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§ 51.61 OPERATION.
   (A)   Certificate of need.
      (1)   All persons who operate facilities to handle, treat, transfer, store, or dispose of hazardous or low-level radioactive waste in the county, other than on-site storage and/or treatment at the point of generation, must provide the Hazardous and/or Low- Level Radioactive Waste Board or its designee a certificate of need for each shipment of waste. This certificate must detail the generator’s effort to reuse, recycle, reduce in volume, detoxify, neutralize, incinerate, or appropriately dispose of the waste at the point of generation, or subsequent efforts at some other waste management facility, before shipment to the county or within the county to such facilities. Such persons must also specify how treatment, handling, or disposal in the county employs best available technology for the disposal of such waste. The certificate must also include information regarding the condition and contents of the shipment, and proper visible labelling of acute hazardous wastes on the vehicle, before the shipment enters the county. This certificate must be on file with the county and a reply from the Hazardous and/or Low-Level Radioactive Waste Board or its designee must be received by the facility operator before the shipment may enter the county. If, upon recommendation of its designee, the Hazardous and/or Low-Level Radioactive Waste Board finds by majority vote that the shipment of waste does not conform to the waste management practices for which the county facility is permitted, the Hazardous and/or Low-Level Radioactive Waste Board is empowered to deny the shipment admittance to the facility. The facility operator may request a hearing before the County Commissioners to challenge the Hazardous and/or Low-Level Radioactive Waste Board’s decision. The County Commissioners shall schedule a public hearing within ten days to hear such challenge. The facility operator shall have the burden of proof in any such hearing.
      (2)   All incoming waste must be stored on the facility site, in an area utilizing best management practices for the proper storage of such wastes, for four days while laboratory analysis as described in § 51.60(B)(4) is being performed. No waste may be otherwise handled, treated, or disposed of on-site until the laboratory analysis is complete and the chemist verifies in writing to the site manager that the shipment may be processed.
   (B)   Management practices orders.
      (1)   The Hazardous and/or Low-Level Radioactive Waste Board as described in § 51.04 above, shall keep abreast of developments in waste management technology and developing management practices. If the Hazardous and/or Low-Level Radioactive Waste Board discovers a new management practice, not currently in use at facilities within the county covered by this chapter, which could be employed to recycle, reuse, neutralize, detoxify, incinerate, or reduce the volume of hazardous or low- level radioactive waste generated, stored, disposed, or transferred in the county, it shall prepare a report to that effect. It shall include in the report a summary of the benefits and costs of the practice, the wastes affected by the practice, and a proposal for implementing it at facilities within the county. It shall then submit the report to all affected facility operators within the county. The facility shall reply in writing to the Hazardous and/or Low-Level Radioactive Waste Board within 45 days, specifying plans to implement the practice, or reasons why the facility operator(s) believe(s) the practice should not be implemented.
   (2)   If after the exchange of reports, the Hazardous and/or Low-Level Radioactive Waste Board, by majority vote, finds that the practice should be implemented at facilities in the county, it shall prepare a report and order to that effect and submit them to the Board of Commissioners. The Board of Commissioners shall approve and publish the order, which shall be effective as an amendment to the permit(s). The facility operator(s) may appeal the order within 30 days, by so requesting in writing to the County Commissioners. The Commissioners shall announce a public hearing within 30 days thereafter at which the Hazardous and/or Low-Level Radioactive Waste Board and the facility operator(s) shall present their cases, and at which the facility operator(s) shall be assigned the burden of proof. The County Commissioners shall then either reaffirm the order or remit the matter to the Hazardous and/or Low-Level Radioactive Waste Board for further study.
   (C)   Other duties. The County Commissioners shall direct responsible officials of the county to undertake such other duties as may be required by this or other sections of this chapter.
(1996 Code, § 51.61) (Ord. passed 10-5-1987)
§ 51.62 ENFORCEMENT.
   (A)   In general. Pursuant to the power vested in the County Commissioners by G.S. §§ 153A-121 and 153A-123, the county through its responsible officers shall enforce the provisions of this chapter to ensure and safeguard the public health, safety, and welfare.
   (B)   Injunction. The county may seek injunctions in the appropriate court of competent jurisdiction, when the operation of a hazardous or low-level radioactive waste facility is, in the judgment of the Health Department, creating an imminent hazard to the health, safety, and welfare of the public. The county may also seek any appropriate equitable relief that it deems necessary to ensure the public health and welfare.
   (C)   Management practice enforcement. Any waste facility operator who, having received a final order from the County Commissioners to implement a management practice as described in § 51.61, fails to implement such a practice within the time prescribed, shall pay a management practices fee of 10% of the gross receipts accepted by such facility operator for such wastes as are covered by the order. The facility operator shall continue to pay such fee until such time as he or she can satisfactorily demonstrate to the Hazardous and/or Low-Level Radioactive Waste Board that the management practice in question has indeed been implemented.
   (D)   Permit revocation. For any facility operator who has committed a violation, as defined in § 51.99(A), or for whom the continued operation of the facility poses an unreasonable hazard to the health and welfare of the public, the Hazardous and/or Low- Level Radioactive Waste Board may publicly announce its intention to recommend revocation of its permit. The facility operator may request a hearing, and the Hazardous and/or Low-Level Radioactive Waste Board in mitigation, to demonstrate subsequent remedial action, and the like. If the Hazardous and/or Low-Level Radioactive Waste Board recommends that the permit be revoked, it shall so report to the Board of Commissioners in writing. Within ten days of the receipt of the recommendation, the County Commissioners shall hold a public hearing after which they shall continue or revoke the permit. The Board of Commissioners may continue the permit upon finding that:
      (1)   The facility operator has made a good- faith effort to comply with the permit and to remedy violations;
      (2)   Reinstatement of the permit would not endanger the public health and welfare; and
      (3)   The facility operator has proposed a plan to remedy any other hazardous conditions on the facility site as expeditiously as possible.
(1996 Code, § 51.62) (Ord. passed 10-5-1987)
§ 51.63 LIABILITY.
   (A)   Standards. By authority vested in it in G.S. § 153A-136, the Board of County Commissioners does ordain that all persons storing, treating, or disposing of hazardous waste or low-level radioactive waste in the county shall be held to a standard of strict liability for spills, accidents, contamination, or other discharges and hazards arising from this facility.
   (B)   Strict liability. Persons storing, transferring, treating, or disposing of hazardous waste or low-level radioactive waste shall be liable for all emergency cleanup costs, cleanup costs in general, damages to persons and property, and other costs resulting from discharges or contamination as the result of intentional or negligent conduct, accident, or other cause.
   (C)   Duration. It is the intent of the County Board of Commissioners that this section shall be temporary in nature, to remain in effect until such time as the General Assembly addresses the issue directly, as it is its stated intention to do.
   (D)   Transportation. It is further ordained that persons transporting hazardous waste or low-level radioactive waste to destinations in this county shall be held to the same standard of strict liability for all emergency cleanup costs, cleanup costs in general, damages, and other costs resulting from discharges or contamination caused by spills or accidents of intentional or unintentional releases during transportation within the county, or such discharges or contamination occurring while the transportation vehicle is anywhere within the county except within the boundaries of the actual facility site for which it is destined, at which time it shall be considered stored by the facility operator.
(1996 Code, § 51.63) (Ord. passed 10-5-1987)
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