Bill > A2960

Introduced Session

This bill would establish, in the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), a "Municipal Landfill Upgrading and Infrastructure Improvement Grant Program." The program would provide financial assistance to pay municipal landfill upgrading and infrastructure costs - i.e., those financial costs that are incurred by a municipality in association with its implementation and ongoing maintenance and management of infrastructure improvements and other physical upgrades to a municipally owned and improperly closed sanitary landfill facility - which costs are necessary to ensure that the municipality: (1) comports with the DEP's standards and regulations concerning the proper closure, capping, and post-closure care of sanitary landfill facilities, which were initially adopted on June 1, 1987; and (2) has the capacity to effectively prevent, minimize, eliminate, or monitor pollution and other health hazards resulting from the improperly closed sanitary landfill facility. A municipality that owns an improperly closed sanitary landfill facility would be eligible to apply for a grant under the program. The bill defines an "improperly closed sanitary landfill facility" to mean a sanitary landfill facility, or a portion of a sanitary landfill facility, at which operations were terminated prior to June 1, 1987 and for which performance is not complete with respect to all activities associated with the design, installation, purchase, or construction of structures or equipment, or with respect to the implementation of other appropriate measures, as may be required by the DEP, pursuant to law, for proper facility closure, including, but not limited to, activities involving the placement or installation of earthen or vegetative cover, methane gas vents, methane gas monitors, air pollution control devices, and leachate monitoring wells or collection systems. In addition to any other information that may be required by the DEP commissioner, an application for a program grant submitted by an eligible municipality under the bill would need to include: (1) a certification stating that the sanitary landfill facility, which is the subject of the grant application, is owned by the municipality and was improperly closed prior to June 1, 1987; (2) a statement indicating the total amount of grant funding that is being sought pursuant to the bill; (3) a list of any other financial resources, including federal financial assistance, that may be available to finance the municipal landfill upgrading and infrastructure costs; and (4) a description of the specific project or projects for which grant funding is being sought. The project description is to identify: the type of infrastructure improvement or other physical upgrade being proposed; the reason why the infrastructure improvement or other physical upgrade is necessary; the environmental impacts that are expected to result from the improvement or upgrade; the total anticipated costs of the project, including the total anticipated expenses associated with the municipality's ongoing maintenance and management of completed project components; the permits and approvals that will be required for project commencement; and the anticipated dates on which the project will be commenced and completed. A grant awarded under the program may be used to finance only those municipal landfill upgrading and infrastructure costs that are directly incurred by a municipality. In any case where a federal agency is financing a portion of the municipal landfill upgrading and infrastructure costs, the total costs used in determining the amount of the grant to be awarded under the grant program would be reduced by the amount of the federal contribution. The bill requires the DEP commissioner, within 180 days after the bill's effective date, to develop a project priority system that identifies the ranking criteria and funding policies to be used by the DEP when prioritizing projects for grant awards under the program. At a minimum, the project priority system is to provide for the prioritization of those projects that will have the most significant impacts with respect to enabling the ongoing municipal prevention, reduction, elimination, or monitoring of pollution and other health hazards resulting from an improperly closed sanitary landfill facility. Each municipality receiving a grant award under the program would be required to regularly submit to the DEP, a grant fund expenditures report that describes how the awarded grant funds are being used by the municipality. The commissioner would be required to adopt rules and regulations that, among other things, specify the requisite content of these expenditure reports. The bill also requires the DEP commissioner to annually submit, to the Governor and the Legislature, a written report on the implementation and effectiveness of the grant program, which is to include, among other things, an accounting of the appropriated funds that remain available for future project grants. The bill would appropriate $10 million from the General Fund to the DEP for the purposes of financing grants under the program.

AI Summary

Committee Categories

Tennille McCoy (D)*, 

Introduced, Referred to Assembly Environment, Natural Resources, and Solid Waste Committee (on 01/09/2024)

Official Document