

  5  for the construction, initial operation, or substantial

  6  modification of a facility pending on the effective date of

  7  this act for which the Department of Environmental Protection

  8  has not issued a final order and to any proposed transfer

  9  facility which has not commenced operation as of the effective

10  date of this act.

11         Section 3.  This act shall take effect upon becoming a

12  law.

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