§ 130A-295.02. Resident inspectors required at commercial hazardous waste facilities; recovery of costs for same.
§ 130A‑295.02. Residentinspectors required at commercial hazardous waste facilities; recovery of costsfor same.
(a) The Division shallemploy full‑time resident inspectors for each commercial hazardous wastefacility located within the State. Such inspectors shall be employed andassigned so that at least one inspector is on duty at all times during whichany component of the facility is in operation, is undergoing any maintenance orrepair, or is undergoing any test or calibration. Resident inspectors shall beassigned to commercial hazardous waste management facilities so as to protectthe public health and the environment, to monitor all aspects of the operationof such facilities, and to assure compliance with all laws and rulesadministered by the Division and by any other division of the Department. Suchinspectors may also enforce laws or rules administered by any other agency ofthe State pursuant to an appropriate memorandum of agreement entered into bythe Secretary and the chief administrative officer of such agency. The Divisionmay assign additional resident inspectors to a facility depending upon thequantity and toxicity of waste managed at a facility, diversity of types ofwaste managed at the facility, complexity of management technologies utilizedat the facility, the range of components which are included at the facility,operating history of the facility, and other factors relative to the need foron‑site inspection and enforcement capabilities. The Division, inconsultation with other divisions of the Department, shall define the duties ofeach resident inspector and shall determine whether additional residentinspectors are needed at a particular facility to meet the purposes of thissection.
(b) The Division shallestablish requirements pertaining to education, experience, and training forresident inspectors so as to assure that such inspectors are fully qualified toserve the purposes of this section. The Division shall provide its residentinspectors with such training, equipment, facilities, and supplies as may benecessary to fulfill the purposes of this section.
(c) As a condition ofits permit, the owner or operator of each commercial hazardous waste facilitylocated within the State shall provide and maintain such appropriate and secureoffices and laboratory facilities as the Department may require for the use ofthe resident inspectors required by this section.
(d) Resident inspectorsassigned to a commercial hazardous waste facility shall have unrestrictedaccess to all operational areas of such facility at all times. For theprotection of resident inspectors and the public, the provisions of G.S. 143‑215.107(f)shall not apply to commercial hazardous waste facilities to which a residentinspector is assigned.
(e) No commercial hazardouswaste facility shall be operated, undergo any maintenance or repair, or undergoany testing or calibration unless an inspector employed by the Division ispresent at the facility.
(f) The requirementsof this section are intended to enhance the ability of the Department toprotect the public health and the environment by providing the Department withthe authority and resources necessary to maintain a rigorous inspection andenforcement program at commercial hazardous waste management facilities. Therequirements of this section are intended to be supplementary to otherrequirements imposed on hazardous waste facilities. This section shall not beconstrued to relieve either the owner or the operator of any such facility orthe Department from any other requirement of law or to require any unnecessaryduplication of reporting or monitoring requirements.
(g) For the purpose ofenforcing the laws and rules enacted or adopted for the protection of thepublic health and the environment, resident inspectors employed pursuant tothis section may be commissioned as special peace officers as provided in G.S.113‑28.1. The provisions of Article 1A of Chapter 113 of the GeneralStatutes shall apply to resident inspectors commissioned as special peaceofficers pursuant to this subsection.
(h) The Departmentshall determine the full cost of the employment and assignment of residentinspectors at each commercial hazardous waste facility located within theState. Such costs shall include, but are not limited to, costs incurred forsalaries, benefits, travel, training, equipment, supplies, telecommunicationand data transmission, offices and other facilities other than those providedby the owner or operator, and administrative expenses. The Department shallestablish and revise as necessary a schedule of fees to be assessed on theusers of each such facility to recover the actual cost of the residentinspector program at that facility. The operator of each such facility shallserve as the collection agent for such fees, shall account to the Department ona monthly basis for all fees collected, and shall deposit with the Departmentall funds collected pursuant to this section within 15 days following the lastday of the month in which such fees are collected. Fees collected under thissection shall be credited to the General Fund as nontax revenue.
