requiring the state to develop additional solid waste disposal capacity.
What changed between versions
The bill changed from requiring DES to conduct a comprehensive new inventory of all landfills (including fieldwork and remediation assessments) to directing DES to compile a list using existing data and determine suitability based on setback regulations. The expensive multi-year consultant program was eliminated.
The original bill's hard prohibition on accepting greenfield applications (unless all cataloged sites were unsuitable) was replaced with a three-tier preference system: first preference for expansions of existing landfills, second preference for brownfield sites, and greenfield applications processed only after the developer explains their site choice relative to the department's list.
A new legal standard was added: for both expansions and new greenfield landfills, DES 'shall find' the project satisfies the state's capacity need if the state will face a capacity shortfall in at least one-half of the years covered by the permit. This creates a mandatory finding rather than discretionary review.
Greenfield landfills are now subject to a delay provision: they cannot begin accepting waste until the first year in which a capacity shortfall is actually expected to exist, even if the permit is granted earlier.
DES is now required to include potential future expansion capacity for currently operating landfills in its biennial solid waste reports, in addition to reporting existing capacity.
A Statement of Purpose was added establishing three policy findings: that new capacity should come from expanding existing permitted landfills rather than greenfield sites, that existing sites have already been studied and found suitable, and that DES has decades of familiarity with conditions at those sites.
The fiscal impact changed from an estimated $4.2 million per year in expenditures (plus ~$28 million in consultant costs over seven years) funded by the Solid Waste Management Fund, to 'no fiscal impact on state, county and local expenditures or revenue.'
The bill title changed from 'requiring the state to develop additional solid waste disposal capacity' to 'relative to the state's solid waste disposal capacity,' reflecting the shift from a mandatory directive to a more flexible preference framework.