Session Laws

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. The fourth paragraph of section 150A of chapter 111 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 1988 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after the first sentence the following two sentences:- A copy of the application for site assignment shall be filed with the board of health of any municipality within one-half mile of the proposed site. Any municipality within such one-half mile shall be afforded all the procedural rights of an abutter for the purpose of administrative review by the department or public hearing by the board of health where the proposed site is located.

SECTION 2. Said section 150A of said chapter 111, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking out the tenth paragraph and inserting in place thereof the following paragraph:-

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.

SECTION 3. Section 150A> of said chapter 111 is hereby amended by adding the following clause:-

(17) the potential adverse impacts on communities within one-half mile of the proposed site including the potential adverse impacts on the considerations stated within this section for which site suitability standards and criteria are established.

SECTION 4. With respect to any site assignment appeal pending before the department of environmental protection as of August thirtieth, nineteen hundred and ninety, the department of environmental protection shall impose on the assignment such conditions with respect to the extent, character and nature of the facility or expansion thereof as will, to the maximum extent feasible, ensure that the facility or the expansion thereof will not present a threat to the public health, safety or the environment of the host municipality or of any municipality within a one-half mile radius of the proposed site. In determining whether the facility or the expansion thereof will present a threat to public health, safety or the environment of the host community or of any municipality within a one-half mile radius of the proposed site, the department of environmental protection shall utilize the considerations set forth in clauses (1) to (17), inclusive, of section one hundred and fifty A> of chapter one hundred and eleven of the General Laws.