Session Laws

Whereas, The deferred operation of this act would tend to defeat its purpose, which is to immediately provide funding for a solid waste grant program, therefore it is hereby declared to be an emergency law, necessary for the immediate preservation of the public convenience.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

SECTION 1. Section 19 of chapter 6A of the General Laws, as appearing in the 1986 Official Edition, is hereby amended by striking out, in line 7, the words ", the bureau of solid waste disposal".

SECTION 1A. Chapter 16 of the General Laws is hereby amended by striking out sections 18 to 21, inclusive, as so appearing, and inserting in place thereof the following four sections:-

Section 18. As used in sections nineteen to twenty-four, inclusive, the following words shall have the following meanings:-

"Commissioner", the commissioner of the department of environmental quality engineering.

"Department", the department of environmental quality engineering.

"Residual waste", solid waste or combination of solid wastes, which because of its quantity, concentration, or physical, chemical, or infectious characteristics may cause or significantly contribute to an increase in mortality or an increase in serious irreversible or incapacitating reversible illness, or pose a substantial present or potential hazard to human health or the environment when improperly treated, stored, transported, or disposed of or otherwise managed.

"Resource recovery facility", a solid waste disposal facility utilizing processes for reclaiming the materials or energy values from solid wastes.

"Secretary", the secretary of the executive office of environmental affairs.

"Sludge", any solid, semisolid or liquid waste generated from a municipal, commercial or industrial wastewater treatment plant, water supply treatment plant, or air pollution control facility or any other such waste having similar characteristics and effects.

"Solid waste", garbage, refuse, sludge from a waste treatment plant, water supply treatment plant, or air pollution control facility and other discarded material, including solid, liquid, semisolid, or contaminated gaseous material resulting from industrial, commercial, mining, and agricultural operations, and from community activities, but does not include solid or dissolved materials in domestic sewage, or solid or dissolved materials in irrigation return flows or industrial discharges, special nuclear, or radioactive byproduct material.

"Solid waste disposal facility", incinerator, landfill, resource recovery facility, transfer station, composting plant, sorting or processing machine or plant, recycling plant, or other sanitary means of recycling or composting solid waste approved by the department, or any combination of one or more of the above facilities and appurtenant facilities.

"Storage", when used in connection with residual waste, the containment of residual waste, either on a temporary basis or for a period of years, in such a manner as not to constitute disposal of such residual waste.

"Treatment", when used in connection with residual waste, any method, technique, or process, including neutralization, designed to change the physical, chemical, or biological character or composition of any residual waste so as to neutralize such waste or so as to render such waste nonhazardous, safer for transport, amenable for recovery, amenable for storage, or reduced in volume. Treatment includes any activity or processing designed to change the physical form or chemical composition of residual waste so as to render it nonhazardous.

Section 19. The secretary, the department of environmental management and the department are hereby authorized to dispose of solid wastes, from whatever source, in any manner and at any site which is determined by the department to meet the siting criteria established under the provisions of section one hundred and fifty A 1/2 of chapter one hundred and eleven. Notwithstanding any other provisions of sections eighteen to twenty-four, inclusive, of this chapter to the contrary, the authorizations, powers and duties of this section shall be exercised as follows: by the department of environmental management for storage and treatment of residual waste; by the department for recycling and composting of solid waste, but not including residual waste; and by the secretary for all remaining solid waste disposal. For the purposes of this section the secretary, the department of environmental management and the department may be referred to collectively by the term "agencies". The agencies are hereby authorized and empowered to purchase, lease, acquire, receive by gift, or take by eminent domain under the provisions of chapter seventy-nine any land, structures, facilities and easements necessary for solid waste disposal. As used in this section, the term solid waste disposal shall include storage or treatment of residual waste. To carry out the provisions of this section, the agencies may contract with any person, firm, corporation, or body politic to plan, design, manage, construct, maintain or operate solid waste disposal facilities and to otherwise implement this section, and may accept any gifts or grants of money or property, whether real or personal, from any source, including but not limited to the United States or its agencies relative to the disposal of solid waste. The agencies may contract with users, public and private, including agencies of the commonwealth and its political subdivisions, to dispose of solid waste. The agencies may lease any land acquired under this section for solid waste disposal to any person, firm or corporation for the purpose of constructing, operating and maintaining a privately owned solid waste processing disposal facility or related facility, including facilities related to the processing, marketing or manufacture of materials recovered from solid waste. The department, on a continuing basis, shall review and make recommendations on the manner of operation and adequacy from an environmental quality standpoint of any solid waste disposal facility planned, established or operated under the provisions of section eighteen to twenty-four, inclusive, by the secretary or the department of environmental management, and subject to appropriation such recommendations shall be implemented by the secretary and the department of environmental management. Any land acquired under this section may be disposed of by the commonwealth pursuant to the provisions of chapter seven upon termination of a solid waste disposal facility or completion of use of a site, with the concurrence of the department in the best interests of the commonwealth and for a use compatible with local zoning by-laws or ordinances; provided, however, that in no event shall such land be so disposed of unless a written offer is made to the city or town wherein such land lies for an amount of money not less than the principal amount remaining to be paid on bonds issued to meet the capital outlay expenditures relative to such land and such offer is not accepted within two months after being made or is refused by the mayor of the city or the board of selectmen of the town wherein such land lies.

The department of environmental management shall not exercise its eminent domain authority as authorized herein for the acquisition of sites for hazardous waste treatment, processing or disposal until all permits, licenses and approvals of the city or town wherein the site lies have been granted, a siting agreement has been established pursuant to the provisions of sections twelve and thirteen of chapter twenty-one D, and the approval of said exercise of eminent domain authority has been obtained by a majority vote of the city council, board of aldermen, or board of selectmen of said city or town.

Section 20. It shall be the responsibility of the department to carry out the provisions of sections eighteen to twenty-four, inclusive. Said department shall conduct research and demonstration projects and shall encourage improved methods of solid waste disposal including recycling. The department may hire such experts, engineers and other personnel from such funds as shall be appropriated, as it deems necessary to carry out the provisions of sections eighteen to twenty-four, inclusive. The department may, subject to the provisions of chapter thirty A, promulgate rules and regulations relating to the storage, collection, transfer, and disposal of solid waste with respect to facilities established pursuant to sections eighteen to twenty-four, inclusive.

Section 21. The department shall investigate and study the solid waste disposal needs of the commonwealth, including but not limited to appropriate solid waste management techniques for source and volume reduction, landfill design and operation, resource recovery plant design, the operation of composting and recycling facilities, and the operation of any other innovative, environmentally sound technologies. The department may designate regional solid waste disposal districts to carry out the purposes of sections eighteen to twenty-four, inclusive. The department, after a public hearing, shall develop and maintain a comprehensive statewide master plan for solid waste disposal including any necessary provisions to meet eligibility requirements under any federal program for financial aid in solid waste disposal. Any amendment, alterations, or changes to said master plan shall be adopted only after a public hearing. A solid waste disposal district shall, wherever practicable, consist of a single city or town, or a part thereof, or two or more cities or towns, or any combination or parts thereof. Each district shall have an advisory committee comprised of one member from each city or town in the district, who shall be appointed by the city manager in a city having a city manager, by the mayor in any other city, by the board of selectmen in the town having selectmen, by the town council, or by such other municipal officer, officers, or municipal agency to which or to whom any city or town has delegated the responsibility for solid waste disposal. The members of such committee may be elected officials of such cities or towns and shall serve at the pleasure of their appointing authority.

The comprehensive statewide master plan referred to herein shall describe, to the maximum practicable extent, a short and long-range program for disposal of solid waste throughout the commonwealth, the solid waste facilities which the department determines to be necessary or convenient to the disposal of such waste in a manner which protects the public health, safety and environment and is financially sound, and the funding for the development of such facilities which the department finds to be reasonable necessary.

Without limitation of the foregoing, said plan shall, to the maximum practicable extent, identify:

(1) the sources, types and quantities of solid waste generated within each city or town;

(2) the current means for collection, transfer, processing, recycling or other disposal of such waste;

(3) the adequacy of solid waste facilities with reference to disposal of solid waste in a manner which the department determines is or is likely to protect the public health, safety and environment;

(4) the means of collection, transfer, processing, recycling or other disposal of such waste which have been reported to the department by each city or town or by any other public or private entity for the five year period beginning with the year for which the statewide plan is prepared;

(5) whether and to what extent the waste identified or reported as described above is currently being disposed of at sites permitted by the department or by a local board of health pursuant to section one hundred and fifty A of chapter one hundred and eleven or with respect to future years, is being proposed for disposal at such sites; and

(6) to the extent disposal is identified as not taking place in any current or future year at such sites, the options available to local public bodies for disposal at such sites or alternative means for which the department finds there is a reasonable likelihood that disposal will take place in an environmentally safe manner and recommendations of the department as to such options or alternative means. Each city or town may prepare a local solid waste management plan to be presented to the department to assist the department in the creation of the statewide plan. Such local plan shall, to the maximum practicable extent, identify:

(1) the sources, types and quantities of solid waste generated within each city or town;

(2) the current means for collection, transfer, processing, recycling or other disposal of such waste, and the length of, and termination date of any existing contract entered into by said city or town for the contracting of the collection, transfer, processing, recycling or disposal of such waste;

(3) whether and to what extent the waste identified or reported as described above is currently being disposed of at sites permitted by the department or by a local board of health pursuant to section one hundred and fifty A of chapter one hundred and eleven, or, with respect to future years, is being proposed for disposal at such sites;

(4) to the extent disposal is identified or reported as not taking place in any current or future year at such sites, the options available to such city or town for future disposal at such sites or for alternative means for which the community finds there is a reasonable likelihood that disposal will take place in an environmentally safe manner and recommendations of said city or town as to such options or alternative means; and

(5) a listing of proposed options for addressing the collection, transfer, processing, recycling or disposal of waste for the next five years. Said plan shall include an estimate of the expected financial resources needed to implement said plan.

SECTION 2. Chapter 16 of the General Laws is hereby amended by striking out section 24A, as so appearing, and inserting in place thereof the following section:-

Section 24A. The operator of a privately owned or operated resource recovery facility or landfill shall pay to the city or town in which the facility or landfill is located a tax of one dollar per ton of solid waste processed at the facility. Said tax shall be increased every January first, effective January first, nineteen hundred and eighty-one by the percentage increase of the Boston Consumer Price Index for all urban consumers for the twelve month period ending the previous October first. Such tax shall be in lieu of all taxes, fees, charges or assessments imposed by the city or town in which the facility or landfill is located, except for real estate taxes imposed solely upon the land on which the said facility or landfill is located. For purposes of this section, a solid waste disposal facility or resource recovery facility shall not include a transfer station.

SECTION 2A. Section 1 of chapter 21 of the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking out, in line 28, the words "and a bureau of solid waste disposal".

SECTION 2B. Section 8 of chapter 21A of the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking out, in lines 25 and 26, the words "the bureau of solid waste disposal,".

SECTION 3. The General Laws are hereby further amended by inserting after chapter 21G the following chapter:- `tuc CHAPTER 21H. SOLID WASTE FACILITIES.

Section 1. (a) It is hereby determined that:

(1) There is a critical need to eliminate, mitigate and prevent the nuisances and adverse public health effects associated with the collection, processing and disposal of solid waste from whatever source derived, including municipal, industrial, domestic, commercial and other sources or activities.

(2) There is pending throughout the commonwealth a severe shortage in environmentally safe and financially sound capacity for the storage, disposal and processing of solid waste.

(3) The provision of such capacity is an essential public purpose, will constitute the performance of an essential public function and is necessary to the preservation and improvement of the health, welfare and living conditions of the people of the commonwealth, the promotion of industry and employment and all aspects of commerce, the maintenance, protection, conservation and development of safe water supplies, and the protection of the environment overall.

(4) The financial requirements for the provision of environmentally safe solid waste facilities are substantial and require the use of both public and private sources of financing and of facility development and operation experience, the ability to collect user fees to recover costs of providing such capacity, and the ability to finance capital expenditures without undue reliance on the general obligation credit of the commonwealth or of individual cities and towns.

