Section 289.61, Stats., requires the department to adopt by rule a graduated schedule of reasonable license and review fees to be charged for solid waste license and review activities. The statute requires the department to establish solid waste review fees at a level anticipated to recover the solid waste program staff review costs of conducting solid waste review activities. 4. Related Statutes or Rules: Sections 287.05 and 287.07, Stats., related to solid waste management priorities and prohibitions on land disposal. Also Board Order WA-08-24 and Emergency Board Order WA-07-24 (E), affecting NR 500 and 520 and relating to an alternative method for a municipality to establish proof of financial responsibility required for a solid waste disposal facility. 5. Plain Language Analysis:
Wisconsin’s solid waste management rules were substantially revised in the 1990s to comply with federal municipal solid waste landfill requirements, with limited updates since that time. Wisconsin’s rules were developed to be as protective as the standards in the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, commonly referred to as RCRA Subtitle D. This proposed rule amends portions of chs. NR 500 to 524, Wis. Adm. Code, to incorporate changes to solid waste landfill requirements, solid waste management fees, financial responsibility, and reporting requirements. This proposed rule reflects current industry standards and experience gained over the last 30 years related to the design, construction and operation of solid waste landfills while continuing to protect public health and the environment. This rule proposes changes to regulations affecting municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills and industrial landfills. Many of these changes are designed to create consistency or provide additional clarity. As of May 2024, there were 58 active licensed municipal solid waste and industrial landfills and thousands of closed landfills in Wisconsin. The department also regulates landfills approved to accept only construction and demolition waste under ch. NR 503, Wis. Adm. Code. The rule does not change requirements in ch. NR 503 or plan review fees specific to construction and demolition landfills, but monitoring requirement changes or other requirements referenced in ch. NR 503 may minimally impact those landfills. MSW landfills receive general household waste and receive other types of nonhazardous wastes, including commercial solid waste. Industrial landfills are designed to collect various commercial and institutional waste and often collect a majority of one type of waste, such as combustion ash, papermill sludge, or foundry sand. Both types must be designed and operated to meet certain criteria, including:
• Location restrictions that ensure landfills are built in suitable geological and geographical areas away from geological faults, wetlands, flood plains or other environmentally sensitive areas. • Collection and removal systems for leachate, which is a liquid generated in landfills from the waste itself and when rainfall and snow melt come in contact with waste in landfills. • Composite liner requirements along the bottom and sides of a landfill that protect groundwater and the underlying soil by preventing releases of leachate. • Operating practices that include compacting waste and covering it daily with several inches of soil to help reduce odor, control litter, insects, and rodents, and protect public health. • Groundwater monitoring requirements that require testing groundwater wells to determine whether waste materials have escaped from the landfill. • Closure and post-closure care requirements that include covering landfills and providing long-term care of closed landfills. • Financial responsibility requirements to ensure funding is available for environmental protection during and after landfill closure. General Corrections and Clarifications
There are general corrections and clarifications to language throughout chs. NR 500, 504, 506, 507, 508, 509, 510, 512, 514, 516, 520, and 524, Wis. Adm. Code. There are minor revisions related to recently updated code (CR 21-076 or Board Order WA‑17‑18, 2022) for coal combustion residual (CCR) landfills. These changes are required in order to obtain U.S. Environmental Protection Agency approval of a state permit program. To meet requirements, the department: _Hlk165618799 Clarified the definitions of “Aquifer” and “Maximum horizontal acceleration in lithified earth materials.” • Required that annual reports and inspection records be posted on publicly accessible internet sites. • Required fugitive dust control plans must also include procedures to log citizen complaints received by the owner or operator involving CCR fugitive dust events at a CCR landfill. Specific Changes within Each Chapter of Administrative Code
NR 500 – General Solid Waste Management Requirements
_Hlk146284674 Created new definitions for: bedrock and competent bedrock (and repealed related terms to reduce confusion), expand an existing landfill, gas monitoring well, leachate head, leachate seep, limits of disturbance, nurse crop, registered professional surveyor, underdrain system, and vertical-only expansion. • Replaced the term “ultra low-level radioactive waste” with “Technologically enhanced naturally occurring radioactive material waste” or “TENORM waste.” TENORM is a more common term used nationally and means waste containing naturally occurring radioactive materials. The definition corresponds to changes at ch. NR 506.12, Wis. Adm. Code, that standardize protective placement requirements for landfills accepting TENORM waste materials. • Clarified that submittal requirements are not complete until the appropriate fee is paid and that paper copies of submittals are only required upon request. • Required that surveying of landfill boundaries and environmental monitoring devices, annual topographic surveys, or other activities as requested by the department must be conducted by a licensed professional land surveyor or by a qualified technician who is directly supervised by a licensed professional land surveyor. NR 502 and 503 – Changes are made to match amendments in other chapters of code or make simple corrections.
