HAZARDOUS WASTE RADIOACTIVE MGMT S.B. 1052:
SUMMARY OF INTRODUCED BILL
IN COMMITTEE
Senate Bill 1052 (as introduced 10-30-24)
Sponsor: Senator Darrin Camilleri
Committee: Energy and Environment
Date Completed: 12-5-24
INTRODUCTION
The bill would require the Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) to prepare,
adopt, and update every five years a comprehensive State Hazardous and Radioactive Waste
Management Plan. Among other requirements, the Plan would have to include an analysis of all
hazardous or radioactive waste streams generated within the State and a determination of
necessary in-State capacity to manage the amount of hazardous or radioactive waste generated in
the State. Until the plan was adopted, the bill would issue a moratorium on licenses and permits
for the operation of hazardous waste treatment, storage, and disposal facilities, and the moratorium
would continue if a new or expanded facility would cause the total permitted capacity to exceed the
current Plan's limits. The bill also would prohibit further disposal in the State of technologically
enhanced naturally occurring radioactive material (TENORM), which are natural radioactive
materials whose concentrations have been increased by human activity. Finally, the bill would
require certain classes of injection wells to secure surety bonds for reclamation purposes.
FISCAL IMPACT
The bill would have a minor negative fiscal impact on EGLE. There would be increased administrative
costs associated with analyzing and gathering the necessary data to produce an updated hazardous
and radioactive waste management plan. There would also be administrative costs associated with
oversight and implementation of the plans as they are developed and updated every five years.
The bill also would place a moratorium on permitting the establishment of new or expansion of
existing hazardous or radioactive waste management facilities based upon these five-year plans.
This means that some labor costs could be saved while permits do not require processing, but with
fewer permit applications this would likely have a neutral effect on EGLE.
The bill would provide requirements for proof of financial responsibility, for which the State would
be the sole beneficiary, of at least $1.0 million for operators of Class I wells, and $250,000 for
operators of Class III wells. These minimums would have to be sufficient to cover costs associated
with well plugging and reclamation. Additionally, this financial responsibility would have to include
environmental pollution insurance coverage of at least $5.0 million per occurrence for Class I wells,
and $2.5 million for Class III wells. The bill also would require proof of financial responsibility of at
least $2,500 for any test wells to cover costs of plugging and reclamation. Environmental insurance
requirements could substantially mitigate costs to the State associated with well plugging or
remediation when needed. These requirements and their administration would have an
indeterminate negative fiscal impact on EGLE due to the time and labor costs associated with
oversight.
MCL 324.11102 et al. Legislative Analyst: Nathan Leaman
Fiscal Analyst: Jonah Houtz
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CONTENT
The bill would amend the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act
(NREPA) to do the following:
-- Require EGLE to prepare and adopt a comprehensive State Hazardous and
Radioactive Waste Management Plan and update the Plan every five years.
-- Specify the requirements of the Plan and require EGLE to conduct studies as
considered necessary for the updated Plan.
-- Issue a moratorium on licenses and permits for the operation of hazardous waste
treatment, storage, or disposal facilities until EGLE produced the Plan and extend
the moratorium if issuing an operating license or permit for a new facility or the
expansion of an existing facility would cause the total permitted capacity of
hazardous waste to exceed the limit established in the current State Hazardous
and Radioactive Waste Management Plan.
-- Prohibit the disposal of TENORM in the State.
-- Prohibit the construction, expansion, or installation of a new or converted class
I or class IV well, except for Federally authorized class IV wells.
-- Require an operator of a Class I, a Class III, or a test well to file proof of financial
responsibility that covered specific well reclamation activities and for which the
State would be the sole beneficiary.
Classes of Wells Defined
"Class I well" would mean any of the following:
-- A well used by a generator of hazardous waste or the owner or operator of a hazardous
waste management facility to inject hazardous waste beneath the lowermost formation
that contains all or part of an underground source of drinking water within 1/4 mile of the
well bore.
-- An industrial and municipal disposal well that injects fluids beneath the lowermost
formation that contains all or part of an underground source of drinking water within 1/4
mile of the well bore.
-- A radioactive waste disposal well that injects fluids below the lowermost formation that
contains all or part of an underground source of drinking water within 1/4 mile of the well
bore.
"Class III well" would mean a well used for the extraction of minerals including, but not limited
to, the following:
-- Mining of sulfur by the Frasch process.
-- In situ production of uranium or other metals, not including solution mining of conventional
mines.
-- Solution mining of salts or potash.