(b) It is hereby declared to be an essential public purpose to achieve the following:

(1) provide a means whereby new and improved capacity for handling solid waste is established in a manner which takes full advantage of current municipal experience in the collection, disposal and storage of such waste;

(2) encourage cities and towns to act together effectively to operate solid waste facilities;

(3) establish a means whereby the commonwealth can act effectively to provide planning, technical, development, financial and other support for solid waste facilities;

(4) establish a framework which encourages and permits private enterprise to participate appropriately in the development and operation of solid waste facilities;

(5) encourage cities and towns to act together effectively to develop and operate household hazardous waste collection programs and related activities.

(c) It is declared to be in the best interests of the citizens of the commonwealth to enact legislation authorizing the department of environmental quality engineering to provide financial assistance to public bodies for the closure of landfills or other solid waste facilities and for the expansion of landfill capacity or other solid waste facilities.

Section 2. As used in this chapter, the following words shall, unless the context clearly requires otherwise, have the following meanings:

"Assessment", a project to investigate, monitor, survey, test and gather information to identify the existence, source, nature and extent of pollution or a threat of pollution and the extent of danger to the public health, safety or welfare, or to the environment. The term shall also include without limitation studies, services and investigations to plan, manage and direct assessment, containment, closure and clean up.

"Clean up", a project for the removal of pollution which restores potability to a drinking water supply or which prevents the contamination of said supply, including without limitation the planning, design, and implementation of appropriate means of assessment and public solution of the contamination problem.

"Closure", a project for the deactivation and completion of a solid waste facility, including without limitation planning, design and implementation of capping, containment, completion and any other activity necessary or incidental to minimize or prevent damage, or threats of damage, to the public health, safety or welfare, or to the environment.

"Construction", a project for the provision of additional solid waste facility capacity, or for closure or containment at existing solid waste facilities, in accordance with all applicable technical and legal requirements, including without limitation planning, design and implementation of facility development, siting, alteration, expansion, improvement or equipping, and all activities necessary or incidental thereto, including acquisition of real or personal property or interests therein.

"Containment", a project for the prevention of leachate generation and migration from a solid waste facility, including without limitation planning, design and implementation of surface sealing, grading, drainage control, lining, slurry trenching, grout curtain sheeting, and other activities necessary or incidental to leachate control.

"Department", the department of environmental quality engineering.

"Drinking water supply", any water within the jurisdiction of the commonwealth, including without limitation rivers, streams, lakes, ponds, springs, impoundments and groundwater, which is used as a source of drinking water.

"Facility", any place or site where solid waste has been or will be deposited, dumped, stored, transferred or treated, including any landfill, refuse transfer station, refuse incinerator rated by the department at more than one ton of refuse per hour, refuse composting plant, or other work for treating or disposing of solid waste.

"Landfill", any area, site or works for the disposal of solid waste into or on land.

"Person", any natural or corporate person, whether public or private, including corporations, societies, associations and partnerships and bodies politic and corporate, public agencies, authorities, departments, offices and political subdivisions of the commonwealth.

"Pollution", any spilling, leaking, pumping, pouring, emitting, emptying, discharging, injecting, escaping, leaching, dumping or disposing of any material which, because of its quantity, concentration or other characteristics, is or may be injurious to human, plant or animal life or to property, or may unreasonably interfere with the comfortable enjoyment of life or property.

"Public body", any city, town, district, commission, council, financing authority or other political subdivision of the commonwealth, and any agency, authority, board, bureau, commission, council, department or other entity or instrumentality of government.

"Solid waste" or "waste", garbage, refuse, trash, rubbish, sludge, residue or by-products of processing or treatment of discarded material, and any other solid, semi-solid or liquid discarded material resulting from domestic, commercial, mining, industrial, agricultural, municipal, or other sources or activities, but shall not include solid or dissolved material in domestic sewage.

"Tipping fee", the fee or other cost charged by the operator of a solid waste disposal facility for the disposal of solid waste in the facility.

Section 3. (a) The department may provide financial assistance to public bodies for up to one hundred per cent of the costs of the clean up of existing and potential, as determined by the department, drinking water supplies that have been contaminated by leachate from landfills or for the costs of containment projects at landfills when leachate contamination exists or poses an imminent threat to an existing or a potential, as determined by the department, source of drinking water. Said costs may include study and assessment of the extent and nature of the actual or potential water supply contamination caused by the landfill and the costs of assessments to plan, manage, and direct containment and clean up of such contamination. Ninety per cent of the financial assistance provided to any one recipient pursuant to this subsection shall be in the form of a grant; ten per cent of such assistance shall be in the form of a no interest loan. In establishing priorities for making financial assistance available for the assessment and clean up of contaminated drinking water supplies or containment projects pursuant to this section, the department shall consider the extent to which such contamination poses a threat to a public resource or to the public health and safety. For the limited purposes of awarding financial assistance for the clean up of contaminated water supplies, such clean up shall be declared a public purpose.

(b) (1) The department may provide financial assistance to public bodies for up to ninety per cent of the costs of closure of an existing landfill or other solid waste facility; provided, however, that such closure project is related to an applicant's subsequent disposal of solid waste in a landfill, resource recovery facility or recycling facility involved in the general disposal of solid waste on a regional basis. Eighty per cent of the financial assistance provided to any one recipient pursuant to this subsection shall be in the form of a no interest loan; twenty per cent of such assistance shall be in the form of a grant.

(2) The department may provide loans with interest to public bodies for up to ninety per cent of the costs associated with containment or closure of any landfill or other solid waste facility.

(c) (1) The department may provide financial assistance to public bodies for up to ninety per cent of the costs of construction of landfills or other solid waste facilities which serve as regional facilities and which accept both residential and commercial waste. Said costs may include the costs of any necessary containment done in conjunction with the construction. Sixty per cent of the financial assistance provided to any one recipient pursuant to this subsection shall be in the form of a no interest loan; forty per cent of such assistance shall be in the form of a grant.

(2) The department may provide financial assistance to public bodies for up to ninety per cent of the costs of construction of landfills or other solid waste facilities which serve as regional facilities but which accept only residential waste. Said costs may include the costs of any necessary containment done in conjunction with the construction. Seventy per cent of the financial assistance provided to any one recipient pursuant to this subsection shall be in the form of a no interest loan; thirty per cent of such assistance shall be in the form of a grant.

(d) The department shall reimburse public bodies that own and operate refuse burning facilities for the cost of emissions testing required by clause (c) of section five.

(e) Loans and grants provided by the department pursuant to this section shall be made in accordance with procedures and a priority system established by the department pursuant to rules and regulations adopted pursuant to chapter thirty A after public hearing. In establishing priorities for making financial assistance available pursuant to this chapter, the department shall consider the following:

(1) the extent to which the applicant's plan involves construction of new landfill or other waste disposal facility capacity which permits the closure of existing landfills or facilities determined by the department to constitute a significant, present or foreseeable threat to the environment;

(2) the extent to which such construction project will provide landfill or other waste disposal facility capacity for the general disposal of solid waste on a regional basis or for regional use in connection with resource recovery or recycling facilities or programs as determined in each such case by the department to be in conformance with its statewide plan prepared under section twenty-one of chapter sixteen;

(3) the extent to which the applicant's plan involves the closure or containment of an existing landfill or other waste disposal facility determined by the department to constitute a significant, present or foreseeable threat to the environment;

(4) the extent to which such a closure project is related to the applicant's subsequent disposal of solid waste in a landfill, resource recovery or recycling facility involved in the general disposal of solid waste on a regional basis or for regional use as determined in each such case by the department to be in conformance with its statewide plan proposed under section twenty-one of chapter sixteen;

(5) whether the landfill or other waste disposal facility construction, containment or closure project as proposed by the applicant is found to be environmentally safe by the department;

(6) the extent to which the applicant or any person whom the applicant proposes to construct or operate the proposed project has complied with existing rules and regulations of the department in relation to the construction or operation of other waste disposal facility landfills, including without limitation rules and regulations related to air and water quality and to the siting of landfills under section one hundred and fifty A of chapter one hundred and eleven. Without limitation of the foregoing, nothing in this section shall be construed to prevent the department from conditioning the provision of financial assistance under this chapter upon the compliance of the applicant or of any other person to be responsible for operation of the facility with existing or amended laws, rules and regulations or policies or procedures of any public body charged with the implementation and enforcement of laws for the protection of the environment;

(7) the extent to which private industry is willing and able to provide facilities or services to municipalities at a total cost less than or equal to the size of the requested financial assistance considering the entire life of the proposed project as defined in section eight of chapter forty-four;

(8) the extent to which the applicant has adopted user fees for municipal solid waste disposal services designed to cover construction and operation costs, prevention of pollution, clean up, repairs, improvements, and closure of disposal facilities;

(9) the extent to which a municipality has planned or implemented a department approved recycling program;

(10) the extent to which a community has planned or implemented a department approved composting program;

(11) the extent to which a municipality has planned or implemented a department approved household hazardous waste separation program; and

(12) the extent to which any owner or operator of a landfill facility refuses to allow a small business interest engaged in collecting solid waste to unload or dispose of solid waste generated within the city, town or district in a landfill or other solid waste facility.

(f) Eligible projects for which money may be distributed pursuant to this section shall be those approved by the department on or after January first, nineteen hundred and eighty-six.

(g) Every public body shall, as a condition of receiving financial assistance under this chapter, except assistance under subsection (a) of section three, have implemented a plan providing for the periodic collection of household hazardous wastes and a plan for the recycling or composting of not less than twenty per cent of the solid waste generated within the area served by such public body. The department may modify the requirements of this subsection upon a determination that it would not be feasible for a public body to meet those requirements.

(h) Public bodies which apply for financial assistance under this chapter shall submit an application and comply with such other requirements as the department shall prescribe. Such applications shall, to the extent considered necessary by the department:

(1) describe how the applicant's project relates to the statewide plan adopted by the department pursuant to section twenty-one of chapter sixteen;

(2) set forth plans and designs for the applicant's project and describe the specific steps which the applicant will take to prevent or minimize damage to the environment which may otherwise be associated with the construction or closure of a landfill or other solid waste facility;

(3) describe the means by which the applicant proposes to finance costs of construction of facilities which will not be funded with financial assistance provided hereunder, and how the applicant proposes to finance operating expenses over the projected useful life of the facility.

(i) No application for financial assistance under this chapter shall be approved by the department unless (1) such applicant has provided such information as is reasonably available to the applicant in connection with the preparation or revision, as the case may be, of the statewide plan by the department pursuant to section twenty-one of chapter sixteen, and (2) the applicant's proposed construction or closure project is in conformance with such statewide plan.

(j) Without limitation of the foregoing, the department may, in furtherance of the purposes of this chapter enter into contracts or agreements with any person including without limitation federal, state or local bodies, and private persons, with respect to any and all matters and on terms and conditions which the department determines to be necessary or convenient to the exercise and performance of its powers and responsibilities under this chapter.

(k) For the purposes of this section, the terms "regional" and "regional basis" shall be deemed to include facilities servicing a municipality which has a population in excess of three hundred thousand or two or more municipalities.

(l) Any loan authorized pursuant to this section shall be repaid under such terms as the secretary of administration shall establish; provided, however, that, unless such loans are specifically designated as interest free, interest shall be charged at a rate on such loans which is no less than the rate at which the commonwealth sold the bonds or notes which have been authorized to provide the monies for such loan; provided, further, that in the event that no notes or bonds are sold prior to the execution of such loans, said secretary shall make an estimate of the likely interest rate based on prevailing bond market conditions; and provided, further, that the term of years of any such loan shall be established such that it does not exceed the term of years for the general obligation bonds the proceeds of which are utilized to fund such loan program. In the event that any city, town, or district defaults on any such loan, said secretary is hereby authorized and directed to recover the amounts owed under the terms of such loan by reducing the amounts of any distribution by the commonwealth of financial assistance for any fiscal year or fiscal years as appearing on the notification to the assessors required by section twenty-five A of chapter fifty-eight which would otherwise be distributed to such city, town, or district; provided, however, that in the event that a district is found to be in default, said secretary is authorized to proportionately reduce such financial assistance to the member cities and towns in such district. All monies paid to the commonwealth in repayment of such loans shall be deposited into the Local Aid Fund.

Section 4. The department is hereby authorized and directed to establish a program for (i) the discovery and assessment of pollution, or threats of pollution, caused by existing or closed solid waste facilities, (ii) the containment and clean up of such pollution, and (iii) the closure of existing solid waste facilities causing such pollution.

