R315-264-90. Releases From Solid Waste Management Units -- Applicability

  (a)(1) Except as provided in Subsection R315-264-90 (b), the regulations in Sections R315-264-90 through 101 apply to owners or operators of facilities that treat, store or dispose of hazardous waste. The owner or operator shall satisfy the requirements identified in Subsection R315-264-90(a)(2) for all wastes, or constituents thereof, contained in solid waste management units at the facility, regardless of the time at which waste was placed in such units.

  (2) All solid waste management units shall comply with the requirements in Section R315-264-101. A surface impoundment, waste pile, and land treatment unit or landfill that receives hazardous waste after July 26, 1982, hereinafter referred to as a "regulated unit", shall comply with the requirements of Sections R315-264-91 through 100 in lieu of Section R315-264-101 for purposes of detecting, characterizing and responding to releases to the uppermost aquifer. The financial responsibility requirements of Section R315-264-101 apply to regulated units.

  (3) Groundwater monitoring shall be required at non-land disposal facilities as determined to be necessary and appropriate by the Director.

  (b) The owner or operator's regulated unit or units are not subject to regulation for releases into the uppermost aquifer under Sections R315-264-90 through 101 if:

  (1) The owner or operator is exempted under Section R315-264-1; or

  (2) He operates a unit which the Director finds:

  (i) Is an engineered structure,

  (ii) Does not receive or contain liquid waste or waste containing free liquids,

  (iii) Is designed and operated to exclude liquid, precipitation, and other run-on and run-off,

  (iv) Has both inner and outer layers of containment enclosing the waste,

  (v) Has a leak detection system built into each containment layer,

  (vi) The owner or operator shall provide continuing operation and maintenance of these leak detection systems during the active life of the unit and the closure and post-closure care periods, and

  (vii) To a reasonable degree of certainty, will not allow hazardous constituents to migrate beyond the outer containment layer prior to the end of the post-closure care period.

  (3) The Director finds, pursuant to Section R315-264-280(d), that the treatment zone of a land treatment unit that qualifies as a regulated unit does not contain levels of hazardous constituents that are above background levels of those constituents by an amount that is statistically significant, and if an unsaturated zone monitoring program meeting the requirements of Section R35-264-278 has not shown a statistically significant increase in hazardous constituents below the treatment zone during the operating life of the unit. An exemption under Subsection R315-264-90(b) can only relieve an owner or operator of responsibility to meet the requirements of Sections R315-264-90 through 101 during the post-closure care period; or

  (4) The Director finds that there is no potential for migration of liquid from a regulated unit to the uppermost aquifer during the active life of the regulated unit, including the closure period, and the post-closure care period specified under Section R315-264-117. This demonstration shall be certified by a qualified geologist or geotechnical engineer. In order to provide an adequate margin of safety in the prediction of potential migration of liquid, the owner or operator shall base any predictions made under Subsection R315-264-90(b) on assumptions that maximize the rate of liquid migration.

  (5) He designs and operates a pile in compliance with Section R315-264-250(c).

  (c) The regulations under Sections R315-264-90 through 101 apply during the active life of the regulated unit, including the closure period. After closure of the regulated unit, the regulations in Sections R315-264-90 through 101:

  (1) Do not apply if all waste, waste residues, contaminated containment system components, and contaminated subsoils are removed or decontaminated at closure;

  (2) Apply during the post-closure care period under Section R315-264-117 if the owner or operator is conducting a detection monitoring program under Section R315-264-98; or

  (3) Apply during the compliance period under Section R315-264-96 if the owner or operator is conducting a compliance monitoring program under Section R315-264-99 or a corrective action program under Section R315-264-100.

  (d) Regulations in Sections R315-264-90 through 101 may apply to miscellaneous units when necessary to comply with Sections R315-264-601 through 603.

  (e) The regulations of Sections R315-264-90 through 101 apply to all owners and operators subject to the requirements of Subsection R315-270-1(c)(7), when the Agency issues either a post-closure permit or an enforceable document, as defined in Subsection R315-270-1(c)(7) at the facility. When the Director issues an enforceable document, references in Sections R315-264-90 through 101 to "in the permit" mean "in the enforceable document."

  (f) The Director may replace all or part of the requirements of Sections R315-264-91 through 100 applying to a regulated unit with alternative requirements for groundwater monitoring and corrective action for releases to groundwater set out in the permit, or in an enforceable document, as defined in Subsection R315-270-1(c)(7), where the Director determines that:

  (1) The regulated unit is situated among solid waste management units, or areas of concern, a release has occurred, and both the regulated unit and one or more solid waste management unit(s), or areas of concern, are likely to have contributed to the release; and

  (2) It is not necessary to apply the groundwater monitoring and corrective action requirements of Sections R315-264-91 through 100 because alternative requirements will protect human health and the environment.