"Class IV well" would mean any of the following:
-- A well used by a generator of hazardous waste or radioactive waste, by the owner or
operator of a hazardous waste management facility, or by the owner or operator of a
radioactive waste disposal site to dispose of hazardous waste or radioactive waste into a
formation that contains all or part of an underground source of drinking water within 1/4
mile of the well bore.
-- A well used by a generator of hazardous waste or radioactive waste, by the owner or
operator of a hazardous waste management facility, or by the owner or operator of a
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 radioactive waste disposal site to dispose of hazardous waste or radioactive waste above
a formation that contains all or part of an underground source of drinking water within
1/4 mile of the well bore.
-- A well that is used by a generator of hazardous waste or the owner or operators of a
hazardous waste management facility to dispose of hazardous waste and that is not a
Class I or Class III well as defined by Federal regulations.
"Underground waste" would mean damage or injury to potable water, mineralized water, or
other subsurface resources incidental to or resulting from drilling, equipping, or operating a
well subject to Part 625 (Mineral Wells).
State Hazardous and Radioactive Waste Management Plan
The Act required the appropriate department to create one-time hazardous waste
management plans for 1982 and 1990 based on the needs of the State in those years. The
bill would require EGLE, by five years after the bill's effective date and every five years after,
to prepare and adopt a comprehensive, updated State Hazardous and Radioactive Waste
Management Plan. The newly required plan would modify requirements of previous plans and
add new requirements.
The updated plan would have to meet all the following requirements:
-- Be based on the location of generators, health and safety, transportation economics, types
of waste, and existing treatment, storage, or disposal facilities.
-- Based on information included in the plan, specify a maximum permitted capacity for
hazardous or radioactive waste treatment, storage, or disposal facilities, which would have
to be equal to the average amount of hazardous or radioactive waste expected to be
generated in the State during the succeeding five-year period and could not be changed
until the next five-year update of the plan was adopted.
-- Provide for a reasonable geographic distribution of treatment, storage, and disposal
facilities to meet existing and future needs and to comply with requirements regarding
waste management facilities, including proposing criteria for determining acceptable
locations for these facilities, which would have to include a consideration of a location's
geology, geography, demography, and waste generation patterns, along with
environmental factors, public health factors, and other relevant characteristics as
determined by EGLE.
-- Provide for a shift from landfilling hazardous waste to the in-plant reduction of hazardous
waste and the recycling and treatment of hazardous waste.
The plan also would have to include all the following:
-- An analysis of all hazardous or radioactive waste streams generated within the State,
including waste volumes, classifications, and locations of origin.
-- An inventory and assessment of current in-state hazardous or radioactive waste
management capacity using information generated by EGLE and the Department of Labor
and Economic growth.
-- Projections of future in-State waste generation.
-- A determination of necessary in-State capacity to manage an amount of hazardous or
radioactive waste equal to the amount generated in the State.
-- Siting criteria for any facilities determined to be necessary and which would prevent the
concentration of facilities in communities overburdened by pollution.
-- Recommendations for State policies and programs to minimize hazardous or radioactive
waste generation.
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-- An evaluation of hazardous or radioactive waste reduction, recycling, and treatment
technologies and best practices.
-- A study and recommendation on whether Michigan should seek membership of an
Interstate Low-Level Radioactive Waste Compact.
-- Necessary legislative, administrative, and economic mechanisms, and a timetable to carry
out the updated plan.
The bill would require EGLE to conduct studies as considered necessary for the updated plan.
The studies could include:
-- An inventory and evaluation of the sources of hazardous or radioactive waste generation
within the State or from other states, including the types, quantities, and chemical and
physical characteristics of the waste.
-- An inventory and evaluation of current hazardous or radioactive waste management,
minimization, or reduction practices and costs, including treatment, disposal, on-site
recycling, reclamation, and other forms of source reduction within the state.
-- A projection or determination of future hazardous or radioactive waste management needs
based on an evaluation of existing capacities; treatment or disposal capabilities;
manufacturing activity, limitations, and constraints; types, sizes, and general locations of
treatment, storage, or disposal facilities within the State; and management control
systems.
-- An investigation and analysis of methods, incentives, or technologies for source reduction,
reuse, recycling, or recovery of potentially hazardous or radioactive waste and a strategy
for encouraging the utilization or reduction of hazardous or radioactive waste.
-- An investigation and analysis of methods and incentives to encourage interstate and
international cooperation in the management of hazardous or radioactive waste.
-- An estimate of the public and private cost of treating, storing, or disposing of hazardous
or radioactive waste.
-- An investigation and analysis of alternate methods for treatment and disposal of
hazardous or radioactive waste.