(a) In implementing assessment under said program, the department either may take or arrange for such assessments or may award grants to public bodies, in accordance with rules and regulations adopted by the department pursuant to chapter thirty A after public hearing, for up to one hundred per cent of the costs for such assessments. Such assessments may include without limitation studies, surveys, monitoring, testing and other investigations to identify the existence, source, nature and extent of such pollution and to assess the extent to which such pollution presents an existing or potential danger to the public health, safety or welfare, or the environment, and studies, services and investigations to plan, manage and direct necessary containment, clean up or closure activities.

(b) After the discovery and assessment under subsection (a) of pollution, or a threat of pollution, caused by an existing or closed solid waste facility, the department, in accordance with enforcement authority set forth in applicable statutes and regulations, shall notify the owner of the facility of (i) any requirements to correct such pollution, or threat of pollution, and to bring the facility into conformance with applicable statutes and regulations, and of steps which must be taken to do so; (ii) the need for any further assessment, or if adequate assessment has been made, the need for containment, closure or clean up projects to eliminate, minimize or prevent such pollution or threat of pollution; (iii) any funding available for such assessment, containment, closure or clean up projects under section three; (iv) the department's authority to take or arrange for any such projects under subsection (c); and (v) the liability provisions of subsections (e) to (h), inclusive, for the costs incurred by the department in taking or arranging for such projects.

(c) Subject to the provisions of subsections (b) and (d), the department is authorized (i) to take or arrange for further assessment of such pollution or threats of pollution, (ii) to take or arrange for containment actions in response to such pollution, or threats of pollution, which will prevent or minimize such pollution so that it does not migrate or otherwise cause or threaten substantial present or future danger to the public health, safety or welfare, or the environment, and (iii) to take or arrange for such closure or clean up activities as may be necessary to prevent, minimize or mitigate damage to the public health, safety or welfare, or the environment, which may result from such pollution, or threats of pollution.

(d) Prior to taking or arranging for any further assessment or any containment, closure or clean up activities under subsection (c), an assessment under subsection (a) shall have been completed, the department shall have informed the owner of the facility as set forth in subsection (b) and the department shall have notified said owner of its intent to take or arrange for such projects.

(e) Except as otherwise provided in this section, the owner of an existing or closed solid waste facility which causes pollution or threat of pollution, and any person who is otherwise legally responsible for such pollution or threat of pollution, shall be liable to the commonwealth for all costs of any further assessment and any containment, closure and clean up incurred by the department relative to such pollution pursuant to subsection (c). Except as provided in subsection (f), such liability shall be joint and several.

(f) Any person otherwise liable for any costs as set forth in subsection (e) who establishes by a preponderance of the evidence that only a portion of such costs is attributable to pollution or threat of pollution for which he is included in said subsection (e) shall be required to pay only such portion.

(g) All persons liable under this section who are liable for pollution or a threat of pollution, caused by an existing or closed solid waste facility, for which the department has incurred costs for assessment, containment, closure or clean up under subsection (c), shall be liable, jointly and severally, to the commonwealth in an amount up to three times their liability as set forth in this section; provided, however, that if any person establishes by a preponderance of the evidence that only a portion of such costs is attributable to pollution or threat of pollution for which he is included in said subsection (c), in which case they shall be required to pay up to three times such portion.

(h) Where the person liable for such pollution or threat of pollution is a city or town, there shall be no liability for the costs of assessment taken or arranged by the department, and the provision of subsection (g) relating to treble liability for costs incurred by the department for containment, closure or clean up shall not apply to such public body, and any liability to the commonwealth under this section, in the case of a city or town shall not be included in the debt of such city or town for the purpose of ascertaining its legal borrowing capacity, if after receiving notice under subsection (b), and prior to any action by the department under subsection (c), such city or town has taken action to obtain financial resources to support any necessary containment, closure or clean up projects, including without limitation issuing revenue bonds under section twenty-eight C of chapter forty-four or applying in good faith for financial assistance pursuant to section three.

(i) No indemnification, hold harmless or similar agreement or conveyance shall be effective to transfer the liability imposed under this section from the owner of any existing or closed solid waste facility or from any other person who may be liable for pollution or threat of pollution under this section to any other person. Nothing in this paragraph shall bar any agreement to insure, hold harmless, or indemnify a party to such agreement for any liability under this section.

(j) The department, as necessary to carry out the provisions of subsections (a) and (c) may enter into contracts for consultant services, including but not limited to engineering, technical, legal, administrative, accounting, community information, financial, management and investigatory function, and may acquire personal property and interests in real estate by leases, purchases or eminent domain under the provisions of chapter seventy-nine and may pay any relocation benefits required by law.

(k) Nothing in this section shall preclude the department from acting to address pollution or threats of pollution caused by existing or closed solid waste facilities under the authority of section four of chapter twenty-one E.

(l) Any person aggrieved by a determination by the department under subsections (b) to (j), inclusive, may request an adjudicatory hearing before the department under the provisions of chapter thirty A. Any such determination shall contain a notice of the right to request a hearing and may specify a reasonable time limit, not to exceed twenty-one days, within which said person shall request said hearing. If no such request is timely made, the determination shall be deemed assented to. If a timely request is received, the department within a reasonable time shall act upon such request in accordance with the provisions of said chapter thirty A.

A person aggrieved by a final decision in an adjudicatory hearing held under the provisions of this section may obtain judicial review thereof pursuant to the provisions of chapter thirty A.

Section 5. The department shall on a continual basis determine in cooperation with the department of public health (1) whether the air emissions and the ash residue from refuse burning facilities pose a threat to public health through the release of dioxins, furans, or other hazardous constituents, (2) the nature and extent of any such threat, and (3) the appropriate measures to be undertaken to protect public health if a significant threat is identified. To protect public health as required by this section, the department shall have the authority to:

(a) develop and establish procedures to be followed when the department tests or requires other persons to test for the presence of dioxins, furans, heavy metals or other hazardous constituents in the environment;

(b) conduct tests for the presence of dioxins, furans, or other hazardous constituents in the ambient air at locations in the commonwealth, as determined by the department;

(c) require that persons who own or operate refuse burning facilities test the air emissions, bottom ash, and fly ash from the facilities for the presence of dioxins, furans, heavy metals or other hazardous constituents; provided, however, that such persons shall conduct dioxin testing according to clause (a) at least once every nine months;

(c 1/2) require baseline testing prior to the operation of any new facility;

(d) retain the results of such tests for comparison purposes over time and initiate proper responses when the results of such tests indicate a potential violation of department standards and policies;

(e) make available to interested parties, the general public and residents of municipalities in which refuse burning facilities exist or border the results of such tests together with an explanation of such results as to the adherence by such facilities to department standards and policies;

(f) cause to be designed and established an acute toxics laboratory at the Lawrence Experimental Station capable of analyzing extremely low levels of contaminants in air, water and soil samples; and

(g) promulgate rules and regulations for the land disposal of bottom ash and fly ash from refuse burning facilities which shall protect the public health and environment from any significant adverse effects from the disposal of such ash residue. Said rules and regulations may include, but not be limited to, provision for ash residue landfills to operate with liners, leachate collection systems, daily cover, groundwater monitoring and other systems necessary to prevent contamination of the air, groundwater and surface water.

Section 6. (a) All resource recovery facilities and other solid waste incinerators shall operate with acid gas scrubbers, or such other technology providing equal or greater protection to the public health and environment, as determined by the department in manner and time.

(b) All operators and owners of refuse burning facilities shall be required to set aside three per cent of any tipping fee received from any person for the purpose of providing for the costs of pollution abatement and control equipment and procedures, including but not limited to environmental monitoring such as emission testing, continuous emission monitors, ash residue testing, ambient air testing; environmental assessments; the upgrading of pollution control equipment to provide greater reduction of pollutants; and the installation of new pollution control technologies to reduce environmental contaminants. Said monies shall be paid into a separate fund to be held by the owner of the refuse burning facility, and any interest accumulated by such money shall be paid into the fund.

Any facility which is required to set aside three per cent of any tipping fee pursuant to this section shall file annual reports with the state auditor. Said annual reports shall contain information sufficient for the state auditor to make a determination that such funds set aside are being managed and used for the purposes set forth in this section. Said state auditor shall consult with the department in making said determination.

If said facility ceases to operate, all unexpended funds, including accrued interest, shall be returned to the users of said facility on a pro rata basis.

Said state auditor, in consultation with the department, may reduce the set aside required by this section for any facility upon a determination that the owner or operator is otherwise required by law, financing agreement, contract or other means to provide for a sufficient reserve to cover anticipated or unanticipated costs related to any upgrading or other required modification of the facility and that the owner or operator has maintained such reserve. Any facility receiving such a reduction in the set aside required by this section shall file annual reports with said state auditor. Such annual reports shall contain information sufficient for said state auditor to make a determination that such reserves continue to exist and be required.

(c) The department shall periodically require operators and owners of refuse burning facilities to upgrade the refuse burning facility for the purpose of providing maximum protection to the environment and to the public health of the commonwealth, and, where applicable, to expend such monies from the fund established pursuant to subsection (b) for such purposes; provided, however, that the lack of availability of sufficient monies in the fund shall not limit the obligation of such owners and operators to carry out any such upgrading.

Section 7. The department, in consultation with the department of food and agriculture, shall establish a program to provide for recycling through composting of leaves and other organic matter.

(a) The department shall be authorized to implement regional yard waste and leaf composting projects and shall utilize state-owned land where feasible. The department shall also be authorized to accept applications from municipalities for grants and to award grants to assist in the development of local and regional composting projects. The department shall promulgate rules and regulations for the operation of a state and local yard waste and leaf composting program.

(b) The department of food and agriculture shall establish an agricultural composting program. Said department of food and agriculture is hereby authorized to establish state and local composting projects, to establish a demonstration agricultural composting program, and to accept applications for grants from municipalities for the purposes of creating agricultural composting projects. Said department of food and agriculture shall promulgate rules and regulations for the operation of state, local, and demonstration agricultural composting programs.

Section 8. Any person who violates any provision of this chapter, or any rule or regulation, order, permit, or approval issued or adopted under the provisions of this chapter: (a) shall be punished by a fine of not more than twenty-five thousand dollars, or by imprisonment for not more than two years or both, for each such violation; or (b) shall be subject to a civil penalty not to exceed twenty-five thousand dollars for each such violation. Each day each such violation occurs or continues shall be deemed a separate offense.

SECTION 4. Chapter 29 of the General Laws is hereby amended by striking out section 2J, inserted by section 136 of chapter 199 of the acts of 1987, and inserting in place thereof the following section:-

Section 2J. There shall be established and set up on the books of the commonwealth a separate fund to be known as the Environmental Challenge Fund. There shall be credited to such fund:

any amounts collected pursuant to section sixteen of chapter twenty-one A;

any amounts collected pursuant to chapter twenty-one E;

any amounts collected pursuant to chapter twenty-one H;

any amounts collected pursuant to section ten or section fifteen of chapter four hundred and five of the acts of nineteen hundred and eighty-five; and

any income derived from the investment of amounts credited to said fund.

Amounts credited to said fund shall be used, subject to appropriation, solely for the clean up, control or response actions for oil and hazardous materials, reducing the production of hazardous waste or for any other action necessary to implement sections three A and four of chapter twenty-one E.

SECTION 5. Chapter 40 of the General Laws is hereby amended by striking out section 8H, as appearing in the 1986 Official Edition, and inserting in place thereof the following section:-

Section 8H. A city, town, or district may establish, by approval of the local legislative body, a recycling program for the purpose of recycling any type of solid waste including but not limited to paper, glass, metal, rubber, plastics, used tires and compostable waste. The program may be established for groups of cities, towns, or districts upon agreement of all municipalities or districts in a joint program.

Any recycling program established pursuant to this section may require that all residents, schools and businesses in a city or town separate from their solid waste those recyclables designated by the local legislative body. In cities and towns in which solid waste is collected at the curbside, the recycling program may include curbside collection of such recyclables. In cities and towns in which residents, schools or businesses may take their solid waste to a municipal landfill or transfer station, the recycling program shall include provision for the separation and storage at such landfill or transfer station of the solid waste being disposed by such resident, schools or businesses, and may include collection of recyclables at the curbside.

