SB3393 103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB103 36385 LNS 66486 b

103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2023 and 2024
SB3393

Introduced 2/8/2024, by Sen. Laura Fine

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

415 ILCS 5/22.40b new

Amends the Environmental Protection Act. Requires an owner or operator of an active municipal solid waste landfill with than 200,000 or more tons of waste in place to submit an annual waste-in-place report to the Environmental Protection Agency until the active municipal solid waste landfill has 450,000 or more tons of waste in place or the Agency issues a certificate of closure to the site. Requires an owner or operator of an active municipal solid waste landfill having 200,000 or more tons of waste in place or a closed municipal solid waste landfill having 400,000 or more tons of waste in place to calculate the methane generation rate and submit a methane generation rate report to the Agency. Sets forth actions an owner or operator of a municipal solid waste landfill must take if there is a calculated methane generation rate that is greater than or equal to 664 metric tons. Requires an owner or operator of a municipal solid waste landfill to conduct a source test for any gas control device using certain test methods. Provides that no location on a municipal solid waste landfill surface may exceed specified methane concentration limits. Establishes the methods that must be used for measurements and tests. Sets forth penalties for violations of the provisions. Allows the Agency to adopt rules to implement the provisions. Makes other changes.

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning safety.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 5. The Environmental Protection Act is amended by adding Section 22.40b as follows:

(415 ILCS 5/22.40b new)

Sec. 22.40b. Methane emissions; landfills.

(a) In this Section:

"Active municipal solid waste landfill" means a municipal solid waste landfill that has accepted or is accepting solid waste for disposal and has not been closed in accordance with the requirements set forth in Sections 22.17 and 22.19b.

"Advanced methane monitoring technology" means technology that can detect methane emissions at landfills, including, but not limited to, technologies such as drones, mobile ground vehicles, continuous emissions monitoring systems, and satellite technologies that measure surface methane at landfills.

"Agency" means the Environmental Protection Agency.

"Closed municipal solid waste landfill" means a municipal solid waste landfill that no longer accepts solid waste for disposal and has been closed in accordance with the post-closure requirements set forth in Sections 22.17 and 22.19b.

"Emission" means a release of an air contaminant into the ambient air.

"Gas collection system" means a system that employs various gas collection wells, connected piping, mechanical blowers, fans, pumps, or compressors to create a pressure gradient and that actively extracts landfill gas.

"Gas control device" means a device used to dispose of or treat collected landfill gas, including, but not limited to, enclosed flares, internal combustion engines, boilers, boiler-to-steam turbine systems, fuel cells, and gas turbines.

"Gas control system" means a system that disposes of or treats collected landfill gas by:

(1) combustion; or

(2) treatment of gas for subsequent sale or for sale for off-site processing, including, but not limited to, for transportation fuel and injection into a natural gas pipeline.

"Municipal solid waste landfill" means a discrete area of land or an excavation that receives household waste and that is not a land application site, surface impoundment, injection well, or pile.

"Person" means an individual, firm, public or private corporation, association, partnership, political subdivision of the State, municipality, or governmental agency.

(b) This Section applies to all municipal solid waste landfills, except:

(1) landfills that receive only hazardous waste or are currently regulated under the federal Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act; and

(2) landfills that receive only inert waste or nondecomposable wastes.

(c) The Agency shall propose and adopt rules to implement this Section.

(d) An owner or operator of an active municipal solid waste landfill having less than 200,000 tons of waste in place must submit an annual waste-in-place report to the Agency until (i) the active municipal solid waste landfill has 450,000 or more tons of waste in place or (ii) the Agency issues a certificate of closure to the site. The annual waste-in-place report must be:

(1) prepared for the period of January 1 through December 31 of each year; and

(2) submitted to the Agency in the immediately following calendar year by a date established by the Agency by rule.

(e) An owner or operator of an active municipal solid waste landfill having 200,000 or more tons of waste in place or a closed municipal solid waste landfill having 400,000 or more tons of waste in place must calculate a methane generation rate in accordance with subsection (k) and the Agency's rules and must submit a methane generation rate report to the Agency. If the calculated methane generation rate is less than 664 metric tons, the owner or operator must:

(1) recalculate the methane generation rate annually using the procedures specified in subsection (j) and the rules adopted under this Section; and

(2) submit an annual methane generation rate report to the Agency until either:

(A) the calculated methane generation rate is greater than or equal to 664 metric tons; or

(B) if the municipal solid waste landfill is active, the owner or operator submits a closure notification in accordance with subsection (i).

(f) If the methane generation rate is greater than or equal to 664 metric tons, the owner or operator must either:

(1) comply with the requirements of this Section and the rules adopted under this Section; or

(2) demonstrate to the satisfaction of the Agency that after 4 years there is no measured concentration of methane that is greater than or equal to 200 parts per million, by volume, using the instantaneous surface monitoring procedures specified in the rules adopted under this Section, based on the monitoring results, and:

(A) if there is any measured concentration of methane that is greater than or equal to 200 parts per million, by volume, from the surface of the active or closed municipal solid waste landfill, comply with this Section and the rules adopted under this Section;

(B) if there is no measured concentration of methane that is greater than or equal to 200 parts per million, by volume, from the surface of the active municipal solid waste landfill, recalculate the methane generation rate annually as required under this Section until the owner or operator submits a closure notification under subsection (j); or

(C) if there is no measured concentration of methane that is greater than or equal to 200 parts per million, by volume, from the surface of a closed municipal solid waste landfill, submit to the Agency for approval:

(i) a waste-in-place report in accordance with this Section and the rules adopted under this Section; and

(ii) all instantaneous surface monitoring records.

