Ala. Admin. Code r. 335-3-19-.01

Current through Register Vol. 42, No. 12, September 30, 2024

Section 335-3-19-.01 - [Effective 10/14/2024] Definitions

(1) For the purposes of this Chapter and rules 335-3-10-.02(75) and 335-3-10-.02(76) only, the following words and phrases, unless a different meaning is plainly required by the content, shall have the following meanings.

(a)"Active collection system" means a gas collection system that uses gas mover equipment.

(b)"Active landfill" means a landfill in which solid waste is being placed or a landfill that is planned to accept waste in the future.

(c)"Closed area" means a separately lined area of an MSW landfill in which solid waste is no longer being placed. If additional solid waste is placed in that area of the landfill, that landfill area is no longer closed. The area shall be separately lined to ensure that the landfill gas does not migrate between open and closed areas.

(d)"Closed landfill" means a landfill in which solid waste is no longer being placed, and in which no additional solid wastes will be placed without first filing a notification of modification as prescribed under § 60.7(a)(4), 40 CFR. Once a notification of modification has been filed, and additional solid waste is placed in the landfill, the landfill is no longer closed.

(e)"Closed landfill subcategory" means a closed landfill that has submitted a closure report as specified in rule 335-3-19-.03(6)(f) on or before September 27, 2017.

(f)"Closure" means that point in time when a landfill becomes a closed landfill.

(g)"Commercial solid waste" means all types of solid waste generated by stores, offices, restaurants, warehouses, and other nonmanufacturing activities, excluding residential and industrial wastes.

(h)"Controlled landfill" means any landfill at which collection and control systems are required under this Chapter as a result of the nonmethane organic compounds emission rate. The landfill is considered controlled at the time a collection and control system design plan is submitted in compliance with rule 335-3-19-.03(1)(d)2.(i). "

(i)"Corrective action analysis" means a description of all reasonable interim and long-term measures, if any, that are available, and an explanation of why the selected corrective action(s) is/are the best alternative(s), including, but not limited to, considerations of cost effectiveness, technical feasibility, safety, and secondary impacts.

(j)"Design capacity" means the maximum amount of solid waste a landfill can accept, as indicated in terms of volume or mass in the most recent permit issued by the Department, plus any in-place waste not accounted for in the most recent permit. If the owner or operator chooses to convert the design capacity from volume to mass or from mass to volume to demonstrate its design capacity is less than 2.5 million megagrams or 2.5 million cubic meters, the calculation must include a site-specific density, which must be recalculated annually.

(k)"Disposal facility" means all contiguous land and structures, other appurtenances, and improvements on the land used for the disposal of solid waste.

(l)"Emission rate cutoff" means the threshold annual emission rate to which a landfill compares its estimated emission rate to determine if control under the regulation is required.

(m)"Enclosed combustor" means an enclosed firebox which maintains a relatively constant limited peak temperature generally using a limited supply of combustion air. An enclosed flare is considered an enclosed combustor.

(n)"Flare" means an open combustor without enclosure or shroud.

(o)"Gas mover equipment" means the equipment (i.e., fan, blower, compressor) used to transport landfill gas through the header system.

(p)"Gust" means the highest instantaneous wind speed that occurs over a 3-second running average.

(q)"Household waste" means any solid waste (including garbage, trash, and sanitary waste in septic tanks) derived from households (including, but not limited to, single and multiple residences, hotels and motels, bunkhouses, ranger stations, crew quarters, campgrounds, picnic grounds, and day-use recreation areas). Household waste does not include fully segregated yard waste. Segregated yard waste means vegetative matter resulting exclusively from the cutting of grass, the pruning and/or removal of bushes, shrubs, and trees, the weeding of gardens, and other landscaping maintenance activities. Household waste does not include construction, renovation, or demolition wastes, even if originating from a household.

(r)"Industrial solid waste" means solid waste generated by manufacturing or industrial processes that is not a hazardous waste regulated under Subtitle C of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. Such waste may include, but is not limited to, waste resulting from the following manufacturing processes: electric power generation; fertilizer/agricultural chemicals; food and related products/by-products; inorganic chemicals; iron and steel manufacturing; leather and leather products; nonferrous metals manufacturing/foundries; organic chemicals; plastics and resins manufacturing; pulp and paper industry; rubber and miscellaneous plastic products; stone, glass, clay, and concrete products; textile manufacturing; transportation equipment; and water treatment. This term does not include fly ash waste, bottom ash waste, boiler slag waste, or flue gas emission control waste which result from the combustion of coal or other fossil fuels at electric or steam generating plants. Additionally, this term does not include mining waste or oil and gas wastes, or small quantity generator waste as defined in ADEM Admin. Code r. 335-14-2-.01(5). Uncontaminated concrete, soil, brick, rock, and similar materials are excluded from this definition.

(s)"Interior Well" means any well or similar collection component located inside the perimeter of the landfill waste. A perimeter well located outside the land filled waste is not an interior well.