For purposes of this section, local legislative body shall mean the body of municipal government which is empowered to enact ordinances or by-laws and adopt an annual budget and other spending authorizations, whether styled as a city council, board of aldermen, town council, town meeting or by any other title. The department of environmental quality engineering shall cooperate with local legislative bodies in the development of recycling programs, and no such program shall be established unless the municipality or district has first consulted with said department.

SECTION 6. Section 44B of said chapter 40, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking out, in line 2, the word "contiguous".

SECTION 7. Section 44K of said chapter 40, as so appearing, is hereby amended by adding the following sentence:- Any debt incurred by a regional refuse disposal district shall not be subject to the limit of indebtedness prescribed in section ten of chapter forty-four.

SECTION 8. Said chapter 40 is hereby further amended by inserting after section 44K the following section:-

Section 44L. The rights and powers granted to cities and towns by the provisions of section twenty-eight C of chapter forty-four shall apply to regional refuse disposal districts and for the purpose of said section twenty-eight C the chief executive officer of a regional refuse disposal district shall be the regional refuse disposal district committee.

SECTION 9. Section 54 of said chapter 40 is hereby amended by adding the following paragraph:-

Every city or town shall require, as a condition of issuing a building permit or license for the demolition, renovation, rehabilitation or other alteration of a building or structure, that the debris resulting from such demolition, renovation, rehabilitation or alteration be disposed of in a properly licensed solid waste disposal facility, as defined by section one hundred and fifty A of chapter one hundred and eleven. Any such permit or license shall indicate the location of the facility at which the debris is to be disposed. If for any reason, the debris will not be disposed of as indicated, the permittee or licensee shall notify the issuing authority as to the location where the debris will be disposed. The issuing authority shall amend the permit or license to so indicate.

SECTION 10. Section 9 of chapter 40A of the General Laws is hereby amended by adding the following paragraph:-

A facility, as defined in section one hundred and fifty A of chapter one hundred and eleven, which has received a site assignment pursuant to said section one hundred and fifty A, shall be permitted to be constructed or expanded on any locus zoned for industrial use unless specifically prohibited by the ordinances and by-laws of the city or town in which such facility is proposed to be constructed or expanded, in effect as of July first, nineteen hundred and eighty-seven; provided, however, that all permits and licenses required by law have been issued to the proposed operator. A city or town shall not adopt an ordinance or by-law prohibiting the siting of such a facility or the expansion of an existing facility on any locus zoned for industrial use, or require a license or permit granted by said city or town, except a special permit imposing reasonable conditions on the construction or operation of the facility, unless such prohibition, license or permit was in effect on or before July first, nineteen hundred and eighty-seven; provided, however, that a city or town may adopt and enforce a zoning or non-zoning ordinance or by-law of general application that has the effect of prohibiting the siting or expansion of a facility in the following areas: recharge areas of surface drinking water supplies as shall be reasonably defined by rules and regulations of the department of environmental quality engineering, areas subject to section forty of chapter one hundred and thirty-one, and the regulations promulgated thereunder; and areas within the zone of contribution of existing or potential public supply wells as defined by said department. No special permit authorized by this section may be denied for any such facility by any city or town; provided, however, that a special permit granting authority may impose reasonable conditions on the construction or operation of the facility, which shall be enforceable pursuant to the provisions of section seven.

SECTION 11. Paragraph (g) of section 21 of chapter 40D of the General Laws, as appearing in the 1986 Official Edition, is hereby amended by striking out the second sentence and inserting in place thereof the following two sentences:- Such contracts may be for such periods as agreed upon by the parties and, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, may include provisions for the delivery of minimum amounts of refuse, garbage and waste and payments for the use of the facilities to be based thereon; provided, however, that such provisions do not result in the imposition of a contract penalty for municipal participation in a commonwealth approved program of residential source separation of recyclable materials, for unit prices, which may be graduated, and for adjustments thereof. Such contracts may also include provisions for the payment or performance of obligations imposed on cities, towns or other public agencies notwithstanding the interruption, curtailment or abandonment of construction or operation of the facilities; provided, however, that it shall be contrary to public policy to enforce such obligations against a city, town or other public agency unless notice of an operating permit granted approval by the department of environmental quality engineering for the facility shall have been recorded as provided in section one hundred and fifty A of chapter one hundred and eleven, and the interruption, curtailment or abandonment is attributable to circumstances which are beyond the control of the contractor or operator of the facilities and which render it physically or commercially impracticable or legally impermissible to operate the facilities even if the facilities conformed to the operating plans and specifications for which said operating permit was recorded.

SECTION 12. Section 7 of chapter 44 of the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking out clauses (4A) and (4B).

SECTION 13. Said section 7 of said chapter 44, as so appearing, is hereby further amended by striking out clause (24).

SECTION 14. Section 8 of said chapter 44, as so appearing, is hereby amended by adding the following four clauses:-

(21) For the cost of cleaning up or preventing pollution caused by existing or closed landfills or other solid waste disposal facilities, including clean up or prevention activities taken pursuant to chapter twenty-one E or chapter twenty-one H, thirty years; provided, however, that no indebtedness shall be incurred hereunder until plans relating to the project shall have been submitted to the department of environmental quality engineering and the approval of said department has been granted therefor.

(22) For the construction of incinerators, refuse transfer facilities, recycling facilities, composting facilities, resource recovery facilities or other solid waste disposal facilities, other than landfills, for the purpose of disposing of waste, refuse and garbage, twenty years; provided, however, that no indebtedness shall be incurred hereunder until plans relating to the project shall have been submitted to the department of environmental quality engineering and the approval of said department has been granted therefor.

(23) For remodeling, reconstructing or making extraordinary repairs to incinerators, refuse transfer facilities, recycling facilities, resource recovery facilities or other solid waste disposal facilities, other than landfills, owned by the city, town or district, and used for the purpose of disposing of waste, refuse and garbage, such amounts as may be approved by the emergency finance board established under section one of chapter forty-nine of the acts of nineteen hundred and thirty-three, and for such maximum term, not exceeding ten years, as said board shall fix; provided, however, that no indebtedness shall be incurred hereunder until plans relating to the project shall have been submitted to the department of environmental quality engineering and the approval of said department has been granted therefor.

(24) For the purpose of closing out a landfill area, opening a new landfill area, or making improvements to an existing landfill area, fifteen years; provided, however, that no indebtedness shall be incurred hereunder until plans relating to the project shall have been submitted to the department of environmental quality engineering and the approval of said department has been granted therefor.

SECTION 15. Said chapter 44 is hereby further amended by inserting after section 28B the following section:-

Section 28C. (a) As used in this section, the following words shall, unless the context clearly requires otherwise, have the following meanings:

"Chief executive officer", the manager in any city having a manager and in any town having a city form of government, the mayor in any other city, and the board of selectmen in any other town unless some other officer or body is designated to perform the functions of a chief executive officer under the provisions of a local charter or laws having the force of a charter.

"Costs", when used in reference to any work or purpose for which a city or town is authorized to issue debt obligations under this section, means all or any part of the cost of planning, designing, acquiring, constructing, reconstructing, altering, remodeling and otherwise carrying out such work or purpose including, without limitation, costs of labor, materials, machinery and equipment, lands, structures and all rights of any kind in real and personal property, costs of demolitions and relocations, cost of issuance and other financing charges and expenses, reserves for debt service and other capital and current expenses, costs of architectural, engineering, financial, legal and consulting services, costs of plans, specifications, appraisals, surveys, inspections, financial and feasibility studies, and any other costs or expenses authorized herein or necessary or incidental to the planning, acquisition, construction, financing or placing in operation of such work or purpose; the word "cost" shall also include interest prior to, during and for a reasonable period of time after completion of such work or purpose.

"Cost of issuance", any items of expense payable or reimbursable directly or indirectly by a city or town and related to the sale and issuance of debt obligations under this section and the investment of the proceeds therefor and of revenues securing the same, including without limitation printing costs, filing and recording fees, fees and charges of trustees, depositories, authenticating agents and paying agents, legal and auditing fees and charges, financial consultant fees, costs of credit ratings, premiums for insurance of the payment of debt obligations and fees payable for letters or lines of credit or other credit facilities securing debt obligations, discount payable upon the sale of debt obligations, fees and charges for execution, transportation and safekeeping of debt obligations, costs and expenses of refunding and other costs, fees and charges in connection with the foregoing.

"Debt obligation", a bond, a note, a certificate of indebtedness, and any other instrument or evidence of indebtedness, including a debt obligation issued to refund any of the foregoing.

(b) Any city or town is hereby authorized pursuant to a two-thirds vote, from time to time to issue its debt obligations pursuant to this section to pay project costs of (1) cleaning up or preventing pollution caused by existing or closed landfills or other solid waste disposal facilities including clean up or prevention activities taken pursuant to chapter twenty-one E or chapter twenty-one H; (2) constructing incinerators, refuse transfer facilities, recycling facilities, composting facilities, resource recovery facilities or other solid waste disposal facilities, for the purpose of disposing of waste, refuse and garbage; (3) remodeling, reconstructing or making extraordinary repairs to incinerators, refuse transfer facilities, recycling facilities, resource recovery facilities or other solid waste disposal facilities, owned by the city or town and used for the purpose of disposing of waste, refuse and garbage; and (4) closing out a landfill area, opening a new landfill area, or making improvements to an existing landfill area. No indebtedness shall be incurred hereunder until plans relating to the project shall have been submitted to the department of environmental quality engineering and the approval of said department has been granted therefor.

If a city or town has authorized the issuance of debt obligations in accordance with this section, the treasurer, with the approval of the chief executive officer, may without further authority issue notes in anticipation of such debt obligations, which notes may be paid with the proceeds of such debt obligations. The maturity date of any such notes shall not exceed three years from the date of issue of such notes or six months after the date of completion of the project being financed with such debt obligations, as determined by the chief executive officer, whichever date is later; provided, however, that notes issued to mature earlier than such date may be refunded on other notes maturing no later than three years from the date of issue of the original loan or six months after the completion date of the facility, whichever date is later. Subject to the limitations set forth in this paragraph, the provisions of this section applicable to debt obligations shall also apply to notes issued in anticipation thereof.

The useful life of a project to clean up or prevent pollution caused by existing or closed landfills or other solid waste facilities shall be deemed to be thirty years. The debt obligations may be made redeemable before maturity at the option of the city or town, acting by and through its chief executive officer, or when authorized by a two-thirds vote prior to issuance at the option of the holder of such debt obligations, at such price or prices, with or without premium, and under such terms and conditions as such officer may determine prior to the issue of such debt obligations. Debt obligations may be issued as serial debt obligations or as term debt obligations or as a combination of both, and in coupon or registered form, or both. Provision may be made for the registration of any coupon debt obligations as to principal alone, and also as to both principal and interest, and for the reconversion into coupon debt obligations of any debt obligations registered as to both principal and interest and for the interchange of registered and coupon debt obligations. The treasurer, with the approval of the chief executive officer, shall determine the form of the debt obligations, including any interest coupons to be attached thereto, and shall fix the denomination or denominations of the debt obligations and the place or places of payment of principal, premium, if any, and interest, which may be at any bank or trust company within or without the commonwealth.

Debt obligations issued hereunder shall be signed by the manual or facsimile signature of the treasurer and countersigned by the manual or facsimile signature of the treasurer and countersigned by the manual or facsimile signature of the chief executive officer and coupons, if any, appertaining to debt obligations shall bear the facsimile signature of the treasurer. Unless provision is made for the authentication of the debt obligations of an issue by the manual signature of trustee or other authenticating agent, each debt obligation shall bear at least one manual signature of the aforementioned officers. Debt obligations, other than notes, shall bear thereon the seal of the city or town or a facsimile thereof. In case any officer whose signature or a facsimile of whose signature shall appear on any debt obligations or coupons shall cease to be such officer before the delivery thereof, such signature or such facsimile shall nevertheless be valid and sufficient for all purposes the same as if he had remained in office until after such delivery.

Debt obligations issued by a city or town pursuant to this section may be sold in such manner, either at public or private sale, and for such price or prices, whether at par, premium or discount, as the treasurer, with the approval of the chief executive officer, may determine.

Any debt obligations issued under authority of this section shall not be included in the debt of a city or town for the purpose of ascertaining its legal borrowing capacity.

