An Act to Update Financial Assurance Requirements for Certain Solid Waste Facilities

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STATE OF MAINE
_____
IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD
TWO THOUSAND TWENTY-SIX
_____
H.P. 1504 - L.D. 2227
An Act to Update Financial Assurance Requirements for Certain Solid Waste
Facilities
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1. 38 MRSA §1310-Y, as amended by PL 2023, c. 517, §§7 and 8, is further
amended to read:
§1310-Y. Financial assurance
An owner or operator of a solid waste processing facility that processes plastic waste
through chemical plastic processing that is licensed under section 1310‑N or of a solid
waste disposal facility that is licensed under section 1310‑N shall provide the department
assurance of its financial ability to satisfy the estimated cost of corrective action for known
releases from the facility and its financial capacity to satisfy the estimated cost of closure
and postclosure care and maintenance at the facility for a period of at least 30 years after
closure. The board may adopt rules that increase or decrease that postclosure care period,
as long as those rules are consistent with applicable federal rules. The department may
consider the use of more than one acceptable form of financial assurance per facility to
satisfy the financial assurance requirement of this section. This section applies to all
privately owned solid waste disposal facilities licensed by the department, including
facilities licensed by the department before June 16, 1993, and to all solid waste processing
facilities that process plastic waste through chemical plastic processing. This section does
not apply to a municipally owned or operated solid waste disposal facility that accepts
exclusively special waste, construction and demolition debris, land-clearing debris or any
combination of those types of waste or to a municipally owned or operated solid waste
disposal facility licensed before June 16, 1993.
1. Acceptable forms of financial assurance. Acceptable forms of financial assurance
are under this section must include at least one of the following:
A. A letter of credit;
B. A surety bond;
C. An escrow account;
APPROVED
APRIL 3, 2026
BY GOVERNOR
CHAPTER
621
PUBLIC LAW
Page 2 - 132LR3069(03)
D. A reserve account calculated in a manner consistent with the United States Internal
Revenue Code;
E. An irrevocable trust account; or
F. In the case of a municipal solid waste disposal facility, any of the allowable financial
assurance mechanisms set forth in applicable federal rules.
G. A corporate financial test that satisfies the requirements of 40 Code of Federal
Regulations, Section 258.74(e);
H. A local government financial test that satisfies the requirements of 40 Code of
Federal Regulations, Section 258.74(f);
I. A corporate guarantee that satisfies the requirements of 40 Code of Federal
Regulations, Section 258.74(g); or
J. A local government guarantee that satisfies the requirements of 40 Code of Federal
Regulations, Section 258.74(h).
1-A. Substitute requirements. The department may substitute part of the acceptable
forms of financial assurance under subsection 1 with one or more of the following
requirements:
A. A current rating for its senior unsubordinated debt of AAA, AA, A or BBB as issued
by Standard and Poor's Corporation or Aaa, Aa, A or Baa as issued by Moody's
Investors Services, Inc.;
B. A ratio of less than 1.5 comparing total liabilities to net worth; or
C. A ratio of greater than 0.10 comparing the sum of net income plus depreciation,
depletion and amortization, minus $10,000,000, to total liabilities.
1-B. Review of financial assurance. A licensee subject to the requirements of this
section shall annually review and, as necessary and in accordance with department rule,
update its financial assurance mechanisms under this section. The department may require
an applicant or licensee subject to the requirements of this section to conduct and submit
to the department an independent 3rd-party financial review of any proposed form of
financial assurance.
2. Report. An owner or operator of a solid waste processing facility that processes
plastic waste through chemical plastic processing or of a solid waste disposal facility shall
annually prepare a report containing a sworn statement providing the year-end balance or
value of any escrow, trust or reserve account form of financial assurance established under
this section. That report must be submitted to the commissioner by March 31st of each
year or such other date as the commissioner may designate.