(t)"Landfill" means an area of land or an excavation in which wastes are placed for permanent disposal, and that is not a land application unit, surface impoundment, injection well, or waste pile as those terms are defined under ADEM Admin. Code r. 335-13-1-.03.

(u)"Lateral expansion" means a horizontal expansion of the waste boundaries of an existing MSW landfill. A lateral expansion is not a modification unless it results in an increase in the design capacity of the landfill.

(v)"Leachate recirculation" means the practice of taking the leachate collected from the landfill and reapplying it to the landfill by any of one of a variety of methods, including pre-wetting of the waste, direct discharge into the working face, spraying, infiltration ponds, vertical injection wells, horizontal gravity distribution systems, and pressure distribution systems.

(w)"Modification" means an increase in the permitted volume design capacity of the landfill by either lateral or vertical expansion based on its design capacity as of July 17, 2014. Modification does not occur until the owner or operator commences construction on the lateral or vertical expansion.

(x)"Municipal solid waste landfill" or "MSW landfill" means an entire disposal facility in a contiguous geographic space where household waste is placed in or on land. An MSW landfill may also receive other types of RCRA Subtitle D wastes (ADEM Admin. Code r. 335-13-1-.03) such as commercial solid waste, nonhazardous sludge, conditionally exempt small quantity generator waste, and industrial solid waste. Portions of an MSW landfill may be separated by access roads. An MSW landfill may be publicly or privately owned. An MSW landfill may be a new MSW landfill, an existing MSW landfill, or a lateral expansion.

(y)"Municipal solid waste landfill emissions" or "MSW landfill emissions" means gas generated by the decomposition of organic waste deposited in an MSW landfill or derived from the evolution of organic compounds in the waste.

(z)"NMOC" means nonmethane organic compounds, as measured according to the provisions of rule 335-3-19-.03(3).

(aa)"Nondegradable waste" means any waste that does not decompose through chemical breakdown or microbiological activity. Examples are, but are not limited to, concrete, municipal waste combustor ash, and metals.

(bb)"Passive collection system" means a gas collection system that solely uses positive pressure within the landfill to move the gas rather than using gas mover equipment.

(cc)"Root cause analysis" means an assessment conducted through a process of investigation to determine the primary cause, and any other contributing causes, of positive pressure at a wellhead.

(dd)"Sludge" means any nonhazardous solid, semisolid, or liquid waste generated from a municipal, commercial, or industrial wastewater treatment plant, water supply treatment plant, or air pollution control facility, exclusive of the treated effluent from a wastewater treatment plant.

(ee)"Solid waste" means any garbage or rubbish, construction/demolition debris, ash, sludge from a wastewater treatment plant, water supply treatment plant, or air pollution control facility and other discarded material, including solid, liquid, semisolid, or contained gaseous material resulting from industrial, commercial, mining, and agricultural operations, and from community activities or materials intended for or capable of recycling, but which have not been diverted or removed from the solid waste stream. The term "solid waste" does not include recovered material, solid or dissolved material in domestic sewage, or solid or dissolved materials in irrigation return flows or industrial discharges that are point sources subject to National Pollutant Discharge permits under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act 33 U.S.C. 1342, as amended, or source, special nuclear, or by-product material as defined by the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (42 U.S.C. 2011et seq.). Also excluded from this definition are wastes from silvicultural operations, land application of crop residues, animal residues, animal manure and ash resulting exclusively from the combustion of fossil fuels or wood during normal agricultural operations or mining refuse as defined and regulated pursuant to the Alabama Mining Act.

(ff)"Sufficient density" means any number, spacing, and combination of collection system components, including vertical wells, horizontal collectors, and surface collectors, necessary to maintain emission and migration control as determined by measures of performance set forth in this Chapter.

(gg)"Sufficient extraction rate" means a rate sufficient to maintain a negative pressure at all wellheads in the collection system without causing air infiltration, including any wellheads connected to the system as a result of expansion or excess surface emissions, for the life of the blower.

(hh)"Treated landfill gas" means landfill gas processed in a treatment system as defined in this rule.

(ii)"Treatment system" means a system that filters, dewaters, and compresses landfill gas for sale or beneficial use.

(jj)"Untreated landfill gas" means any landfill gas that is not treated landfill gas.

(kk)"Administrator" means the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency or his authorized representative.

Ala. Admin. Code r. 335-3-19-.01

New Rule: Filed December 11, 1997; effective January 15, 1998. Amended: Filed December 9, 1999; effective January 13, 2000.

Amended by Alabama Administrative Monthly Volume XXXV, Issue No. 07, April 28, 2017, eff. 6/9/2017.

Repealed by Alabama Administrative Monthly Volume XXXVI, Issue No. 11, August 31, 2018, eff. 10/5/2018.

Amended by Alabama Administrative Monthly Volume XL, Issue No. 01, October 29, 2021, eff. 12/13/2021.

Amended by Alabama Administrative Monthly Volume XLII, Issue No. 11, August 30, 2024, eff. 10/14/2024.

Author: Ronald W. Gore

Statutory Authority:Code of Ala. 1975, §§ 22-28-14, 22-22A-5, 22-22A-6, 22-22A-8.