(g) An owner or operator of a municipal solid waste landfill that has a calculated methane generation rate that is greater than or equal to 664 metric tons must install a gas collection and control system that meets the requirements of this Section and the rules adopted under this Section, unless the owner or operator demonstrates to the satisfaction of the Agency that after 4 years there is no measured concentration of methane that is greater than or equal to 200 parts per million, by volume, using instantaneous surface monitoring procedures. If a municipal solid waste landfill partners with a third party to operate all or a portion of the gas collection and control system or energy recovery device, the obligation to comply with this Section is the responsibility of the owner or operator of the relevant portion of the gas collection and control system or energy recovery device.

(1) The gas collection and control system required under this subsection (g) must handle the expected gas generation flow rate from the entire area of the municipal solid waste landfill and must collect gas at an extraction rate that complies with the surface methane emission limits under this Section and the rules adopted under this Section.

(2) The gas collection and control system required under this subsection (g) must be designed and operated so that there is no landfill gas leak that results in a concentration of methane that is greater than or equal to 500 parts per million of methane, by volume, measured at any component under positive pressure, and it must collect gas in all areas of the landfill at an extraction rate in compliance with the surface methane emission limits.

(3) If the gas collection and control system required under this subsection (g) uses a flare, the gas collection and control system must achieve a methane destruction efficiency of at least 99%, by weight, and it may use an enclosed flare or, until January 1, 2029, an open flare.

(4) If the gas collection and control system uses an open flare:

(A) the open flare must meet the requirements of 40 CFR 60.18; and

(B) the owner must report to the Agency the duration of the open flare if the duration exceeded 10 days.

(5) If the gas collection and control system does not use a flare, the gas collection and control system must either route the collected gas to an energy recovery device or must route the collected gas to a treatment system that processes the collected gas for subsequent sale or use.

(6) If the gas collection and control system routes the collected gas to an energy recovery device or devices, the owner or operator of the energy recovery device or devices must comply with the following requirements:

(A) the device must achieve a methane destruction efficiency of at least 99%, by weight, except for lean-burn internal combustion engines that were installed and operating before January 1, 2022, which must reduce the outlet methane concentration to less than 3,000 parts per million, by volume, dry basis corrected to 15% oxygen; and

(B) if a boiler or a process heater is used as the gas control device, the landfill gas stream must be introduced into the flame zone, except that, where the landfill gas is not the primary fuel for the boiler or process heater, introduction of the landfill gas stream into the flame zone is not required.

(7) If the gas collection and control system routes the collected gas to a treatment system that processes the collected gas for subsequent sale or use, the gas collection and control system must achieve a methane leak rate of 1% or less, by weight, and venting processed landfill gas to the ambient air is not allowed.

(8) If the processed landfill gas cannot be routed for subsequent sale or use, then the treated landfill gas must achieve a methane destruction efficiency of at least 99%, by weight.

(h) Each owner or operator of an active municipal solid waste landfill with a gas collection and control system must operate the gas collection and control system so that gas is collected from areas, cells, or groups of cells in the municipal solid waste landfill in which solid waste has been in place for one or more years.

(i) An owner or operator of a municipal solid waste landfill must conduct a source test for any gas control device that is subject to this Section, using the relevant test methods identified in or adopted pursuant to this Section. If a gas control device was in compliance with relevant source testing requirements on June 9, 2023, the owner or operator must conduct the source test no less frequently than once every year. If a gas control device was not in compliance with source testing requirements on June 9, 2023, or if a subsequent source test shows the gas control device is out of compliance, the owner or operator must conduct the source test no less frequently than once every 6 months until 2 subsequent consecutive tests both show compliance.

(j) Except as provided in subsection (e), beginning on January 1 of the year following the year in which the Agency adopts rules to implement this Section or, in the case of a gas collection and control system installed or modified after that date, beginning on the date that the gas collection and control system begins operation, whichever is later, the concentration of methane measured from the surface of the landfill shall not, except in the case of nonrepeatable momentary readings, exceed:

(1) 200 parts per million, by volume, if measured by instantaneous surface emissions monitoring; or

(2) an average methane concentration limit of 25 parts per million, by volume, if measured by integrated surface emissions monitoring.

The owner or operator must record all readings, must include the date, location, and value of each reading, and, for any reading that exceeds the limits, must record the date, location, and value of each exceedance, along with retest dates and results and the location of each exceedance must be clearly marked and identified on a topographic map of the municipal solid waste landfill, drawn to scale, with the location of both the monitoring grids and the gas collection system clearly identified; and (ii) take corrective action, which may include, but is not limited to, maintenance or repair of the cover, or well vacuum adjustments. The location or locations of any exceedance must be monitored within 10 calendar days after a measured exceedance.

