Colorado § 25-15-202 - Application for certificate - review by department and Colorado geological survey - hearing.

§ 25-15-202. Application for certificate - review by department and Colorado geological survey - hearing.

(1) Any person desiring to operate a hazardous waste disposal site shall make application for a certificate of designation to the board of county commissioners of the county or to the governing body of the municipality in which such site is proposed to be located.

(2) The application shall be accompanied by a fee established by the board of county commissioners or the governing body of the municipality by resolution or ordinance, which fee shall not exceed fifty thousand dollars and which fee may be refunded in whole or in part. Fifty percent of such fee shall be transmitted to the department to offset the costs of the department's review pursuant to subsection (4) of this section, including possible costs of reimbursement to other state agencies which assist in such review. The application shall set forth the following: The location of the site; the types of waste to be accepted or rejected; the types of waste disposal; the method of supervision; and the anticipated access routes in the county in which the site is located. The application shall also contain such data as may reasonably be required by rules of the commission developed pursuant to section 25-15-208 to enable the department and the Colorado geological survey to perform their duties under subsection (4) of this section.

(3) The clerk of the county or municipality shall promptly notify the county commissioners and the governing body of any other county or municipality within twenty miles of a proposed hazardous waste disposal site of the filing of an application for a certificate of designation therefor.

(4) (a) Within ten working days of an application for a certificate of designation and prior to further consideration, the board of county commissioners or the governing body of the municipality, as the case may be, shall forward a copy of the application to the department and to the Colorado geological survey.

(b) The Colorado geological survey shall review each application received by it and make a recommendation to the department on the geological suitability of the proposed hazardous waste disposal site for land disposal of hazardous waste, based upon the geological, hydrological, climatological, geochemical, and geomorphological characteristics of the site. Such recommendation shall be submitted to the department within sixty days of the Colorado geological survey's receipt of the application.

(c) Within ninety days of its receipt of the application, the department shall make findings of fact on the technical merits of the application and provide such findings of fact to the board of county commissioners or the governing body of the municipality. The findings of fact shall at a minimum include:

(I) A determination as to whether the site could be designed and operated in compliance with applicable rules and regulations adopted by the commission pursuant to section 25-15-208;

(II) A determination as to whether the site is located within an area designated to be optimally suitable for hazardous waste disposal by the most recent study of the Colorado geological survey made pursuant to section 25-15-216 and, if not, as to whether the site is suitable for the land disposal of hazardous waste as demonstrated by reliable geologic, hydrologic, and other scientific data;

(III) A recommendation to the board of county commissioners or the governing body of a municipality, as the case may be, as to whether the application for a certificate of designation should be approved. A recommendation for approval may only be made upon affirmative findings of facts under subparagraphs (I) and (II) of this paragraph (c).

(5) The application shall be considered by the board of county commissioners or the governing body of the municipality, as the case may be, at a public hearing to be held after notice. Such notice shall contain the time and place of the hearing and shall state that the matter to be considered is the applicant's proposal for a hazardous waste disposal site. The notice shall be published in a newspaper having general circulation in the region in which the proposed hazardous waste disposal site is located at least ten but no more than thirty days prior to the date of the hearing.

Source: L. 81: Entire article R&RE, p. 1347, § 1, effective July 1. L. 83: (2) amended and (4) R&RE, p. 1090, §§ 4, 5, effective June 3. L. 91: (2) amended, p. 891, § 20, effective June 5. L. 92: (2) and (4)(c)(I) amended, p. 1259, § 19, effective August 1.

ANNOTATION

Preemption. This act preempts all county or other local regulations concerning the construction of a hazardous waste disposal site, and any proceedings conducted or permits issued outside the ambit of this act are void. U.S. Pollution Control, Inc. v. Bd. of County Comm'rs, 714 P.2d 511 (Colo. App. 1985).

County's authority under this section is not limited to site or location approval and may include limitations on the types of materials that may be disposed of at the site. Adams Bd. of County Comm'rs v. Colo. Dept. of Pub. Health & Env't, 218 P.3d 336 (Colo. 2009).

No bar from res judicata where substantial changes in fact or circumstances occur subsequent to prior application or when the Board's decision is based on consideration of public need, which is required of the board in § 25-15-203. Whelden v. Bd. of County Comm'rs, 782 P.2d 853 (Colo. App. 1989).