ENFORCEMENT OF THE NSPS AND TITLE V PERMITS AT LANDFILLS: A NEW ERA DAWNS

摘要

The New Source Performance Standard for Municipal Solid Waste Landfills (NSPS) was initially promulgated in March 1996 as 40 CFR 60 Subpart WWW. Recently, MSW Landfills have experienced increased inspections and in some cases, subsequent enforcement actions taken by state air agencies as well as the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). Further, the USEPA Region V concluded that the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency's air program is deficient in regards to enforcement in general, which will likely result in increased compliance and enforcement activities across the board, including landfills. Historically in the Midwest, respective state air agencies have focused little attention on the municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills due to the low priority placed on landfill NSPS implementation and lack of understanding of landfill operations. It is expected, as these state agencies gain familiarity with the NSPS implementation and landfill operations that the frequency as well as the level of their inspections of MSW landfills will increase. Enforcement will then follow where compliance issues are uncovered as a result of these inspections. To date, the USEPA and Midwest States' air agencies have cited several MSW landfills for failure to submit NSPS compliance reports and/or install gas collection and control systems in a timely fashion. It is important to understand the compliance issues surrounding the agency actions undertaken in the Midwest in order to minimize and prevent such actions from occurring at other MSW landfills. Therefore, compliance issues related to monitoring, record keeping and reporting requirements of the NSPS will be discussed. The federal and state enforcement actions taken to date in Midwest States will also be explored, which will include the types of alleged infractions, corrective actions implemented and associated penalties applied to the facilities.