Public notice of the Plan
Upon completion of the updated plan, EGLE would have to post the plan on its website and
publish a notice in two or more major newspapers and issue a statewide news release
announcing the availability of the updated plan for inspection or purchase at cost by interested
persons. The announcement would have to indicate where and how the updated plan could
be obtained or reviewed and would have to indicate that at least six public hearings would
have to be conducted at varying locations in the State before formal adoption. The first public
hearing could not be held until at least 60 days had passed from the date of the notice
announcing the availability of the updated plan. The remaining public hearings would have to
be held within 120 days of the first public hearing at approximately equal time intervals.
After the public hearings, EGLE would have to prepare a written summary of the comments
received, provide responses to the major concerns raised, make amendments to the updated
plan that it considered advisable, and adopt the updated plan.
Moratorium on and Requirements of Operating Licenses and Permits
Until five years after the bill's effective date, or until the first updated State Hazardous and
Radioactive Waste Management Plan was adopted and implemented, whichever was later,
EGLE could not do any of the following:
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-- Issue an operating license for a new hazardous waste treatment, storage, or disposal
facility.
-- Amend an operating license for an existing hazardous waste treatment, storage, or
disposal facility to authorize the expansion of operations, overall capacity, or the facility.
-- Issue a permit for a new radioactive waste management facility.
-- Amend a permit for an existing radioactive waste management facility to authorize the
expansion of operations, overall capacity, or the facility.
After the moratorium on licensing and permitting ended, EGLE still could not issue an
operating license or permit for a new hazardous waste treatment, storage, or disposal facility
or hazardous waste management facility or the expansion of an existing facility if doing so
would cause the total permitted capacity to exceed the limit established in the current State
Hazardous and Radioactive Waste Management Plan. "Total permitted capacity" would mean
the maximum amount of waste that all permitted facilities in the State were authorized to
manage annually under their current permits.
The Department could not issue a permit or approval to establish or expand a hazardous
waste treatment, storage, or disposal facility or radioactive waste management facility if any
of the following applied:
-- The facility was proposed to be in any city, village, township, or county where a hazardous
waste treatment, storage, or disposal facility, radioactive waste management facility, class
I well, or class IV well was currently operating or had operated within the past 50 years.
-- The facility was proposed to be located within 100 miles of a currently operating hazardous
waste treatment, storage, or disposal facility, radioactive waste management facility, class
I well, or class IV well.
A permit also could not be issued if any of the following applied to a census tract within a
three-mile radius of the facility's proposed location:
-- The population density exceeded the State average population density by 50% or more,
based on the most recent census data.
-- The percentage of population in households where the household income was less than or
equal to twice the Federal poverty level equaled or exceeded the eightieth percentile for
census tracts in the State.
-- The overall score, as measured by the Michigan Environmental Justice Screening Tool
(MiEJScreen) or its equivalent, for any census tract within a 3-mile radius met or exceeded
the eightieth percentile of census tracts in the State.
TENORM Prohibition
Currently, a person is prohibited from delivering TENORM (technologically enhanced naturally
occurring radioactive waste) with specified concentrations of radium to a landfill in the State
or permitting the disposal of TENORM with specified concentrations of radium in the landfill in
the State. The bill would delete the schedule of concentrations and instead prohibit all
TENORM from being delivered or disposed of in the State.
If EGLE previously authorized in an operating license the disposal of TENORM with
concentrations of radium-226 more than 50 picocuries per gram, radium-228 more than 50
picocuries per gram, or lead-210 more than 260 picocuries per gram, or any combination
thereof, but not more than 500 picocuries per gram for each radionuclide, the operating
license would constitute a license from the Radiation Control Authority to possess the
TENORM, but not to acquire additional TENORM after the effective date of the bill.
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The current requirements placed on an operator of a landfill that already contained TENORM
would remain in effect. Additionally, the owner or operator would have to submit a report that
summarized the following information for all TENORM disposed at the landfill during the year
the bill took effect:
-- The concentrations of radium-226, radium-228, lead-210, and any other radionuclide
identified using gamma spectroscopy, or an equivalent analytical method, in the TENORM
based on techniques for representative sampling and waste characterization approved by
EGLE.
-- An estimate of the total mass of the TENORM.
-- An estimate of the total radium-226 activity, the total radium-228 activity, and the total
lead-210 activity of the TENORM.
-- The dates of delivery.
The owner or operator of a landfill would have to maintain records of the location and elevation
of TENORM disposed of at the landfill before the effective date of the bill.
Within 45 days after the end of each fiscal year, through the fiscal year in which the bill took
effect, the owner or operator of a type II landfill would have to submit to the Department a
report that summarized the following for all TENORM disposed at the landfill during the
previous f