Through its implementing rules, the Agency must determine the monitoring actions and corrective actions required in response to a methane emissions reading provided to the Agency or the landfill operator or owner by a credible third party, with the goal of quickly mitigating methane emission point sources.

(k) An owner or operator of a municipal solid waste landfill with a gas collection and control system must:

(1) conduct instantaneous and integrated surface monitoring of the landfill surface, including using advanced methane technology to assist with the objective of comprehensive monitoring across the entire surface area, according to rules adopted by the Agency;

(2) monitor the gas control system according to the requirements specified in rules adopted by the Agency; and

(3) monitor each individual wellhead to determine the gauge pressure and water accumulation levels according to the requirements specified in rules adopted by the Agency.

(l) An owner or operator of a municipal solid waste landfill must:

(1) maintain records and prepare reports in accordance with this Section and any rules adopted under this Section;

(2) maintain records related to monitoring, testing, landfill operations, and the operation of a gas control device, gas collection system, and gas control system. The records must be provided by the owner or operator to the Agency within 5 business days after a request from the Agency;

(3) maintain records related to the type of face and percentage of face used, timing of final cover installation on each cell, the dates of intermediate and final cover installation, the type of cover installed, and the annual amount of methane gas collected from the waste under intermediate and daily cover;

(4) if the landfill ceases to accept waste, submit a closure notification to the Agency within 30 days after ceasing to accept waste; and

(5) submit a gas collection and control system equipment removal report to the Agency within 30 days after well capping or the removal or cessation of operation of the gas collection, treatment, or control system equipment. An owner or operator of either an active municipal solid waste landfill with 200,000 or more tons of waste-in-place or a closed municipal solid waste landfill with 400,000 or more tons of waste-in-place must prepare an annual report for the period of January 1 through December 31 of each year. The annual report must include a calculation of methane generation rate. Each annual report must be submitted to the Agency during the subsequent calendar year, with the date of submission to be established through rules.

(m) Except as provided under paragraph (8), the following methods must be used for measurements and tests conducted under this Section:

(1) any instrument used for the measurement of methane must be a hydrocarbon detector or other equivalent instrument approved by the Agency based on standards adopted by the Agency that address calibration, specifications, and performance criteria;

(2) the determination of methane generation rate must be calculated consistent with the rules adopted under this Section;

(3) an owner or operator of a municipal solid waste landfill must measure the landfill surface concentration of methane using a hydrocarbon detector meeting the requirements of this Section and the rules adopted under this Section;

(4) an owner or operator of a municipal solid waste landfill must measure leaks using a hydrocarbon detector, inclusive of advanced methane detection technology, meeting the requirements of this Section and the rules adopted under this Section;

(5) the expected gas generation flow rate must be determined according to the rules adopted under this Section;

(6) the control device destruction efficiency must be at least 99% and must be compliant with Agency rules;

(7) gauge pressure must be determined using a handheld manometer, magnehelic gauge, or other pressure measuring device approved by the Agency; and

(8) alternative test methods may be used if they are approved in writing by the Agency; and

(9) water accumulation levels must be determined according to the rules adopted under this Section.

In the rules adopted under this Section, the Agency shall develop a performance-based standard for permanent removal of the gas collection and control system after landfill closure, with a procedure for surface emissions demonstration.

(n) An owner or operator of a municipal solid waste landfill may request alternatives to the compliance measures, monitoring requirements, and test methods and procedures set forth in this Section and the rules adopted under this Section. Any alternatives requested by the owner or operator must be submitted in writing to the Agency. The criteria that the Agency may use to evaluate alternative compliance option requests include, but are not limited to:

(1) compliance history;

(2) documentation containing the landfill gas flow rate and measured methane concentrations for individual gas collection wells or components;

(3) permits;

(4) component testing and surface monitoring results;

(5) gas collection and control system operation, maintenance, and inspection records; and

(6) historical meteorological data.

The Agency must review and either approve or disapprove the requested alternatives within 120 days. The Agency may request that additional information be submitted as part of the review of the requested alternatives. If a request for an alternative compliance option is denied, the Agency must provide written reasons for the denial. The Agency must deny a request for alternative compliance measures if the request does not provide levels of enforceability or methane emissions control that are equivalent to those set forth in this Section or in rules adopted by the Agency under this Section.

(o) The Agency may request that any owner or operator of a municipal solid waste landfill demonstrate that a landfill does not meet the applicability criteria required under this Section. The demonstration must be submitted to the Agency within 90 days of a written request received from the Agency.

(p) Any person who violates this Section or any rules adopted under this Section may incur a civil penalty under Section 42 of the Environmental Protection Act. The Agency shall waive penalties if the owner or operator of the landfill is actively taking corrective actions to control any methane exceedances. Penalties collected under this Section shall be deposited into the Environmental Protection Trust Fund.

(q) The Agency may assess and collect such fees as may be necessary to recover the direct and indirect costs associated with the implementation of this Section.