Presentation_InfoItem_DWMOverview_Scott

Waste Management Overview and 2023 Updates
Groundwater and Waste Management Committee -January 11, 2023
Outline
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•DWM Overview
•Sections
•Budget Summary
•Areas of Focus
ESI
Department of Environmental Quality -Waste Management
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ESI
•Protection of groundwater
•Lead remediation
•Facilitate redevelopment
•Perform compliance activities
•Issue Permits
•Emergency Response
DWM’s Role in DEQ
Department of Environmental Quality -Waste Management
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DEQ / DWM Missions
DEQ -Mission
“Providing science-based environmental stewardship for the health and prosperity of
all North Carolinians”
DWM -Mission
To prevent harmful releases of waste to the environment and clean up existing contamination.
DWM -Priority Initiatives
The Division of Waste Management (DWM) will continue to institutionalize a philosophy of
waste prevention, aggressive completion of cleanups, and seeking creative solutions for
continued use, reuse, and redevelopment of contaminated properties throughout all permitting
and remediation programs.
Department of Environmental Quality -Waste Management
Division of Waste Management Mission
To prevent harmful releases of waste to the environment and clean up existing contamination.
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Department of Environmental Quality -Waste Management
Waste Management Summary Information SFY 2021-22
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•280 Full-time Staff
•Contaminated land redeveloped in productive economic use: 1177 acres
•Private capital funding in Brownfields redevelopment: over $1.23 billion
•Number of inspections performed: 6891
•Number of homes/businesses provided alternative drinking water due to contamination of water supply wells: 1281
Department of Environmental Quality -Waste Management
Core Program Areas
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•Brownfields Redevelopment
•Hazardous Waste
•Solid Waste
•Superfund
•Underground Storage Tanks
Petroleum releases above and
below ground
Department of Environmental Quality -Waste Management
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Department of Environmental Quality -Waste Management
Division of Waste Management
Michael Scott, Director
Brownfields
Bruce Nicholson, Section Chief
Hazardous Waste
Adam Ulishney, Section Chief
Solid Waste
Ed Mussler, Section Chief
Superfund
William Hunneke, Section Chief
UST
Vance Jackson, Section Chief
Julie Woosley, Deputy Director
Brownfields Program
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•Objective:Encourage Safe Reuse of Abandoned Environmentally Impacted Properties, combining economic development with public health protection.
•Means:Provide a brownfields agreement to limit liability for prospective developers of brownfield sites, treating them differently than the parties responsible for contaminating them.
Department of Environmental Quality -Waste Management
Brownfields
•Methane guidance
•Townhome guidance
•Vapor Intrusion Work (Property Management Unit)
•600th agreement
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Brownfields Program on the Forefront of Vapor Intrusion Issues
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Source: “Overview of Vapor Intrusion” Fact Sheet, Agency for Toxic
Substances and Disease Registry
Contaminant vapor intrusion into
buildings has become technically
complex and takes resources to
assess, mitigate and monitor.
Brownfields must address this issue
because the object of property reuse
puts people in new or renovated
buildings where this may be
occurring.
Brownfields Program on the Forefront of Vapor Intrusion Issues
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NC DEQ: Waste Management
Soil and Groundwater Are No Longer the main Risk Assessment Drivers
•Soil and groundwater can be eliminated with land-use restrictions
•Don't use the GW (eliminates risk)
•Cap or remove soil (eliminates risk)
•Vapor Intrusion is more difficult to manage
•Can't easily cut off exposure like soil or groundwater
•Chemical vapor intrusion can be "mitigated" but not eliminated (similar to Radon)
•Vapor Mitigation Systems must be designed and installed properly
•Even when working well, protections are only as good as system integrity
•Slab cuts
•Utility lines
•Blower system degradation
•Proper stewardship is often necessary (future slab cuts or utility lines)
Hazardous Waste Section
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•Ensures the safe management of
hazardous industrial waste by
implementing adopted federal regulations
(Resource Conservation and Recovery
Act) and state requirements.
•The NC Hazardous waste program has been active on several fronts to include emerging compounds (PFAS) and work on renewable energy sources.