NR 504 - Landfill Location, Performance, Design and Construction Criteria
• Allowed reduced separation distance between the seasonal high groundwater table and the bottom of the clay component of a landfill liner if the design includes an underdrain system. The underdrain system shall be designed to maintain the projected seasonal high groundwater table below the top of the clay component of the liner in the sump areas and below the leachate line undercuts under gravity drained conditions. • Allowed a reduced separation distance between the top of the competent bedrock surface and the bottom of the clay component if approved by the department in writing. • Specified that geotextiles, which are permeable fabrics used as a layer to separate, filter, and protect, that are used to line leachate collection trenches and on top of landfill liners must be at least 16 ounces/yard2 rather than the current 12 ounces, unless otherwise approved by the department in writing. • Allowed a specific alternative landfill liner design than what is currently required in code for composite lined landfills (composite liners consisting of a 60-mil HDPE geomembrane and four foot thick clay liner are currently required for all municipal solid waste landfills). This is an option, not a requirement, for design of a landfill in areas that may have limitations on obtaining the current minimum four foot clay component for a landfill liner. It is expected that if a landfill chooses this option that uses a compacted sub-base and only three feet of clay in the liner design, it would be a large economic benefit because of the cost savings from not needing to purchase, transport, and place as much clay soil. The optional alternative design specifies: •o a minimum thickness of one foot prepared soil sub-base •o a minimum thickness of at least 3 feet for the clay component at the base of the landfill, except under the leachate collection sumps •o a minimum thickness of at least 2 feet for the clay component of the 3:1 horizontal to vertical interior sidewalls of the landfill •o a minimum thickness of at least 4 feet for the clay component of the leachate collection sump at the bottom and all sides of the sump, and up to the top of the sump •o a slope of at least 2% for the liner surface toward the leachate collection lines •o an additional minimum 6-inch inside diameter perforated leachate collection pipe shall be placed at the toe of the 3:1 horizontal to vertical interior sidewalls of the landfill, with cleanout access • Specified that the minimum inside diameter of all leachate collection or transfer pipes shall be 6 inches, rather than the current 6-inch outside diameter requirement. This allows for better movement of leachate and easier cleaning of leachate collection pipes. • Allowed alternative final cover design proposals for municipal solid waste landfills. The design must meet certain performance-based criteria and adequately protect public health, welfare, and the environment, but is otherwise open to new design proposals. This is an option, not a requirement, for landfill owners. • Codified a currently allowed practice to allow native seed mixes to be used on the final cover of closed landfill areas. • Specified that when excavating soil designated to be used for a liner or final cover for the landfill, which has to meet certain performance criteria, an initial site inspection is not required at the soil borrow sources if a storm water discharge permit was previously issued. This is because the department’s Storm Water Program has previously reviewed the site for the same elements in the initial site inspection. • Clarified that all landfills must be designed to have a minimum separation distance of 50 feet between the limits of disturbance and a delineated wetland boundary, unless otherwise approved by the department in writing. NR 506 - Landfill Operational Criteria
• Clarified in code existing expectations for how daily covers and intermediate covers are applied to the open areas of a landfill. • Clarified that effective means of preventing the migration of explosive gases generated by waste in a landfill must be implemented “as the gas is produced.” The department may also require that gas be extracted from a landfill earlier than what is currently required to meet air quality regulations if there are persistent odor issues, leachate seeps caused by gas pressure, reoccurring surface emissions greater than 500 ppm methane above background or areas with stressed vegetation or other physical signs of landfill gas emergence. • Codified performance requirements and corrective action expectations for gas extraction systems. • Added language to describe current expectations for leachate collection system performance, and also to allow reduced frequency of leachate collection line cleaning for high-volume industrial waste landfills if there is no historic record of blockages or other issues with the performance of the lines. • Codified existing long-term care requirements after closure of a landfill that are currently specified in each landfill’s plan of operation, including: maintaining signs and restricted access, removing vegetation that would impact the cover, preventing erosion or ponding of water, continued control and collection of gas and leachate, and continued monitoring of groundwater. • Established notification deadlines for landfills to send certain information to the department, such as notification of a landfill surface fire, subsurface fire or elevated temperatures, or a leachate seep or leachate spill outside the limits of waste. • Codified existing annual report requirements that are currently specified in each landfill’s plan of operation. NR 507 - Environmental Monitoring for Landfills