(i) The Division shallestablish and revise as necessary a program for assigning resident inspectorsto commercial hazardous waste facilities so that scheduled rotation or equivalentoversight procedures ensure that each resident inspector will maintainobjectivity.
(j) For purposes ofthis subsection, special purpose commercial hazardous waste facilities include:a facility that manages limited quantities of hazardous waste; a facility thatlimits its hazardous waste management activities to reclamation or recycling,including energy or materials recovery or a facility that stores hazardouswaste primarily for use at such facilities; or a facility that is determined tobe low risk under rules adopted by the Commission pursuant to this subsection.The Commission shall adopt rules to determine whether a commercial hazardouswaste facility is a special purpose commercial hazardous waste facility and toestablish classifications of special purpose commercial hazardous wastefacilities. The rules to determine whether a commercial hazardous wastefacility is a special purpose commercial hazardous waste facility and toestablish classifications of special purpose commercial hazardous wastefacilities shall be based on factors including, but not limited to, the size ofthe facility, the type of treatment or storage being performed, the nature andvolume of waste being treated or stored, the uniformity, similarity, or lack ofdiversity of the waste streams, the predictability of the nature of the wastestreams and their treatability, whether the facility utilizes automatedmonitoring or safety devices that adequately perform functions that wouldotherwise be performed by a resident inspector, the fact that reclamation orrecycling is being performed at the facility, and the compliance history of thefacility and its operator. Based on the foregoing factors and any increase ordecrease in the number of sensitive land uses over time or in estimatedpopulation density over time reported pursuant to G.S. 130A‑295.01(f),rules adopted pursuant to this subsection shall establish times and frequenciesfor the presence of a resident inspector on less than a full‑time basisat special purpose commercial hazardous waste facilities and specify a minimumnumber of additional inspections at special purpose hazardous waste facilities.
Special purpose commercialhazardous waste facilities that utilize hazardous waste as a fuel source shallbe inspected a minimum of 40 hours per week, unless compliance data for thesefacilities can be electronically monitored and recorded off‑site by theDepartment. The Department, considering the benefits provided by electronicmonitoring, shall determine the number of hours of on‑site inspectionrequired at these facilities. The Department shall maintain records of allinspections at special purpose commercial hazardous waste facilities. Suchrecords shall contain sufficient detail and shall be arranged in a readilyunderstandable format so as to facilitate determination at any time as towhether the special purpose commercial hazardous waste facility is incompliance with the requirements of this subsection and of rules adoptedpursuant to this subsection. Notwithstanding any other provision of thissection, special purpose commercial hazardous waste facilities shall be subjectto inspection at all times during which the facility is in operation,undergoing any maintenance or repair, or undergoing any test or calibration.
(k) For purposes ofthis section, a facility that utilizes hazardous waste as a fuel or that hasused hazardous waste as a fuel within the preceding calendar year, and that isan affiliate of and adjacent or contiguous to a commercial hazardous wastefacility, shall be subject to inspection as a special purpose commercialhazardous waste facility under subsection (j) of this section as if thefacility that utilizes hazardous waste as a fuel were a part of the commercialhazardous waste facility.
(l) As used in thissection, the words "affiliate", "parent", and"subsidiary" have the same meaning as in 17 Code of FederalRegulations § 240.12b‑2 (1 April 1990 Edition).
(m) The Department shallreport annually on or before 1 October to the Environmental Review Commissionon the implementation of the resident inspectors program. (1989 (Reg. Sess., 1990), c.1082, s. 1; 1991, c. 20, s. 2; c. 403, s. 4; c. 450, s. 2; 1993, c. 511, s. 1;c. 513, s. 2(b); c. 553, s. 41; 1995, c. 327, s. 1; 2006‑79, s. 16; 2007‑107,s. 1.5(b); 2009‑570, s. 16.)