Department of Environmental Quality -Waste Management
Chemours –
Consent Order
Feb. 2019
Addressing contamination
•NC DEQ signed a Consent Order with Chemours Feb. 26, 2019: https://deq.nc.gov/news/hot-topics/genx-investigation
•Between DEQ, Cape Fear River Watch represented by the SELC, and Chemours
•NPDES Outfall 003 (old outfall 002)
•Addendum signed August 2020
•Flow Through Seeps (A, B, C, D)
•Barrier wall and groundwater extraction system14
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Department of Environmental Quality
Recent Solar Panel
Decommissioning
Legislation
•SL 2019-132 (H329) -Ratified July 19, 2019
Required the Environmental Management Commission to adopt rules to establish a regulatory program to govern the management of end-of-life renewable energy equipment and decommissioning of utility-scale solar projects and establish a stakeholder process to support development of the rules.
•SL 2021-165 (H951) –Ratified October 7, 2021
Required DEQ to develop a plan by March 1, 2022, to ensure adequate financial resources for the decommissioning of utility-scale solar projects to be submitted to the General Assembly for legislative action.
•Plan and Recommendations for Financial Resources for Decommissioning of Utility-Scale Solar Panel Projects
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Estimated Year for Retirement of Solar Panels, Assuming a 20-Year Life
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Solid Waste Program
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•Regulates safe management of solid waste through guidance, technical assistance, regulations, permitting, environmental monitoring and compliance evaluation.
•Includes industrial and sanitary waste streams –landfills and septage land application are two important examples.
•Regulates recycling facilities such as composting, scrap tire processors, construction and demolition processors.
•Permits coal ash landfills
Department of Environmental Quality -Waste Management
NC Solid Waste Facts
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•The 93 landfills permitted and operating in NC reported disposing of a total of 13,949,017 tons of MSW and C&D solid waste in FY 2020-21
•Excavated Coal Combustion Residuals (CCR) from Duke Energy coal ash impoundments totaling 1,916,990 tons were reported as disposed of in onsite landfills in FY 2020-21.
•Coal combustion products were also sent for beneficial use within Star Units located at Duke Energy’s Buck, Cape Fear and H.F. Lee facilities.
Superfund Program
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Inactive Hazardous Sites
Created to protect public health and the environment from releases of uncontrolled and unregulated hazardous substances not addressed by other programs, and to facilitate the cleanup and reuse of sites contaminated by those releases.
Federal Remediation
Works with the EPA to investigate and respond at those sites that qualify for cleanup under CERCLA because of the magnitude of their impact, or because they require emergency action. Also work with DOD sites.
Special Remediation
•Dry-Cleaning Solvent Cleanup Act Program
•Manufactured Gas Plant sites
•PRLF Program
Department of Environmental Quality -Waste Management
Trichloroethylene (TCE) Indoor Air Inhalation
Immediate Action Levels and Response
•Trichloroethylene or TCE vapor intrusion action levels -February 2019 approval by
Secretary’s Science Advisory Board’s (SAB).
•Based on short-term exposure risk for women of child-bearing age.
•Updated guidance and factsheets are available on DWM Vapor Intrusion website:
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Department of Environmental Quality
https://deq.nc.gov/about/divisions/waste-management/waste-management-
permit-guidance/dwm-vapor-intrusion-guidance
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Division of Waste Management’s Immediate Action Levels for TCE
Inhalation Exposures
TCE Indoor Air Action Levels
Underground Storage Tank Program
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•Registers, permits, inspects and collects operating fees for regulated (commercial) underground storage tanks (USTs).
•Oversees cleanups of releases from USTs.
•Manages the resources of the Commercial Cleanup Fund.
•Responds to releases of petroleum from other sources.
Department of Environmental Quality -Waste Management
Underground Storage Tank Section
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•Emerging Contaminants –The UST Section is working with the Superfund and Solid Waste Sections to develop protocols for appropriate handling of contaminated soils from incidents involving Aqueous Film Forming Foam (AFFF) and other PFAS-containing substances.
•Colonial Pipeline
•Since August 14, 2020, the UST Section has provided oversight of the largest petroleum release in North Carolina history at an 11-acre site north of Huntersville.
