Ohio Code 3734.23 – Acquiring facility constituting imminent and substantial threat – restoration contracts
(A) The director of environmental protection may acquire by purchase, gift, donation, contribution, or appropriation in accordance with sections 163.01 to 163.21 of the Revised Code any hazardous waste facility or any solid waste facility containing significant quantities of hazardous waste that, because of its condition and the types and quantities of hazardous waste contained in the facility, constitutes an imminent and substantial threat to public health or safety or results in air pollution, pollution of the waters of the state, or soil contamination. For this purpose and for the purposes of division (B) of this section, the director may expend moneys from the hazardous waste facility management fund created in section 3734.18 of the Revised Code, the hazardous waste clean-up fund created in section 3734.28 of the Revised Code, or the environmental protection remediation fund created in section 3734.281 of the Revised Code and may expend moneys from loans from the Ohio water development authority to the environmental protection agency that pledge moneys from the hazardous waste facility management fund, the hazardous waste clean-up fund, or the environmental protection remediation fund for the repayment of and for the interest on such loans. Any lands or facilities purchased or acquired under this section shall be deeded to the state, but no deed shall be accepted or the purchase price paid until the title has been approved by the attorney general.
Terms Used In Ohio Code 3734.23
- Agency: means the environmental protection agency. See Ohio Code 3734.01
- Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
- Closure: includes measures performed to protect public health or safety, to prevent air or water pollution, or to make the facility suitable for other uses, if any, including, but not limited to, the removal of processing residues resulting from solid wastes that consist of scrap tires; the establishment and maintenance of a suitable cover of soil and vegetation over cells in which hazardous waste or solid wastes are buried; minimization of erosion, the infiltration of surface water into such cells, the production of leachate, and the accumulation and runoff of contaminated surface water; the final construction of facilities for the collection and treatment of leachate and contaminated surface water runoff, except as otherwise provided in this division; the final construction of air and water quality monitoring facilities, except as otherwise provided in this division; the final construction of methane gas extraction and treatment systems; or the removal and proper disposal of hazardous waste or solid wastes from a facility when necessary to protect public health or safety or to abate or prevent air or water pollution. See Ohio Code 3734.01
- Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
- Director: means the director of environmental protection. See Ohio Code 3734.01
- Disposal: means the discharge, deposit, injection, dumping, spilling, leaking, emitting, or placing of any solid wastes or hazardous waste into or on any land or ground or surface water or into the air, except if the disposition or placement constitutes storage or treatment or, if the solid wastes consist of scrap tires, the disposition or placement constitutes a beneficial use or occurs at a scrap tire recovery facility licensed under section 3734. See Ohio Code 3734.01
- Facility: means any site, location, tract of land, installation, or building used for incineration, composting, sanitary landfilling, or other methods of disposal of solid wastes or, if the solid wastes consist of scrap tires, for the collection, storage, or processing of the solid wastes; for the transfer of solid wastes; for the treatment of infectious wastes; or for the storage, treatment, or disposal of hazardous waste. See Ohio Code 3734.01
- Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
- Hazardous waste: includes any substance identified by regulation as hazardous waste under the "Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976" 90 Stat. See Ohio Code 3734.01
- Post-closure: means that period of time following closure during which a hazardous waste facility is required to be monitored and maintained under this chapter and rules adopted under it, including, without limitation, operation and maintenance of methane gas extraction and treatment systems, or the period of time after closure during which a scrap tire monocell or monofill facility licensed under section 3734. See Ohio Code 3734.01
- Property: means real and personal property. See Ohio Code 1.59
- state: means the state of Ohio. See Ohio Code 1.59
- treatment: means any method, technique, or process that renders the wastes noninfectious so that it is no longer an infectious waste and is no longer an infectious substance as defined in applicable federal law, including, without limitation, steam sterilization and incineration, and, in the instance of wastes identified in division (R)(7) of this section, to substantially reduce or eliminate the potential for the wastes to cause lacerations or puncture wounds. See Ohio Code 3734.01
(B) The director shall, with respect to any land or facility acquired under this section or cleaned up under section 3734.20 of the Revised Code, perform closure, postclosure care, or other measures necessary to abate conditions thereon that are causing or contributing to or threatening to cause or contribute to air or water pollution or soil contamination or that constitute a substantial threat to public health or safety, including, but not limited to, establishment and maintenance of an adequate cover of soil and vegetation on any facility for the burial of hazardous waste to prevent the infiltration of water into cells where hazardous waste is buried, the accumulation or runoff of contaminated surface water, the production of leachate, and air emissions of hazardous waste; the collection and treatment of contaminated surface water runoff; the collection and treatment of leachate; or, if conditions so require, the removal of hazardous waste from the facility and the treatment or disposal of the waste at a suitable hazardous waste facility. After performing these measures, the director shall provide for the post-closure care, maintenance, and monitoring of facilities cleaned up under this section.
(C) Before proceeding to clean up any property or facility under this section or section 3734.20 or 3734.21 of the Revised Code, the director shall develop a plan for the cleanup of the facility and an estimate of the cost thereof. The director may carry out the plan or any part of the plan by contracting for the services, construction, and necessary repairs.
(D) The director shall keep an itemized record of the costs of any acquisition under division (A) of this section and the costs of cleanup under division (B) of this section.