The committee is the first checkpoint for House Bill 215. If passed into law, it would require landfill permit applicants to pay for an independent third party to assess potential costs of a proposed facility, including 鈥渘oise, odor, traffic, groundwater pollution, surface water pollution, greenhouse gas, and other emissions emanating from the facility,鈥� including emissions caused by transportation of waste and its byproducts to and from the landfill.
That assessment is meant to help the Department of Environmental Services determine whether a proposed landfill would result in a net public benefit. To justify the need for their projects, applicants would also have to show that the state would have a capacity shortfall for at least half the lifespan of the proposed landfill.
The bill also 鈥渟tates explicitly that an applicant cannot combine multiple projects as they make their case for potential benefits,鈥� Germana said. 鈥淔or example, one could not use the possibility of opening a recycling center for location B to support the case for the potential benefits of landfill location A.鈥