1 New Paragraph; Permit Required; New Landfills. Amend RSA 149-M:9 by inserting after paragraph XV the following new paragraph:

XVI.(a) In revising administrative rules under Env-Sw 804, the department shall bifurcate the permit process for new solid waste landfills by creating a "preliminary application phase" for each required permit. The department shall instruct, by rule, applicants for new landfills to present within the preliminary permit application enough information for the department to appraise whether the proposed location violates any of the prohibitive locational criteria that the department shall develop during such rulemaking. An application that does not pass such a preliminary screen shall be returned to the applicant without prejudice so that the applicant may choose an alternative location and present a revised preliminary application later.

(b) The department shall, in its discretion and informed by a public hearing and subsequent written public comment, adopt one or more prohibitive locational criteria, thereby establishing certain sites that it will judge as wholly inappropriate for constructing a new municipal solid waste landfill. Such criteria may consider:

(1) Whether soils at the site are permeable, based on quantitative and reasonable-worst-case measurement of hydraulic conductivity or other parameters, such that spills or liner failures would rapidly contaminate nearby surface waters.

(2) Whether bedrock at the site is sufficiently fractured that leaks from the landfill would rapidly spread throughout the local environment.

(3) Whether the proposed location is sufficiently far from major sources of waste generation that trucks carrying waste to and from the site would needlessly add to greenhouse gas emissions, highway congestion, traffic congestion, traffic accidents, or other negative impacts.

(4) Whether the proposed site lies over a significant sand and gravel aquifer.

(5) Whether the proposed site is located in, or over, a coastal sand dune system, a prime wetland, or other special habitat.

(6) Whether all or part of the proposed site is undisturbed forest, wetland, or open space, as opposed to a brownfield where environmental impacts have already occurred or are occurring.

(7) Any other factors the department, in its discretion, considers worthwhile.

2 Effective Date. This act shall take effect 60 days after its passage.

1 New Paragraph; Permit Required; New Landfills. Amend RSA 149-M:9 by inserting after paragraph XV the following new paragraph:

XVI.(a) In revising administrative rules under Env-Sw 804, the department shall bifurcate the permit process for new solid waste landfills by creating a "preliminary application phase" for each required permit. The department shall instruct, by rule, applicants for new landfills to present within the preliminary permit application enough information for the department to appraise whether the proposed location violates any of the prohibitive locational criteria that the department shall develop during such rulemaking. An application that does not pass such a preliminary screen shall be returned to the applicant without prejudice so that the applicant may choose an alternative location and present a revised preliminary application later.

(b) The department shall, in its discretion and informed by a public hearing and subsequent written public comment, adopt one or more prohibitive locational criteria, thereby establishing certain sites that it will judge as wholly inappropriate for constructing a new municipal solid waste landfill. Such criteria may consider:

(1) Whether soils at the site are permeable, based on quantitative and reasonable-worst-case measurement of hydraulic conductivity or other parameters, such that spills or liner failures would rapidly contaminate nearby surface waters.

(2) Whether bedrock at the site is sufficiently fractured that leaks from the landfill would rapidly spread throughout the local environment.

(3) Whether the proposed location is sufficiently far from major sources of waste generation that trucks carrying waste to and from the site would needlessly add to greenhouse gas emissions, highway congestion, traffic congestion, traffic accidents, or other negative impacts.

(4) Whether the proposed site lies over a significant sand and gravel aquifer.

(5) Whether the proposed site is located in, or over, a coastal sand dune system, a prime wetland, or other special habitat.

(6) Whether all or part of the proposed site is undisturbed forest, wetland, or open space, as opposed to a brownfield where environmental impacts have already occurred or are occurring.

(7) Any other factors the department, in its discretion, considers worthwhile.

2 Effective Date. This act shall take effect 60 days after its passage.