LEA Advisory #52—Procedures for Processing Solid Waste Facility Permits Upon Determinations of No Change During Permit Reviews

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California Integrated Waste Management Board

Background

Both the Public Resources Code (PRC), § 44015 and Title 27 of the California Code of Regulations (CCR) § 21675 require that all full SWFPs be reviewed and, if necessary, revised from the date of last issuance at least once every five years. The subject of a five-year permit review and the relevant issues thereto are addressed in LEA Advisory #24.

A quandary exists as to how the text of a SWFP should reflect an LEA's permit review report determination that the terms and conditions in an existing permit and Report of Facility Information (RFI) adequately govern the continued operations at a facility and that no change is necessary. Now that the vast majority of the permits have been updated, the "no change" determination is beginning to be a reality with a growing number of permits. Since we all have the obligation to streamline the permitting process, this advisory is intended to provide a procedure to process a SWFP to allow the LEA's latest permit review determination of "no change" to be reflected in the text of the permit, without the added work of processing a permit application.

When an LEA conducts a permit review and completes a permit review report with the determination of "no change," it may seem that there is no need for any further work on the permit or any of the other governing documents, including the RFI, and/or for any requirement to amend the RFI or any of the other governing documents because the permit review report contains the full deliberation of the LEA permit review process, which may include the listing of the documents reviewed, field observations of facility operation, and the conclusion(s) therefrom.

It is our opinion, however, that the effort requires one more step to complete the picture that the LEA has endeavored to show. The "no change" determination that the LEA makes at the conclusion of the permit review, which she or he has clearly expressed in the permit review report, needs to be reflected in the text of the SWFP. In addition, the text of the SWFP should show the date of the permit review, which provides the due date for the next permit review.

Enforcement Agency Processing

We suggest the following procedure to process SWFPs upon determinations of "no change" during permit reviews:

All necessary changes would be reflected on Page 1 of the SWFP and the altered page would be placed in front of the existing one.

At the bottom of the page an LEA would add a new Box 11C (see attached sample) and would fill in the "Permit Review Date."

Boxes 8, 9, 10, and 11B, if applicable, would remain unchanged.

An LEA would fill in Box 11A with the "Next Permit Review Due Date" five years from the "Permit Review Date" that he/she establishes in Box 11C.

We believe this procedure will serve our collective needs in keeping the stipulations in SWFPs current without the added work of processing of permit applications. If you have any questions on this advisory or need additional information, please contact the Permitting and Inspection staff that has been assigned to work with your jurisdiction.

Sincerely,

Original signed by:

Julie Nauman, Acting Deputy Director
Permitting and Enforcement Division

Publication #231-98-012

The intent of the advisories is to provide guidance to Local Enforcement Agencies (LEA) in performing their duties. Guidance, for this purpose, is defined as providing explanation of the Board’s regulations and statutes.

Unless included by reference in the LEA's Enforcement Program Plan (EPP), advisories are not enforceable in the same manner as regulations because they have not been adopted through the formal rulemaking process (see Government Code sections 11340.5 and 11342.6). Advisories do not take precedence over statute or regulation.

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