(c) The chief executive officer of any city or town is hereby authorized and empowered in connection with any borrowing under this section to enter into one or more trust or security agreements between such city or town and a corporate trustee, which may be any trust company or bank having the powers of a trust company within or without the commonwealth, or directly between such city or town and the lenders on the debt obligations, necessary to effectuate and to secure such borrowing. Such agreements may pledge or assign, and create a security interest in, in whole or in part, the revenues and other money held or to be received by the city or town from any project being financed or from any fees or charges imposed by such city or town relating to solid waste disposal and any contract or other rights to receive the same, whether then existing or thereafter coming into existence and whether then held or thereafter acquired by the city or town and the proceeds thereof. Such agreements may contain such provisions for protecting and enforcing the rights, security and remedies of the holders of such debt obligations as may be reasonable and not in violation of law, including without limiting the generality of the foregoing, provisions defining defaults and providing for remedies in the event thereof, which may include the acceleration of maturities and covenants setting forth the duties of, and limitations on, the city or town in relation to the acquisition, construction, improvement, enlargement, alteration, equipping, furnishing, maintenance, use, operation, repair, insurance and disposition of the project being financed by such debt obligations, the custody, safeguarding, investment and application of money, the issuance of additional debt obligations, the fixing, revision and collection of fees or other charges relating to solid waste disposal, the use of any surplus proceeds of the borrowing, including any investment earnings thereon, the establishment of special funds and reserves and the making and amending of contracts relating to such project.

The pledge of any such agreement shall be valid and binding and shall be deemed continuously perfected for the purposes of chapter one hundred and six and any other law from the time when the pledge is made; the revenues, money, rights and proceeds so pledged and then held or thereafter acquired or received by a city or town shall immediately be subject to the lien of such pledge without any physical delivery or segregation thereof or further act; and the lien of any such pledge shall be valid and binding against all parties having claims of any kind in tort, contract or otherwise against the city or town, irrespective of whether such parties have notice thereof. No document by which a pledge is created need be filed or recorded except in the records of a city or town and no filing need be made under the provisions of said chapter one hundred and six.

Any such trust agreement may provide that any money received thereunder may be deposited or invested, pending the disbursement thereof, in any deposits or investments which are lawful for the funds of cities or towns pursuant to section fifty-five of chapter forty-four, and shall provide that any officer with whom or any bank or trust company with which such money shall be deposited shall act as trustee of such money and shall hold and apply the same for the purposes hereof and thereof, subject to such regulation or limitation as this section or such agreement may provide.

It shall be lawful for any bank or trust company to act as depository or trustee of the proceeds of debt obligations, revenues or other money pledged under any such agreement and to furnish such indemnifying bonds or to pledge such security and issue such letters or lines of credit or other credit facilities as may be required by the city or town. Any agreement entered into pursuant to this section may set forth the rights and remedies of the holders of any debt obligations and of the trustee and may restrict the individual right of action by any such holders. In addition to the foregoing, any such agreement may contain such other provisions as the city or town may deem reasonable and proper. All expenses incurred in carrying out the provisions of such agreement may be treated as a cost of issuance hereunder. In addition to other security provided herein or otherwise by law, debt obligations issued under this section by a city or town, may be secured, in whole or in part, by insurance or by letters or lines of credit or other credit facilities issued to the city or town by any bank, trust company or other financial institution, within or without the commonwealth, and the city or town may pledge or assign any of its revenues and other money held or to be received by the city or town from the project being financed or from any fees or charges imposed by such city or town relating to solid waste disposal as security for the reimbursement by the city or town to the issuers of such letters or lines of credit, insurance or credit facilities of any payments made thereunder.

Any holder of a debt obligation issued by a city or town under the provisions of this section or of any of the coupons appertaining thereto and any trustee under an agreement securing the same, except to the extent the rights herein given may be restricted by such agreement, may bring suit upon the debt obligations or coupons and may, either at law or in equity, by suit, action, mandamus, or other proceeding for legal or equitable relief, including proceedings for the appointment of a receiver to take possession and control of the facilities financed by such debt obligations to operate and maintain the same, to make any necessary repairs, renewals and replacements in respect thereof and to fix, revise and collect fees and charges, protect and enforce any and all rights under the laws of the commonwealth or granted hereunder or under such agreement or other agreement, and may enforce and compel the performance of all duties required by this section or by such agreements to be preformed by the city or town or by any officer thereof.

A pledge of revenue in accordance with this section shall constitute a sufficient appropriation thereof for the purposes of any provision for appropriation for so long as such pledge shall be in effect and, notwithstanding any other general or special law to the contrary, such revenues may be applied as required by the pledge and the agreement evidencing the same without further appropriation.

(d) In addition to authority otherwise granted by law, a city or town may, when authorized by a two-thirds vote, issue refunding debt obligations for the purpose of paying any of its debt obligations issued under this section prior to maturity or upon acceleration of redemption. Refunding debt obligations may be issued at such times prior to the maturity or redemption of the refunded debt obligations as the treasurer and chief executive officer deem to be in the best interest of the city or town. The refunding debt obligations may be issued in sufficient amounts to pay or provide for the principal of the debt obligations being refunded, together with any redemption premium thereon, any interest accrued or to accrue to the date of payment of such debt obligations, the costs of issuance of the refunding debt obligations, the costs of redeeming the debt obligations being refunded and such reserves as may be required by any agreement securing the refunding debt obligations. The issue of refunding debt obligations, the maturity or maturities and other details thereof, the security therefor, and the rights of the holders thereof, and the rights, duties and obligations of the city or town in respect of the same shall be governed by the provisions of this section relating to the issue of debt obligations other than refunding debt obligations insofar as the same may be applicable; provided, however, that the refunding debt obligations shall be payable no later than the last date on which any portion of the debt obligations being refunded are payable or within the remaining useful life of the work or purpose financed by the refunded debt obligations, as determined by the chief executive officer, whichever is later. The provisions of section twenty-one A of chapter forty-four shall not apply to any such refunding debt obligations.

(e) Debt obligations issued under authority of this section are hereby made securities in which all insurance companies, trust companies, banking associations, savings banks, cooperative banks, investment companies, executors, trustees and other fiduciaries, and all other persons whatsoever who are now or may hereafter be authorized to invest in bonds or notes or other obligations of a similar nature may properly and legally invest funds, including capital deposits or other funds in their control or belonging to them. Such debt obligations are hereby made securities which may properly and legally be deposited with and received by any state or municipal office or any agency or political subdivision of the commonwealth for any purpose for which the deposit of bonds or other obligations of the commonwealth now or may hereafter be authorized by law.

Debt obligations issued under authority of this section, their transfer and the income therefrom, including any profit made on the sale thereof, shall be at all times free from taxation within the commonwealth whether or not any such debt obligation shall so provide on its face.

Debt obligations may be issued under this section as herein provided without the consent of any department, division, commission or agency of the commonwealth and without any other proceedings or the happening of any other conditions or things other than those consents, proceedings, conditions or things expressly required therefor herein and the validity of and security for any such debt obligations shall not be affected by the existence or nonexistence of any such consent or other proceedings, conditions or things.

(f) Any city or town acting by and through the officer or officers, board, committee or other body authorized by law, if any, to fix, revise, charge and collect such fees and other charges, otherwise, acting by and through its chief executive officer, is hereby authorized to fix, revise, charge and collect fees and other charges for any facilities or services provided by such city or town as relate to the collection or disposal of solid waste. If a city or town has issued debt obligations under this section, the fees and other charges established as aforesaid shall be fixed and adjusted during any period when such debt obligations are outstanding so as to provide revenues at least sufficient (i) to pay the current expenses of operating and maintaining such facilities and services, (ii) to pay the principal or, premium, if any, and interest on all debt obligations issued by the city or town under this section as the same become due and payable, (iii) to create and maintain such reserves as may be required by a resolution or agreement relating to the issuance of debt obligations hereunder, (iv) to provide funds for paying project costs and maintenance, repair, replacement and renewal costs related to any project financed with debt obligations issued hereunder and (v) to pay or provide for any and all amounts which the city or town may be obligated to pay by law or contract relating to such project. In addition such fees and charges shall be fixed and adjusted so as to provide revenues sufficient to pay any costs incurred by the city or town to clean up or prevent pollution caused by existing active or inactive landfills or other solid waste disposal facilities, including the operation and maintenance of such facilities, or to provide solid waste disposal facilities, including but not limited to the principal of, premium, if any, and interest on debt of the city or town issued pursuant to section seven or eight, and to provide funds for the estimated cost of closing any existing operating solid waste facility, which revenue and funds shall be held by the city or town in a separate fund or funds for subsequent appropriation for such purpose. Except as otherwise provided above, such fees and charges may be fixed and adjusted by each city or town to cover all or any part of the costs specified above. Cities and towns may collect and enforce by legal proceedings such fees and charges from persons liable therefor and in connection with such collection and enforcement cities and towns may employ all the powers and privileges granted to them by law with respect to any similar fee or other charge including but not limited to the powers and privileges granted cities and towns under the provisions of sections forty-two A to forty-two F, inclusive, of chapter forty and sections sixteen to sixteen F, inclusive, of chapter eighty-three.

(g) In addition to any other power conferred by law, a city or town may from time to time contract for the operation by others of any solid waste facility or facilities financed or to be financed by such city or town in whole or in part under this section or any other general or special law or may from time to time lease the same to others for operation by them and may contract with any such operator for the disposal of refuse, garbage and waste, or for any of the foregoing, or for the purchase or use of by-products or residue resulting from the operation of such facilities. All other cities, towns and other public agencies and private parties are also authorized from time to time to contract with such city or town or with any such operator for the disposal of refuse, garbage and waste, or for any of the foregoing, or from the purchase or use of by-products or residue resulting from the operation of such facilities. Such contracts may be for such periods as agreed upon by the parties and, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, may include provisions for the delivery of minimum amounts of refuse, garbage and waste and payments for the use of the facilities to be based thereon; provided, however, that such provisions do not result in the imposition of a contract penalty for municipal participation in a commonwealth approved program of residential source separation of recyclable materials, for unit prices, which may be graduated, and for adjustments thereof. Such contracts may also include provisions for the payment or performance of obligations imposed on cities, towns or other public agencies notwithstanding the interruption, curtailment or abandonment of construction or operation of the facilities; provided, however, that it shall be contrary to public policy to enforce such obligations against a city, town or other public agency unless notice of an operating permit granted by the department of environmental quality engineering for the facility shall have been recorded as provided in section one hundred and fifty A of chapter one hundred and eleven, and the interruption, curtailment or abandonment is attributable to circumstances which are beyond the control of the contractor or operator of the facilities and which render it physically or commercially impracticable or legally impermissible to operate the facilities even if the facilities conformed to the operating plans and specifications for which said operating permit was recorded. Such payments, unit prices or adjustments need not be specifically stated in said contract but may be determined by formulae if set forth therein. In addition, supplementary charges, or adjustments, may be imposed by the facility upon cities and towns in payment for increases in costs or decreases in revenues, incurred, or projected to be incurred, by the facility as the result of changes in state or federal laws and regulations directly affecting the operations of the facility. Any such supplementary charge or adjustment shall include documentation which provides a detailed statement accounting for the causes of any increases in costs, or losses of revenues, for which by the terms of the contract a supplementary charge or adjustment may be made, documents prepared by qualified accountants which set forth the assumptions, formulas and calculations used in computing the amount of the supplementary charge or adjustment, and an accounting of the supplementary charge or adjustment being imposed and an evaluation as to whether they are allowable under the terms of the contract and as to whether they have been correctly calculated. At the end of each fiscal year, the facility shall document the actual increases in cost, or decreases in revenues, and the actual amount of additional fees received by the facility during the past year, and determine if the actual increased costs or decreased revenues are at variance with the revenues and expenditures estimated and used to establish the amount of any approved supplementary charge or adjustment. The supplementary charge or adjustment shall be recalculated using the actual figures and the fees for the succeeding year shall reflect the appropriate amounts to be either refunded to or recouped from the cities and towns. Any dispute between a city or town and a facility regarding the imposition of such supplementary charge or adjustment shall be resolved by arbitration at the request of either party. Both parties shall provide all necessary data to assist the arbitrator or arbitration panel in its determination. The findings of the arbitrator or the arbitration panel shall be binding upon the facility and the city or town.

