Sponsored by:
Senator LINDA R. GREENSTEIN
District 14 (Mercer and Middlesex)
SYNOPSIS
Establishes grant program in DEP to provide financial assistance to municipalities for infrastructure and other physical upgrades to certain municipally owned sanitary landfill facilities closed before June 1987; appropriates $10 million.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act establishing a grant program in Department of Environmental Protection to finance upgrades to certain municipally owned sanitary landfill facilities, supplementing Title 13 of the Revised Statutes, and making an appropriation.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. As used in this act:
Commissioner means the Commissioner of Environmental Protection.
Department means the Department of Environmental Protection.
Grant program or program means the Municipal Landfill Upgrading and Infrastructure Improvement Grant Program, established pursuant to section 2 of this act.
Improperly closed sanitary landfill facility or improperly closed means a sanitary landfill facility, or a portion of a sanitary landfill facility, at which operations were terminated prior to June 1, 1987 and for which performance is not complete with respect to all activities associated with the design, installation, purchase, or construction of structures or equipment, or with respect to the implementation of other appropriate measures, as may be required by the department, pursuant to law, for proper facility closure, including, but not limited to, activities involving the placement or installation of earthen or vegetative cover, methane gas vents, methane gas monitors, air pollution control devices, and leachate monitoring wells or collection systems.
Municipal landfill upgrading and infrastructure costs or costs means the financial costs incurred by a municipality in association with its implementation and ongoing maintenance and management of infrastructure improvements and other physical upgrades to a municipally owned and improperly closed sanitary landfill facility.
Sanitary landfill facility means the same as that term is defined in section 3 of P.L.1970, c.39 (C.13:1E-3).
2. a. The Municipal Landfill Upgrading and Infrastructure Improvement Grant Program is established in the Department of Environmental Protection to provide financial assistance to pay municipal landfill upgrading and infrastructure costs incurred by a municipality, which costs are necessary to ensure that the municipality:
(1) comports with the department s standards and regulations concerning the proper closure, capping, and post-closure care of sanitary landfill facilities; and
(2) has the capacity to effectively prevent, minimize, eliminate, or monitor pollution and other health hazards resulting from a municipally owned and improperly closed sanitary landfill facility.
b. Any municipality that owns an improperly closed sanitary landfill facility shall be eligible to apply for a grant under the program.
c. An eligible municipality seeking to obtain a program grant shall submit an application therefor, in a form and manner prescribed by the commissioner. The grant application shall include the following information:
(1) a certification stating that the sanitary landfill facility, which is the subject of the grant application, is owned by the municipality and was improperly closed prior to June 1, 1987;
(2) a statement indicating the total amount of funding that is being sought under the grant program;
(3) a list of other financial resources, including federal financial assistance, that may be available to finance the municipal landfill upgrading and infrastructure costs;
(4) a description of the specific project or projects for which grant funding is being sought, including: the type of infrastructure improvement or other physical upgrade being proposed; the reason why such infrastructure improvement or other physical upgrade is necessary; the environmental and health-related impacts that are expected to result from the improvement or upgrade; the total anticipated costs of the project, including the total anticipated expenses associated with the municipality s ongoing maintenance and management of completed project components; the permits and approvals that will required for project commencement; and the anticipated dates on which the project will be commenced and completed; and
(5) any other information required by the commissioner.
d. A grant awarded under the program shall be used only to finance those municipal landfill upgrading and infrastructure costs that are directly incurred and paid by the municipality. In any case where a federal agency is financing a portion of the municipal landfill upgrading and infrastructure costs, the total costs used to determine the amount of the grant to be awarded under the program shall be reduced by the amount of the federal contribution.
e. Within 180 days after the effective date of this act, the commissioner shall develop a project priority system, which shall identify the ranking criteria and funding policies that will be used by the department to prioritize projects for grant awards under the program. At a minimum, the project priority system shall provide for the prioritization of those projects that will have the most significant impacts with respect to enabling the ongoing municipal prevention, reduction, elimination, or monitoring of pollution and other health hazards resulting from an improperly closed sanitary landfill facility.
f. Each municipality receiving a grant award under the program shall submit to the department, on an annual or more frequent basis, as required by the commissioner, a grant fund expenditures report that describes how the awarded grant funds are being used by the municipality. Each report shall be submitted in a form and manner prescribed by the commissioner.
g. The commissioner shall annually submit a written report to the Governor, and, pursuant to section 2 of P.L.1991, c.164 (C.52:14-19.1), to the Legislature, on the implementation and effectiveness of the grant program. The annual report shall, at a minimum:
(1) identify the total number and dollar amount of grant awards issued during the current reporting period, the total number and dollar amount of grant awards issued, to date, s