HB 0053

1	A bill to be entitled
2	An act relating to renewable energy; amending s. 403.7061,
3	F.S.; requiring counties with waste-to-energy facilities
4	to implement a solid waste management and recycling
5	program, under certain circumstances; deleting a permit
6	requirement for a waste-to-energy facility; providing an
7	effective date.
8
9	Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
10
11	Section 1.  Section 403.7061, Florida Statutes, is amended
12	to read:
13	403.7061  Requirements for review of new waste-to-energy
14	facility capacity by the Department of Environmental
15	Protection.--
16	(1)  The Legislature recognizes the need to use an
17	integrated approach to municipal solid waste management.
18	Accordingly, the solid waste management legislation adopted in
19	1988 was guided by policies intended to foster integrated solid
20	waste management by using waste reduction, recycling, waste-to-
21	energy facilities, and landfills. Progress is being made in the
22	state using this integrated approach to municipal solid waste
23	management, and this approach should be continued. Waste-to-
24	energy facilities will continue to be an integral part of the
25	state's solid waste management practices. However, the state is
26	committed to achieving its recycling and waste reduction goals
27	and must ensure that waste-to-energy facilities are fully
28	integrated with the state's waste management goals. Therefore,
29	the Legislature finds that the department should evaluate
30	applications for waste-to-energy facilities in accordance with
31	the new criteria in subsection (3) to confirm that the
32	facilities are part of an integrated waste management plan.
33	(2)  Notwithstanding any other provisions of state law, the
34	department shall not issue a construction permit or
35	certification to build a waste-to-energy facility or expand an
36	existing waste-to-energy facility unless the facility meets the
37	requirements set forth in subsection (3). Any construction
38	permit issued by the department between January 1, 1993, and May
39	12, 1993, which does not address these new requirements shall be
40	invalid. These new requirements do not apply to the issuance of
41	permits or permit modifications to retrofit existing facilities
42	with new or improved pollution control equipment to comply with
43	state or federal law. The department shall initiate rulemaking
44	to incorporate the criteria in subsection (3) into its permit
45	review process.
46	(3)  An applicant must provide reasonable assurance that
47	the construction of a new waste-to-energy facility or the
48	expansion of an existing waste-to-energy facility will comply
49	with the following criteria subsections:
50	(a)  The facility is a necessary part of the local
51	government's integrated solid waste management program in the
52	jurisdiction where the facility is located and cannot be avoided
53	through feasible and practical efforts to use recycling or waste
54	reduction.
55	(b)  The use of capacity at existing waste-to-energy
56	facilities within reasonable transportation distance of the
57	proposed facility must have been evaluated and found not to be
58	economically feasible when compared to the use of the proposed
59	facility for the expected life of the proposed facility. This
60	paragraph does not apply to:
61	1.  Applications to build or expand waste-to-energy
62	facilities received by the department before March 1, 1993, or
63	amendments to such applications that do not increase combustion
64	capacity beyond that requested as of March 1, 1993; or
65	2.  Any modification to waste-to-energy facility
66	construction or operating permits or certifications or
67	conditions thereto, including certifications under ss. 403.501-
68	403.518, that do not increase combustion capacity above that
69	amount applied for before March 1, 1993.
70	(c)  The county in which the facility is located has
71	implemented a solid waste management and recycling program that
72	is designed to will achieve the 30-percent waste reduction goal
73	set forth in s. 403.706(4) by the time the facility begins
74	operation. For the purposes of this section, the provisions of
75	s. 403.706(4)(c) for counties with populations of 75,000 or less
76	do not apply.
77	(d)  The local government in which the facility is located
78	has implemented a mulching, composting, or other waste reduction
79	program for yard trash.
80	(e)  The local governments served by the facility will have
81	implemented or participated in a separation program designed to
82	remove small-quantity generator and household hazardous waste,
83	mercury containing devices, and mercuric-oxide batteries from
84	the waste stream prior to incineration, by the time the facility
85	begins operation.
86	(f)  The local government in which the facility is located
87	has implemented a program to procure products or materials with
88	recycled content, pursuant to s. 403.7065.
89	(g)  A program will exist in the local government in which
90	the facility is located for collecting and recycling recovered
91	material from the institutional, commercial, and industrial
92	sectors by the time the facility begins operation.
93	(h)  The facility will be in compliance with applicable
94	local ordinances and with the approved state and local
95	comprehensive plans required by chapter 163.
96	(i)  The facility is in substantial compliance with its
97	permit, conditions of certification, and any agreements or
98	orders resulting from environmental enforcement actions by state
99	agencies.
100	(4)  For the purposes of this section, the term "waste-to-
101	energy facility" means a facility that uses an enclosed device
102	using controlled combustion to thermally break down solid,
103	liquid, or gaseous combustible solid waste to an ash residue
104	that contains little or no combustible material and that
105	produces electricity, steam, or other energy as a result. The
106	term does not include facilities that primarily burn fuels other
107	than solid waste even if such facilities also burn some solid
108	waste as a fuel supplement. The term also does not include
109	facilities that burn vegetative, agricultural, or silvicultural
110	wastes, bagasse, clean dry wood, methane or other landfill gas,
111	wood fuel derived from construction or demolition debris, or
112	waste tires, alone or in combination with fossil fuels.
113	Section 2.  This act shall take effect October 1, 2005.

CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.