Any contract or lease under this section by a city or town may be entered into by the appropriate officers acting under general authorization of the city council, town council or town meeting and may run for a period not exceeding forty years from the date of the contract or lease or from the date of commencing regular operation of the facility or facilities, as determined or estimated in such contract or lease, whichever date is later. Any contract or lease hereunder may include provisions for arbitration and reasonable restrictions against other disposal by cities, towns or other public agencies of the substances covered thereby while the contract is in force and disposal under the contract is practicable. A contract by a city or town hereunder shall not be subject to section four of chapter forty and shall not be precluded by the acceptance of section nine A of chapter ninety-two. The obligations represented by payments by a city or town under such a contract shall not be included in any determination of the borrowing capacity of such city or town under any limitation on its indebtedness.

In the event that any such solid waste disposal facility includes or is to include facilities for the production of steam as a by-product, any corporation, operating or leasing such solid waste disposal facility, whether domestic or foreign, or other person owning, occupying or operating the facility shall have the powers granted by section twelve of chapter one hundred and fifty-eight but the production and sale of such steam and the foregoing grant powers shall not cause the corporation or person to be otherwise subject to chapter one hundred and fifty-eight or excluded from chapter one hundred and fifty-six or one hundred and fifty-six B or cause the corporation to be deemed a heat or power company for the purposes of the corporation laws of the commonwealth.

Any contract with a city or town for the operation by others of any solid waste facility or facilities under this section, or any lease of the same to others for operation by them, shall contain such provisions as may be deemed necessary to protect the public interest, including but not limited to provisions as to the rates to be charged or for the approval of such rates by the city or town and provisions requiring approval by the city or town of contracts with third parties for the disposal of refuse, garbage and waste. In entering into contracts or leases for the operation of the facility or facilities, the city or town is directed insofar as practicable, to provide for just and equitable rates and a fair but not excessive return to the operator and to provide for meeting public disposal needs in preference to private needs.

The city or town or any person operating a facility or facilities, including but not limited to recycling facilities, under a contract or lease pursuant to this section shall not be required to pay any property taxes or assessments on any real or personal property included in such facility or facilities or any sales, use or similar tax on the sale, use, storage or consumption of any personal property in such operation. A contract or lease hereunder may provide, however, for payments to the city or town in lieu of taxes and assessments.

(h) The provisions of subsection (c) may be used by a city or town as appropriate in connection with general debt obligations of the city or town issued pursuant to other general or special laws for solid waste disposal purposes as well as in connection with debt obligations issued under this section. The provisions of subsections (f) and (g) are applicable to any city or town whether or not any such city or town has issued debt obligations under this section or under any other provision of law for solid waste disposal purposes.

(i) The provisions of this section shall be deemed to provide an additional and alternative means for the effectuation of the purposes authorized hereby and shall be regarded as supplemental and additional to, and not in derogation of, powers conferred upon cities or towns by other laws; provided, however, that if any provision of this section shall be contrary to or conflict with any provision of any other general or special law in any circumstances, the provision of this section shall control in such circumstances.

SECTION 15A. Section 13 of chapter 58 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 1986 Official Edition, is hereby amended by striking out, in line 37, the words "public works" and inserting in place thereof the words:- environmental quality engineering.

SECTION 16. Section 150A of chapter 111 of the General Laws, as amended by section 12 of chapter 174 of the acts of 1987, is hereby further amended by striking out the first seven paragraphs and inserting in place thereof the following sixteen paragraphs:-

As used in this section and in section one hundred and fifty A 1/2 the following words shall, unless the context otherwise requires, have the following meanings:-

"Department", the department of environmental quality engineering.

"Facility", a sanitary landfill, a refuse transfer station, a refuse incinerator rated by the department at more than one ton of refuse per hour, a resource recovery facility, a refuse composting plant, a dumping ground for refuse or any other works for treating, storing, or disposing of refuse.

"Refuse", all solid or liquid waste materials, including garbage and rubbish, and sludge, but not including sewage, and those materials defined as hazardous wastes in section two of chapter twenty-one C and those materials defined as source, special nuclear or by-product material under the provisions of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954.

"Maintain", to establish, keep or sustain the presence of a facility on a site, whether or not such facility is in operation and whether or not such facility has been closed.

No place in any city or town shall be maintained or operated by any person, including any political subdivision of the commonwealth, as a site for a facility, or as an expansion of an existing facility, unless, after a public hearing, such place has been assigned by the board of health of such city or town in accordance with the provisions of this section, or, in the case of a facility owned or operated by an agency of the commonwealth, such place has been assigned by the department after a public hearing and unless public notice of such assignment has been given by the board of health or the department, whichever is applicable.

The determination by the board of health, or the department in the case of a state agency, of whether to assign a place as a site for a facility, or for the expansion of an existing facility, shall be based upon the site suitability criteria established by the department in cooperation with the department of public health pursuant to section one hundred and fifty A 1/2, and any site assignment shall be subject to such limitations with respect to the extent, character and nature of the facility or expansion thereof as may be necessary to ensure that the facility or expansion thereof will not present a threat to the public health, safety or the environment.

Any person desiring to maintain or operate a site for a new facility or the expansion of an existing facility shall submit an application for a site assignment to the local board of health and simultaneously provide copies to the department and the department of public health. The department shall, upon request by the board of health, provide advice, guidance and technical assistance to said board during its review of a site assignment application. The department and a board of health may enter into such other cooperative agreements in addition to those herein specified for the purpose of achieving an effective and expeditious review of the application. The board of health may charge a reasonable application fee to cover the costs of conducting a hearing and reviewing technical data submitted to the board. The application fee may also include a portion of the reasonable costs of other technical assistance. The application fee shall be established in accordance with rules and regulations promulgated by the department.

Within sixty days of receipt of said application, the department shall issue a report stating whether the proposed site meets the criteria established under section one hundred and fifty A 1/2 for the protection of the public health and safety and the environment. Any and all such reports shall be made available to the public in a timely fashion prior to any public hearing concerning the site application.

Within sixty days of receipt of said application, the department of public health shall review said application and comment thereon as to any potential impact of a site on the public health and safety. The department of public health may, in addition to its comment, make or cause to be made a public report, in writing, as it relates to an expansion of an existing facility or the assignment of a place as a site for a facility and provide said report with its written comments to the board of health. The department of public health shall coordinate and cooperate with a board of health on any matter relating to said public health report.

Within thirty days of the receipt of the department's report, the board of health shall hold a public hearing satisfying the requirements of chapter thirty A. Within forty-five days of the initial date of such hearing, the board of health shall render its decision on whether to assign a site for a facility, in writing, accompanied by a statement of reasons therefor and publish notice of said decision including determinations of each issue of fact or law necessary to the decision.

No assignment shall be granted by the local board of health unless the department report affirms that the siting criteria of said section one hundred and fifty A 1/2 have been met by the proposed site. The board of health shall consider the concerns, if any, relative to the public health and safety cited by the department of public health. A local board of health shall assign a place requested by an applicant as a site for a new facility or the expansion of an existing facility unless it makes a finding, based on the the siting criteria established by said section one hundred and fifty A 1/2, that the siting thereof would constitute a danger to the public health or safety or the environment.

Any person aggrieved by a decision of a board of health in assigning or refusing to assign a place as a site for a new facility, or expanding or refusing to expand an existing facility, except a resource recovery facility in operation or under construction prior to July first, nineteen hundred and eighty-seven, may, within thirty days of the publication of notice of such decision, appeal under the provisions of section fourteen of chapter thirty A. For the limited purposes of such an appeal, a local board of health shall be deemed to be a state agency under the provisions of said chapter thirty A and its proceedings and decision shall be deemed to be a final decision in an adjudicatory proceeding.

No facility shall be established, constructed, expanded, maintained, operated, or devoted to any past closure as defined by regulation, unless detailed operating plans, specifications, a public health report, if any, and necessary environmental reports have been submitted to the department and the department has granted a permit for the facility, and notice of such permit is recorded in the registry of deeds, or if the land affected thereby is registered land in the registry section of the land court for the district wherein the land lies. Within one hundred and twenty days after the department is satisfied that said operating plans, specifications, and reports are complete, the department shall make a decision granting or refusing to grant such permit. Said permit may limit or prohibit the disposal of particular types of solid waste at a facility in order to extend the useful life of the facility or reduce its environmental impact.

Every decision by the department granting or refusing to grant such permit shall be in writing and shall contain findings with regard to criteria established by the department. Any person aggrieved by the action of the department in granting or refusing to grant such permit, may appeal said decision pursuant to the provisions of section fourteen of chapter thirty A. For the limited purposes of such an appeal said department action shall be deemed to be a final decision in an adjudicatory proceeding.

Every person maintaining or operating a facility, including every political subdivision of the commonwealth, shall maintain and operate the same in such manner as will protect the public health and safety and the environment. Upon determination that the operation or maintenance of a facility results in a threat to the public health and safety or the environment, such site assignment decision by a board of health may be rescinded or suspended or may be modified through the imposition or amendment of conditions, at any time after due notice and public hearing satisfying the requirements of section eleven of chapter thirty A by the board of health of the city or town where such facility is located or by the department. Any person aggrieved by the decision of the board of health or the department in rescinding, suspending or modifying a site assignment may appeal said decision within thirty days of the publication of notice thereof pursuant to the provisions of section fourteen of chapter thirty A. For the limited purposes of such an appeal a local board of health shall be deemed a state agency under the provisions of said chapter thirty A and said decision shall be deemed to be a final decision in an adjudicatory proceeding and the decision of the department shall be deemed to be a final decision in an adjudicatory proceeding. The department may rescind, suspend or modify the permit upon a determination that the operation or maintenance of the facility results in a threat to the public health and safety or to the environment. Any person aggrieved by such decision of the department may, within thirty days of the publication of notice thereof, appeal said decision pursuant to the provisions of chapter thirty A.

If a facility is a landfill owned or operated by any person other than a town or agency of the commonwealth, such person shall pay to the town where the facility is located an amount in accordance with the provisions of section twenty-four A of chapter sixteen for each ton of solid waste which is disposed of in such landfill. On or before the twentieth day of each month every such person shall file a return subscribed under the penalties of perjury with the board of health of the town in which such facility is located, on such form as the commissioner of environmental quality engineering shall require for determination of the fee imposed by this paragraph. Said fee shall be due and payable on or before the due date of the return. Notwithstanding the foregoing, however, no fee shall be required or collected from an owner of a privately owned facility used by the owner thereof for the sole disposal of refuse generated from his own premises, and no such return need be filed.

No person shall dispose or contract for the disposal of solid waste at any place which has not been approved by the department pursuant to the provisions of this section or other applicable law.

No site on which a facility was operated shall be conveyed or leased by the owner thereof, or be devoted to any use other than the operation of a facility, until notice that such facility was operated on the site is recorded in the registry of deeds, or if the land affected thereby be registered land, in the registry section of the land court for the district wherein the land lies. No site on which a facility was operated shall be used for any other purpose without the prior written approval of the department.

The department shall adopt and may from time to time amend rules and regulations, and the commissioner may issue orders, to enforce the provisions of this section. Any person, including any political subdivision of the commonwealth who violates this section, or any order issued pursuant thereto, or any rule or regulation promulgated hereunder (1) shall be subject to a fine of not more than twenty-five thousand dollars, or by imprisonment for not more than two years in a house of correction, or both, for each such violation; or (2) shall be subject to a civil penalty not to exceed twenty-five thousand dollars for each such violation. Each day each such violation occurs or continues shall be deemed a separate offense. These penalties shall be in addition to any other penalties that may be prescribed by law.

