Solid waste landfills: subsurface temperatures

Persistent landfill heat can release hazardous gases, create toxic leachate, and harm nearby communities. The law requires mitigation, monitoring, health assessments, and funding for affected counties.

What the law does ​

• Defines a covered subsurface elevated temperature event as persistent landfill gas or waste temperatures above 131°F over a substantial area, subject to CalRecycle criteria.
• Requires landfill owners or operators to notify state and local regulators, provide requested temperature data, and take mitigation steps ordered by CalRecycle, including corrective action plans.
• Allows CalRecycle to require cost estimates, proof of financial capacity, and updated closure and postclosure plans; the Attorney General may pursue a parent company when warranted if the owner or operator cannot cover required costs.
• Allows CalRecycle to take over enforcement for an affected landfill and recover its reasonable costs from the landfill owner or operator.
• Authorizes penalties up to $100,000 per day, beginning after a 30-day notice period, for noncompliance.
• Deposits penalties into the Landfill Subsurface Fire Mitigation Community Fund for county payments to mitigate community harm and for program administration.
• Requires the California Alternative Energy and Advanced Transportation Financing Authority to set guidelines for fund payments covering losses, damages, relocation, property-value loss, real-estate closing costs, and inconvenience.
• Allows the Secretary for Environmental Protection to coordinate a multiagency group, require air-monitoring plans, and support community health assessments funded by the landfill owner or operator.

Who it affects ​

• Owners and operators of nonhazardous solid-waste landfills with at least 450,000 tons of waste in place.
• Communities near landfills experiencing covered underground heat events.
• CalRecycle, environmental and public-health agencies, local enforcement agencies, local air districts, and local health departments.

Context ​

The law excludes hazardous-waste-only, construction-and-demolition, inert or nondecomposable-waste landfills, and smaller landfills.

Breakdown ​

Landfill Heat Event Response ​

AB 28 creates reporting, response, enforcement, and community-support requirements for unusually high and persistent temperatures below the surface of solid waste landfills. Landfill owners or operators must notify CalRecycle of qualifying events and may be required to prepare and carry out corrective plans. The bill also establishes coordinated investigation, health assessment, air-monitoring, penalty, and funding provisions to address impacts on affected communities.

Key takeaways

• Landfill owners or operators must notify CalRecycle when a qualifying subsurface elevated temperature event occurs.
• A qualifying event involves landfill gas or waste temperatures that persistently exceed 131 degrees Fahrenheit across a substantial area and meet additional criteria set by CalRecycle.
• CalRecycle may require a landfill experiencing an event to prepare a corrective action plan, including an assessment of the cost to fully carry it out.
• CalRecycle or a local enforcement agency may impose administrative civil penalties of up to $100,000 per day for noncompliance.
• Penalty money will go into a new fund that supports counties affected by these events and covers implementation costs for the California Alternative Energy and Advanced Transportation Financing Authority.
• The Secretary for Environmental Protection may organize a multiagency group to investigate an event and recommend solutions, while local health departments must assess community health effects and landfill owners or operators may have to conduct air monitoring and reimburse response costs.

Severability ​

The bill says that its provisions are severable. This means that if a court finds one part invalid, the remaining parts can continue to operate.

Key takeaways

• The bill makes each provision independent from the others.
• If one provision is invalidated, the rest of the bill can remain in effect.

No State Reimbursement Required ​

This part states that the bill does not require the state to reimburse local agencies or school districts for costs created by the act. It relies on a specified legal reason for excluding reimbursement.

Key takeaways

• The bill says the state does not have to reimburse local agencies or school districts for costs caused by this act.
• California ordinarily reimburses certain state-required local costs under constitutional and statutory procedures.
• This provision excludes reimbursement for the specified reason stated in the act.