• Proposed several minor edits to clarify proper operation, maintenance, reporting of sampling results, and labeling of monitoring devices relating to leachate and gas production or the effect on the quality of the air, groundwater, surface water, or soils. These edits reflect current practices by landfill owners and operators and best management practices in the solid waste management industry. • Updated the submittal deadline of certain well sampling and analytical data to the department from 60 days from completing sampling and analysis (undefined, variable date) to 90 days from the end of the sampling period (a solid date). This provides more clarity and extended time for landfill operators. • Clarified and updated the requirements for landfill owners or operators to calculate and propose preventive action limits and alternative concentration limits for parameters by using baseline sample concentration data. • Updated monitoring tables for landfills to improve the description of some parameters and reduce confusion. Removed chemical oxygen demand (COD) and replaced it with dissolved organic carbon (DOC) for papermill sludge landfills because the analytical process for COD generates a hazardous waste. • Added a separate leachate recirculation monitoring table and a separate gas monitoring table for municipal solid waste landfills. NR 508 - Responses When a Groundwater Standard Is Attained or Exceeded
• Clarified that responses are required when a groundwater standard is attained or exceeded at any groundwater monitoring well or water supply well. • Linked ch. NR 508, Wis. Adm. Code, with other chapters of the Administrative Code that list existing response requirements. NR 509 - Initial Site Reports for Landfills
• As noted earlier under ch. NR 504, Wis. Adm. Code, related to landfill design, specified that when excavating soil designated to be used for a liner or final cover for the landfill, which has to meet certain performance criteria, an initial site inspection is not required at the soil borrow sources if a storm water discharge permit was previously issued. • Updated language to clarify what is meant when the department issues an initial site report opinion on a proposed property for a landfill. The department’s opinion will reflect whether the proposed property has potential for development as a landfill. If there is potential, it will identify any constraints on development and possible ways constraints could be addressed, such as removing impacts to wetlands or applying for a wetlands permit. NR 510 - Pre-feasibility Reports for Landfills
• Repealed ch. NR 510, Wis. Adm. Code, related to optional pre-feasibility reports for proposed new landfills or expansions of existing landfills. This option has not been used by a landfill applicant since the code language became effective in 1996. NR 512 - Feasibility Reports for Landfills
• Reduced requirements for locational criteria (listed in ch. NR 504, Wis. Adm. Code) and information submittals for vertical-only expansions of an existing landfill. For example, information from soil borings, new well installations, or bedrock descriptions would not need to be evaluated or submitted to the department because no additional land area will be impacted. • Clarified that the department may ask for explanatory information in addition to that required in ch. NR 512, Wis. Adm. Code, prior to determining if a submitted feasibility report is complete or to determine feasibility. • Updated language regarding geotechnical information required in a feasibility report, including establishing minimum site-specific information that a geotechnical investigation must obtain. The code retains the prescribed number of soil borings, monitoring wells, and piezometers that are required, depending on the proposed acreage of landfill development and soil type. The code also retains the minimum soil and rock tests that are required. The overall intent remains the same as current code, but some minimum qualitative standards are established and the rule codifies site-specific geotechnical information department review staff routinely request, if it is not already provided in the feasibility report. This information defines the physical characteristics of the proposed landfill's location that are needed to determine feasibility. • Clarified what should be described in a feasibility report as possible constraints on landfill development, such as meeting distances between proposed limits of waste and water supply wells and discussing the significance of any groundwater standard exceedances. NR 514 - Plan of Operation and Closure Plans for Landfills