SECTION 17. Chapter 111 of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting after section 150A the following section:-

Section 150A 1/2. The department of environmental quality engineering, in cooperation with the department of public health, shall promulgate rules and regulations for the siting of facilities pursuant to the provisions of section one hundred and fifty A. Said rules and regulations shall establish site suitability standards and criteria and shall include, but not be limited to, the following considerations:

(1) the location, nature and extent of any existing or potential sources of public or private drinking water supplies in relation to the site, including the recharge area of a sole source aquifer;

(2) the relationship of the site to groundwater elevations;

(3) the proximity of wetlands, as defined in section forty of chapter one hundred and thirty-one;

(4) the proximity of surface water bodies;

(5) the proximity of flood plains;

(6) the nature and extent of residential areas in proximity to the site;

(7) the availability and suitability of access roads to the site;

(8) whether areas adjacent to the proposed site have been previously used for solid waste disposal;

(9) the potential for adverse impact on air quality;

(10) the potential for creation of a nuisance from noise, windblown litter, or the proliferation of rodents, flies or other vermin;

(11) the potential for the adverse public health and safety impacts;

(12) the potential impact on agricultural uses;

(13) the potential adverse impact on wildlife or on wildlife habitat;

(14) the potential impact of increased traffic volume on roads to the site;

(15) the extent to which existing solid waste disposal facilities are located within a municipality. Site assignments for new facilities are preferred im municipalities without existing facilities;

(16) the extent to which the solid waste disposal needs of the municipality in which the site is sought are met as a member of a regional refuse disposal district. Site assignments in municipalities not participating in a regional refuse disposal districts are preferred.

SECTION 18. There is hereby established a commission on solid waste management to consist of the secretary of enviromental affairs or his designee, who shall serve as chairman, the commissioner of the department of public health or his designee, the commissioner of the department of environmental quality engineering or his designee, the director of the bureau of solid waste disposal, and seven persons to be appointed by the governor, two of whom shall be representatives of statewide environmental groups, two of whom shall be representatives of the solid waste disposal industry, one of whom shall be a representative of the packaging or plastics industry, and two of whom shall be representatives of municipal government. Members appointed by the governor shall serve without compensation and shall serve at the pleasure of the governor. Said commission shall make an investigation and study relative to the adequacy of existing law and statutory procedures in carrying out the purposes of this act. Said commission shall study and comment on methods of encouraging the reduction of the solid waste stream, including, but not limited to, methods of reducing the use of packaging, especially non-recyclable and plastic packaging; evaluate the recycling programs undertaken pursuant to section eight H of chapter forty of the General Laws and recommendations for additional recycling efforts; consider a system of tax incentives for businesses that use or process recycled products; evaluate the composting programs undertaken pursuant to section seven of chapter twenty-one H of the General Laws; consider the development of a program for the management, recycling and disposal of waste tires in the commonwealth; consider the development of programs and curricula for public education systems, and community education programs relative to waste stream reduction; study environmental or public health impacts of resource recovery facilities, including an analysis of the effects of air emissions and ash residue on the public health and environment and make recommendations as to the proper classification of bottom ash and fly ash; evaluate any new resource recovery technologies; and investigate and evaluate programs employing solar energy in the form of heat and light to purify wastewater to the tertiary level. Such programs should employ natural biological processes, minimal amounts of chemicals and should be labor, energy and cost efficient and should generate harvestable by-products of commercial value.

Said commission shall file its report with the clerks of the house of representatives and the senate not later than July first, nineteen hundred and eighty-nine.

SECTION 19. The provisions of sections twelve, thirteen and fourteen of this act shall not affect any debt heretofore issued or authorized but unissued under clause (4A), (4B) or (24) of section seven of chapter forty-four of the General Laws.

SECTION 20. The department of environmental quality engineering is hereby authorized and directed to expend a sum, not to exceed thirty-five million dollars, to be raised by the sale of notes and bonds authorized by section twenty-seven of this act, for the following purposes:-

(a) the acquisition or lease of land, structures, facilities, and easements and the planning, design, construction and improvement of solid waste recycling facilities, including the cost of machinery and equipment;

(b) to award grants to cities, towns, or regional refuse districts for equipment and materials or expenses incidental to the development, expansion and implementation of a recycling program integrated into a solid waste recycling facility;

(c) to award grants to support and expand municipal recycling programs, assist municipalities in the marketing and sales of materials recovered through a recycling program, promote increased use of recovered materials by the manufacturing and service industries, and promote research into new applications and uses of recovered materials;

(d) to award grants and technical assistance to local public bodies and implement improved techniques and procedures for solid waste disposal, management and planning; and

(e) to award grants for the preparation of a local solid waste management plan by cities and towns as provided for in section one of this act; from the amount authorized by this section, said department is hereby authorized and directed to expend a sum, not to exceed one hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars for the purpose of preparing a model regional solid waste management plan.

From the amount authorized by this section, the department shall expend twenty-five million dollars for the purposes set forth in paragraph (a) of this section and shall expend ten million dollars for the purposes set forth in paragraphs (b) to (e), inclusive.

SECTION 21. The department of environmental quality engineering is hereby authorized and directed to expend a sum, not to exceed one hundred million dollars, for the purposes of providing grants to public bodies for the clean up of contaminated water supplies as authorized by subsection (a) of section three of chapter twenty-one H of the General Laws and for grants authorized by subsection (d) of said section three of said chapter twenty-one H.

SECTION 22. The department of environmental quality engineering is hereby authorized and directed to expend a sum, not to exceed one hundred million dollars, for the purposes of providing loans to public bodies for: (a) up to ten million dollars for the costs of closure of an existing landfill or other solid waste facility as authorized by paragraph (2) of subsection (b) of section three of chapter twenty-one H of the General Laws; (b) up to fifty million dollars for the costs of construction of landfills or other solid waste disposal facilities as authorized by paragraph (1) of subsection (c) of said section three of said chapter twenty-one H; and (c) up to forty million dollars for the costs of construction of landfills or other solid waste facilities as authorized by paragraph (2) of said subsection (c) of said section three of said chapter twenty-one H and for the costs of closure of an existing landfill or other solid waste facility as authorized by paragraph (1) of subsection (b) of said section three of said chapter twenty-one H.

SECTION 23. The department of environmental quality engineering is hereby authorized and directed to expend a sum, not to exceed twelve million five hundred thousand dollars, for the purposes of discovery, assessment, containment, clean up, and closure of existing or closed solid waste facilities causing or threatening to cause pollution as authorized by section four of chapter twenty-one H of the General Laws.

SECTION 24. The department of environmental quality engineering is hereby authorized and directed to expend a sum, not to exceed seven million dollars, for the purposes of establishing yard waste and leaf composting projects and of awarding grants to municipalities for such projects, as authorized by subsection (a) of section seven of chapter twenty-one H of the General Laws.

SECTION 25. The department of food and agriculture is hereby authorized and directed to expend a sum, not to exceed three million dollars, for the purpose of establishing an agricultural composting program as authorized by subsection (b) of section seven of chapter twenty-one H of the General Laws.

SECTION 26. The department of environmental quality engineering is hereby authorized and directed to expend a sum, not to exceed three million dollars, for the purpose of establishing an acute toxics laboratory at the Lawrence experimental station as authorized by clause (f) of section five of chapter twenty-one H of the General Laws.

SECTION 27. To meet the expenditures necessary in carrying out the provisions of sections twenty, twenty-one, twenty-two, and twenty-three of this act, the state treasurer, upon request of the governor, shall issue and sell bonds of the commonwealth in an amount to be specified by the governor from time to time, but not exceeding, in the aggregate, the sum of two hundred and forty-seven million five hundred thousand dollars. All bonds issued by the commonwealth, as aforesaid, shall be designated on their face, Local Solid Waste Facilities Loan and Grant, Act of 1987, and shall be issued for such maximum term of years, not exceeding twenty years, as the governor may recommend to the general court pursuant to Section 3 of Article LXII of the Amendments to the Constitution of the Commonwealth; provided, however, that all such bonds shall be payable not later than June thirtieth, two thousand and twelve. All interest and payments on account of the principal of such obligations shall be payable from the Local Aid Fund. Bonds and the interest thereon issued under the authority of this section, notwithstanding any other provision of this act, shall be general obligations of the commonwealth.

SECTION 28. To meet the expenditures necessary in carrying out the provisions of sections twenty-four, twenty-five, and twenty-six of this act, the state treasurer, upon request of the governor, shall issue and sell bonds of the commonwealth in an amount to be specified by the governor from time to time, but not exceeding, in the aggregate, the sum of thirteen million dollars. All bonds issued by the commonwealth, as aforesaid, shall be designated on their face, Hazardous and Solid Waste Disposal Loan and Grant, Act of 1987, and shall be issued for such maximum term of years, not exceeding twenty years, as the governor may recommend to the general court pursuant to Section 3 of Article LXII of the Amendments to the Constitution of the Commonwealth; provided, however, that all such bonds shall be payable not later than June thirtieth, two thousand and twelve. All interest and payments on account of the principal of such obligations shall be payable from the General Fund. Bonds and the interest thereon issued under the authority of this section, notwithstanding any other provision of this act, shall be general obligations of the commonwealth.

SECTION 29. The state treasurer may borrow from time to time on the credit of the commonwealth such sums of money as may be necessary for the purposes of meeting payments as authorized by this act, and may issue and renew from time to time notes of the commonwealth therefor, bearing interest payable at such time and at such rate as shall be fixed by the state treasurer. Such notes shall be issued and may be renewed one or more times for such terms, not exceeding one year, as the governor may recommend to the general court in accordance with Section 3 of Article LXII of the Amendments to the Constitution of the Commonwealth, but the final maturities of such notes, whether original or renewal, shall not be later than June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and ninety-two. Notes and the interest thereon issued under the authority of this act, notwithstanding any other provisions of this act, shall be general obligations of the commonwealth.

SECTION 30. The department of environmental quality engineering shall report to the committee on natural resources and agriculture on the procedure and progress of the environmental testing program established pursuant to section five of chapter twenty-one H of the General Laws. Such reports shall be filed no less than annually beginning December thirty-first, nineteen hundred and eighty-seven.

SECTION 31. The department of environmental quality engineering shall make available for review and comment a draft of the comprehensive statewide master plan required by section twenty-one of chapter sixteen of the General Laws, not less than thirty days prior to the public hearing referred to therein and in not event later than July first, nineteen hundred and eighty-eight, to the regional planning agencies, to the chief executive officers of the cities and towns and of the local public bodies which the department determines to be engaged in disposal of solid waste, and to such other public bodies including local boards of health, or persons whom the department determines to be concerned with solid waste disposal. A second public hearing shall be held on the final draft of the plan no later than December first, nineteen hundred and eighty-eight. Following such review and hearings, the department shall prepare and publish a plan not later than June first, nineteen hundred and eighty-nine. Thereafter and from time to time to the extent it determines necessary or appropriate, the department shall revise said plan after review and a public hearing. Any revision of said plan shall require an available draft for review and comment not less than thirty days prior to such public hearing with copies of same sent to regional planning agencies, and to the chief executive officers of the cities and towns and to the local public bodies which the department determines to be engaged in disposal of solid waste, and to such other public bodies including local boards of health, or persons who the department determines to be concerned with solid waste disposal. A second public hearing shall be held on the final draft of the plan not later than one hundred and eighty days from the date of the first public hearing on the initial draft.

SECTION 32. The department of environmental quality engineering, in consultation with the department of food and agriculture, shall establish a program for recycling through composting of leaves and other organic matter, referred to in section seven of chapter twenty-one H of the General Laws on or before March thirty-first, nineteen hundred and eighty-eight.

SECTION 32A. The department of environmental quality engineering shall on or before April first, nineteen hundred and eighty-eight promulgate rules and regulations defining recharge areas of surface drinking water supplies as required by section nine of chapter forty A of the General Laws.

SECTION 32B. The provisions of section eight H of chapter forty of the General Laws shall not prohibit the continued operations of any recycling commission established before the effective date of this section. Such previously established commissions may continue to operate consistent with the provisions of said section eight H of said chapter forty.

SECTION 33. Within one hundred and twenty days of the effective date of this act, the department of environmental quality engineering shall promulgate rules and regulations, pursuant to chapter thirty A of the General Laws, which shall establish siting criteria and procedures to be utilized by local boards of health in any decision to assign or refuse to assign a site for a facility pursuant to the provisions of section one hundred and fifty A of chapter one hundred and eleven of the General Laws; provided, however, that the absence of such rules and regulations shall in no way prevent a board of health from exercising the powers authorized pursuant to said section one hundred and fifty A prior to the effective date of this act. The department shall create an advisory board to be appointed by the commissioner of the department of environmental quality engineering consisting of nine persons three of whom shall be representatives of municipalities, one of whom shall be a member of the Massachusetts Association of Health Boards and one of whom shall be a member of the Massachusetts Municipal Association, two of whom shall be representatives of the solid waste industry and two of whom shall be representatives of statewide environmental public interest groups to assist the department in the drafting of the siting criteria procedures.