•1,509,271 total gallons of free product have been recovered from the Colonial site to date.
UST Program -Colonial Pipeline Release
•Gasoline release was discovered from Colonial’s pipeline on 8/14/20
•Release volume has been reported by CP at 2 million gallons
•The subsurface free product plume encompasses approximately 11 acres
•As of September 2022, Colonial has recovered 1,500,000 gallons of free product and 7,870,490 gallons of petroleum contact water from 70+ recovery well network
•Pipeline has been permanently repaired
•All free product, petroleum contact water, and gasoline-impacted soil has been trucked off-site for proper disposal
•To date, no water supply wells or surface waters have been impacted above health-based standards
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Department of Environmental Quality
Division Budget Summary FY 2022-23
$-
$1,000,000
$2,000,000
$3,000,000
$4,000,000
$5,000,000
Hazardous Waste Solid Waste UST Superfund Brownfields Division-Level*
Appropriations Federal Receipts
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Appropriations, Federal, and General Fund Receipts (as of June 29, 2022)
Department of Environmental Quality -Waste Management
Division Budget Summary FY 2022-23
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Special Funds (as of June 29, 2022)
Department of Environmental Quality -Waste Management
$-
$5,000,000
$10,000,000
$15,000,000
$20,000,000
$25,000,000
HazardousWaste Solid Waste UST Superfund Brownfields Division-Level*
Areas of Focus -Hurricane Preparation / Response Efforts
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•DWM / Federal Agency Coordination
•Site Reviews / Visits
•Information Technology Updates
Department of Environmental Quality -Waste Management
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Department of Environmental Quality -Waste Management
Division of Waste Management –Site Locator Tool
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Environmental Quality Information Systems (EQUIS)
•An advanced environmental data management and decision support system.
•Thousands of organizations use EQuIS to manage large amounts of data pertaining toenvironmentalchemistry,biology,geology,geotechnical,hydrology,limnology,air,andassociatedcompliancemonitoringactivities.
•Having surface and groundwater data stored in one location allow staff to conductanalysesthathaveneverbeenpossible.
Permitting Transformation Program (PTP)
•Department-wide initiative to update and improve the permit process and providebetteraccesstopermitinformation.
•Goal is to develop a robust online system for applying,tracking and paying for DEQpermits,licenses and certificates.
•The program seeks to streamline the process,modernize tracking and access topermittingactionsandimprovetransparency.
Department of Environmental Quality -Waste Management
Streamlining Processes
Rule Readoption
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•G.S. 150B-21.3A requires 10-Year Periodic Review/Readoption of Existing Rules.
•DWM initiated review process in 2015 and completed readoption in 2021.
•Rules Review Commission published a DRAFT Schedule for comment for the
next 10-year review cycle at their December 15, 2022, meeting.
•Rules administered/enforced by DWM include:
•Hazardous Waste Management -15A NCAC 13A
•Solid Waste Management (non-hazardous) -15A NCAC 13B
•Inactive Hazardous Substance or Waste Disposal Sites -15A NCAC 13C
•Dry Cleaning Solvent Cleanup Fund –15A NCAC 02S
•Underground Storage Tanks -15A NCAC 02L Sections .0400 and .0500, 02N, 02O, 02P, and 02T
Section .1500.
Department of Environmental Quality -Waste Management
GWWMC
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Why are Groundwater and Waste Management topics combined in one Committee?
•Rulemaking authority for most DWM programs was moved from the Commission of Public Health to the Environmental Management Commission in 2014-15 by S.L. 2014-122, as amended by S.L. 2015-1 (UST rulemaking authority was already under the EMC).
•DWM and DWR jointly enforce the requirements and groundwater standards in 15A NCAC 02L.
•15A NCAC 02L .0202 directly references permits issued under G.S. 130A-294 for waste management.
Department of Environmental Quality -Waste Management
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Division of Waste Management Contacts
Department of Environmental Quality -Waste Management
Michael E. Scott
Director
Division of Waste Management
[e-mail]
919.707.8246
Julie S. Woosley
Deputy Director
Division of Waste Management
[e-mail]
919.707.8203