§ 13-2033. Dumping or depositing solid waste; permit; council; powers and duties; exemptions; storage of passenger tire equivalents of waste tires; access to property.

(1) Except as provided in subsections (2) and (3) of this section, no person shall dump or deposit any solid waste at any place other than a landfill approved by the director unless the department has granted a permit which allows the dumping or depositing of solid waste at any other facility. The council may adopt and promulgate rules and regulations regarding the permitting of this activity, which rules and regulations shall protect the public interest but may be based upon criteria less stringent than those regulating a landfill. The council may adopt and promulgate rules and regulations defining beneficial reuse and establishing construction standards and other criteria exempting from permit requirements under this section the following: (a) The use of dirt, stone, brick, or some inorganic compound for landfill, landscaping excavation, or grading purposes; (b) the placement of tires, posts, or ferrous objects, not contaminated with other wastes, for agricultural uses, such as bumpers on agricultural equipment, for ballast to maintain covers or structures on the agricultural site, for blowout stabilization, for fish habitat, or for tire mats for bank stabilization; or (c) such other waste placement or depositing activities that are found not to pose a threat to the public health or welfare. In developing construction standards, the council shall consider standards and practices established by the American Society for Testing and Materials. (2) No person shall be found to be in violation of this section if (a) the solid waste generated by an individual is disposed of on such individual's property, (b) such property is outside the corporate limits of a municipality, and (c) the department determines that the county has not provided integrated solid waste management facilities for its residents. (3) No person shall be found to be in violation of this section for storing five hundred or fewer passenger tire equivalents of waste tires. Storage of passenger tire equivalents of waste tires for more than one year without reuse, recycling, or shipment out of state is presumed to constitute disposal of solid waste under subsection (1) of this section. Speculative accumulation of more than five hundred passenger tire equivalents of waste tires shall be deemed disposal of solid waste and is prohibited. Tires are not accumulated speculatively if, in a calendar year beginning on January 1, the amount of tire material that is reused or recycled by weight equals at least seventy-five percent of such material at the beginning of the year. The burden of proof that passenger tire equivalents of waste tires have not been speculatively accumulated rests with the person accumulating the passenger tire equivalents of waste tires to demonstrate through written documentation that the passenger tire equivalents of waste tires have not been accumulated speculatively. Any person, business, or other entity engaged in the business of picking up, hauling, and transporting scrap tires for storage, processing, or recycling shall obtain a permit from the department before engaging in such activity. The council may adopt rules and regulations regarding such permits and may exempt from permit requirements those entities having involvement with scrap tires which is incidental to their primary business activity. Persons holding a permit on August 31, 2003, may continue to operate under such permits until new rules and regulations are established under this section. As a condition for obtaining a permit under this section, the department shall require the permittee to provide the department with an annual report indicating the number of scrap tires hauled, the location of the delivery of such scrap tires, and any additional information the council believes necessary to accomplish the purposes of the Integrated Solid Waste Management Act. (4) If necessary in the course of an investigation or inspection or during remedial or corrective action and if the owner of the subject property or the owner's agent has specifically denied access to the department for such purposes, the director may order the owner or owner's agent to grant access to such property for the performance of reasonable steps to determine the source and extent of contamination, for remediation, or for other corrective action, including drilling and removal of wastes. Access shall be by the department or by a person conducting the investigation, inspection, or remedial action at the direction of the department. The property shall be restored as nearly as possible to its original condition at the conclusion of the investigation, inspection, or remedial action. History: Laws 1992, LB 1257, § 33; Laws 2003, LB 142, § 1; Laws 2003, LB 143, § 5.