The department, after consultation with said advisory board shall include in such rules and regulations guidelines as to the amount of the application fee that may be charged by local boards of health pursuant to said section one hundred and fifty A of said chapter one hundred and eleven.

SECTION 34. The department of environmental quality engineering shall submit any rules and regulations promulgated under the provisions of this act to the committee on natural resources and agriculture for its review within sixty days prior to the effective date of said regulations.

SECTION 35. The department of environmental quality engineering may, as necessary to carry out the provisions of section twenty-three of this act, enter into contracts for consultant services, including but not limited to, engineering, technical, legal, administrative, accounting, community information, financial, management and investigatory functions and may acquire personal property and interests in real estate by lease, purchases or eminent domain under the provisions of chapter seventy-nine of the General Laws and may pay any relocation benefits required by law.

SECTION 36. Funds provided in this act shall be in addition to funds previously authorized for similar purposes.

SECTION 37. Section 2A of chapter 834 of the acts of 1969, as most recently amended by section 307 of chapter 706 of the acts of 1975, is hereby further amended by striking out, in line 1, the word "management" and inserting in place thereof the following words:- quality engineering.

SECTION 38. All employees whose duties are transferred to a department, commission, or other unit of state government pursuant to sections one, one A, two A, two B, fifteen A and thirty-seven of this act, who, immediately prior to the effective date of this act, hold positions related to the exercise of such powers or the performance of such duties and either hold permanent appointments in positions classified under chapter thirty-one of the General Laws or have tenure in their positions by reason of section nine A of chapter thirty of the General Laws, are hereby transferred to said department, commission, or other unit of state government to which said powers and duties are so transferred, every such transfer to be without impairment of civil service status, seniority, retirement or other rights of the employee and without interruption of service within the meaning of said chapter thirty-one or said section nine A and without reduction in compensation or salary grade notwithstanding any change in title or duties resulting from such transfer, subject to the provisions of said chapter thirty-one and the rules and regulations adopted thereunder.

All employees who, immediately prior to said effective date, hold positions related to the exercise of such powers or the performance of duties, as are transferred to a department, commission, or other unit of state government, but neither hold permanent appointment in such positions, nor have such tenure, are hereby transferred to said department, commission, or unit to which said powers and duties are so transferred, every such transfer to be without impairment of seniority, retirement and other rights of the employee, and without interruption of service within the meaning of said section nine A of chapter thirty and without reduction in compensation or salary grade, notwithstanding any change in title or duties resulting from such transfer.

Nothing in this section shall be construed to confer upon any employee any rights not held immediately prior to the effective date of this act or to prohibit any reduction of salary or grade, transfer, reassignment, suspension, discharge, layoff, or abolition or position not prohibited prior to said effective date.

The status of the incumbent in any office or position placed within the classified civil service by this act shall be determined pursuant to the provisions of section forty-seven A of said chapter thirty-one.

SECTION 39. All petitions, hearings and other proceedings duly brought before, and all prosecutions and legal and other proceedings duly begun by a department, commission, or other unit of state government, the powers and duties which are transferred pursuant to sections one, one A, two A, two B, fifteen A and thirty-seven of this act, and which arise from or relate to the exercise of such powers or the performance of such duties, and which are pending immediately prior to the effective date of this act, shall continue unabated and remain in force notwithstanding the passage of this act, and shall thereafter be completed before or by said department, commission, or other unit of state government to which said powers and duties are so transferred.

All orders, rules and regulations duly made, and all licenses, permits, certificates and approvals duly granted, by any department, commission, or unit of state government concerning the powers and duties so transferred, which arise from or relate to the exercise of such powers or the performance of such duties, and which are in force immediately prior to the effective date of this act, shall continue in force and the provisions thereof shall thereafter be enforced, until superseded, revised, rescinded or cancelled in accordance with law, by the appropriate department, commission, or other unit of state government to which said powers and duties are so transferred.

All questions regarding the identifications of such petitions, hearings, prosecutions, proceedings, orders, rules, regulations, licenses, permits, certificates and approvals, and of the agencies to which the completion or enforcement thereof is so transferred, shall be determined by the secretary of environmental affairs.

SECTION 40. All books, papers, records, documents, equipment, lands, interests in land, buildings, facilities and other property, both personal and real, which immediately prior to the effective date of this act, are in the custody of a department, commission, or other unit of state government, relating to powers and duties which are transferred pursuant to sections one, one A, two A, two B, fifteen A and thirty-seven of this act and which related to or are maintained for the purpose of the exercise of such powers or the performance of such duties, are hereby transferred to the department, agency, or other unit of government to which said powers and duties are so transferred.

All questions regarding the identification of such property and of the agencies to which custody thereof is transferred shall be determined by the secretary of environmental affairs.

SECTION 41. All duly existing contracts, leases and obligations of any department, commission or other unit of state government concerning the powers and duties which are transferred pursuant to sections one, one A, two A, two B, fifteen A and thirty-seven of this act relate to the exercise of such powers or the performance of such duties, and which are in force immediately prior to the effective date of this act, shall thereafter be performed by the department, commission, or other unit of state government to which said powers and duties are so transferred. No existing right or remedy of any character shall be lost, impaired or affected by the provisions of said sections.

SECTION 42. All duly existing contracts, real or personal property interests or obligations which relate to or arise from the exercise of the powers and duties of section one of chapter eight hundred and thirty-four of the acts of nineteen hundred and sixty-nine shall remain unimpaired and in full force and effect notwithstanding the passage of this act.

Notwithstanding any provision to the contrary in this act, the department of environmental quality engineering is hereby authorized to exercise all the rights and to perform all the duties provided pursuant to said section one of said chapter eight hundred and thirty-four, relative to all contractual or other obligations entered into or real or personal property interests acquired thereunder prior to the effective date of this act including, without limitation, the authority to enter into future contracts which arise from or relate to such property interests and obligations.

SECTION 43. All monies heretofore appropriated for a department, commission, or other unit of state government, concerning the powers and duties which are transferred pursuant to sections one, one A, two A, two B, fifteen A and thirty-seven of this act for the purpose of the exercise of such powers of the performance of said duties, and remaining unexpended on the effective date of this act, are hereby transferred to, and shall be available for expenditure by, said department, commission, or other unit of state government to which said powers and duties are so transferred, for the purposes for which such funds were originally appropriated.

All questions regarding the identification of such monies and of the agencies to which they are so transferred shall be determined by the secretary of environmental affairs.

SECTION 44. Wherever the name of a department, commission or other unit of state government concerning the powers and duties which are transferred pursuant to the provisions of sections one, one A, two A, two B, fifteen A and thirty-seven of this act, appears in any general or special law, or in any order, rule, regulation or other document related to the exercise of such powers or the performance of such duties, such name shall mean and shall be construed as referring to the department, commission, or other unit of state government to which said powers and duties are so transferred.

SECTION 45. All powers, duties and other statutory provisions which prior to the effective date of this act were assigned to, or exercised by, a department, commission, or other unit of state government or were assigned to or exercised by any officer of any such unit shall continue to be exercised and performed by, and to be assigned to, such unit or officer except as such powers, duties or other statutory provisions are modified by this act.

SECTION 46. There is hereby established a special commission to consist of two members of the senate, three members of the house of representatives, the secretary of consumer affairs and business regulations or his designee, the secretary of environmental affairs or his designee, the commissioner of the department of public utilities or his designee, the attorney general or his designee, and eight persons to be appointed by the governor, four of whom shall be representatives of the solid waste disposal industry, including at least two representatives of the resource recovery industry, two of whom shall be representatives of municipal government and two of whom shall be representatives of recognized statewide consumer groups, to make an investigation and study relative to the rate structure and fee charges of the solid waste disposal industry in the commonwealth and the merits, if any, of additional regulation on such rate structure and fee charges. Said investigation and study shall consider the feasibility of state or municipal assumption of ownership or operation of solid waste facilities.

Said commission shall report to the house of representatives the results of its investigation and study, and its recommendations, if any, together with drafts of legislation necessary to carry its recommendations into effect, by filing the same with the clerk of the house of representatives on or before July first, nineteen hundred and eighty-nine.

SECTION 47. The department of environmental quality engineering shall promulgate rules and regulations pursuant to chapter twenty-one C of the General Laws relative to collection, storage, transportation, and disposal of household hazardous waste and high school hazardous waste. For the purpose of said program, household hazardous waste shall be defined as any hazardous waste which is generated in the normal course of household activities from single or multiple residences, excluding hotels or motels. High school hazardous waste shall mean any hazardous waste generated, stored or accumulated in a public high school for use in educational classes or programs in chemistry, biology, or physics, which has (1) served its original purpose and is no longer suitable for said original purpose; or (2) is a by-product generated as a result of activities conducted in such educational classes and programs; and (3) is in a pure or off-specification form and is intended to be discarded. The department may establish a special permit procedure for the collection and storage of household hazardous waste and high school hazardous waste for a period not to exceed nine months or another period set by regulation, which does not constitute disposal. Said rules and regulations shall allow the department to waive the requirements of chapter twenty-one D of the General Laws.

The department of environmental management shall establish a program of grants to cities, towns, and regional planning agencies for programs to provide for the safe disposal of household hazardous waste. Said program shall provide for the establishment of collection sites and the dissemination of information concerning said sites, and include a program of education. Said funds shall be administered by cities, towns, and regional agencies pursuant to standards, rules, and regulations established by the department of environmental management. The collection, transport and disposal of the household hazardous waste shall be conducted in compliance with regulations promulgated by the department of environmental quality engineering pursuant to chapter twenty-one C of the General Laws relative to household hazardous waste and high school hazardous waste.

SECTION 48. The department of environmental quality engineering shall establish a grant program for the purpose of educating the public on the importance and methods of waste stream reduction. The department shall provide grants to public bodies for the development of programs in public schools relating to waste stream reduction and for community education programs relating to waste stream reduction.

SECTION 48A. Notwithstanding the provisions of section six of chapter twenty-one H of the General Laws, resource recovery facilities and other solid waste incinerators operating prior to January first, nineteen hundred and eighty-seven, but not operating prior to January first, nineteen hundred and seventy-seven shall operate with such acid gas technology or such other technology as is necessary to protect the public health and environment in accordance with the provisions of section six of chapter twenty-one H of the General Laws and other applicable law, as determined by the department in manner and time on a facility by facility basis.

Resource recovery facilities and other solid waste incinerators operating prior to January first, nineteen hundred and seventy-seven shall, no later than July first, nineteen hundred and eighty-nine operate with acid gas scrubbers or such other technology providing equal or greater protection to the public health and environment, as determined by the department.

SECTION 49. Any municipality which is party to a contract or service agreement in effect on the effective date of this act, which contract or service agreement provides for the payment of a service fee for the disposal of municipal waste at a resource recovery facility, and where under such contract or service agreement the service fee is computed in such a way as will cause to be included therein all or any portion of the cost attributable to the installation of acid gas scrubbers or such other technology required to be installed as a result of section forty-eight A of this act, shall be eligible to receive annual or one-time reimbursement from the commonwealth for such attributable costs, as determined by the secretary of administration and finance. Any municipality that owns or operates a resource recovery facility or other solid waste incinerator as of the effective date of this act shall be eligible for reimbursement from the commonwealth for the cost of the installation of acid gas scrubbers or such other technology required to be installed by said section forty-eight A. Said secretary shall require, as needed, detailed cost and revenue reports of such municipalities for their solid waste disposal efforts as well as such reports from the relevant solid waste facilities in order to ascertain the appropriate level of reimbursement as authorized by this section. Said secretary shall also take into account any reimbursement amounts issued pursuant to this section in the determination of municipalities' costs and revenues for the purposes of recommending local aid amounts. The governor shall submit reimbursement recommendations, if any, as part of the annual budget submission to the general court. Any and all reimbursements as authorized by this section shall be subject to appropriation.

SECTION 50. Section twenty-four A of chapter sixteen of the General Laws, as amended by section two of this act, shall not abrogate or affect the provisions of chapter eighty-four of the acts of nineteen hundred and eighty-five.