HB 6503 — AN ACT CONCERNING THE SITING OF ANAEROBIC DIGESTION FACILITIES ON FARMS AND THE EXPANDED USE AND ESTABLISHMENT OF CERTAIN COMPOST FACILITIES AND STANDARDS.

Section21-16 19 fromof passage9 22a-208cc Sec.

2 October 1, 2021 22a-226e from passage Sec.

3 New section Sec.

4 from passage New section Sec.

5 October 1, 2021 22a-208a(d) sHB6503 / File No.

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625 The following Fiscal Impact Statement and Bill Analysis are prepared for the benefit of the members of the General Assembly, solely for purposes of information, summarization and explanation and do not represent the intent of the General Assembly or either chamber thereof for any purpose.

In general, fiscal impacts are based upon a variety of informational sources, including the analyst’s professional knowledge.

Whenever applicable, agency data is consulted as part of the analysis, however final products do not necessarily reflect an assessment from any specific department.

OFA Fiscal Note State Impact:

None Municipal Impact:

None Explanation The bill alters the law’s siting and permitting exemption for on-farm anaerobic digestion (AD) facilities.

Current law exempts certain AD facilities from the requirement that operators obtain a solid waste facilities permit from the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP).

Instead, the bill requires DEEP to approve or deny AD facilities permit applications within 180 days.

This has no fiscal impact as it is anticipated that existing agency staff can perform the permit review and make determinations within the specified timeframe.

House "A" altered the underlying bill by increasing, from 90 to 180 days, the time DEEP has to make an AD permit determination.

The agency currently employs eight full-time staff who work, on average, 170 days over a 12–18-month period to process solid waste facility-specific permits.

The bill makes other changes which are not anticipated to result in a fiscal impact to the state or municipalities.

The Out Years State Impact:

None Municipal Impact:

None sHB6503 / File No.

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625 OLR Bill Analysis sHB 6503 (as amended by House "A")* AN ACT CONCERNING THE SITING OF ANAEROBIC DIGESTION FACILITIES ON FARMS.

SUMMARY This bill makes changes in the law’s siting and permitting exemption for on-farm anaerobic digestion (AD) facilities (§ 1).

Among other things, it does the following:

1.

requires an animal feeding operation (see BACKGROUND) that is collocated on a farm with an AD facility to maintain a comprehensive nutrient management plan;

2.

increases an on-farm AD facility feed stock requirement for food scraps, food processing residuals, and soiled or unrecycled paper from 5% to 40% by volume;

and 3.

requires the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) commissioner to act within 180 days after receiving a solid waste permit application from an on-farm AD facility operator.

The bill also does the following with respect to organic material composting and food waste:

1.

broadens the scope of the law requiring certain organic material generators to separate the materials from other solid waste and recycle them at composting facilities (§ 2);

2.

requires the DEEP commissioner, by January 1, 2022, to (a) establish a voluntary pilot program for municipalities seeking to separate source-separated organic materials and (b) ensure that the materials are recycled at authorized composting facilities sHB6503 / File No.

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625 with capacity and that will accept them (see BACKGROUND) (§ 2);

3.

requires the DEEP commissioner to (a) participate in a reach out and education effort to municipalities, commercial entities, and school systems about using certain composting facilities and (b) report to the Environment Committee on its efforts (§ 3);

4.

reauthorizes the DEEP commissioner to adopt regulations on specifications for compost from source-separated organic materials and mixed municipal solid waste (PA 17-218 repealed a similar provision) (§ 4);

and 5.

exempts, under certain circumstances, permitted solid waste facilities from needing to modify their permit in order to start receiving or storing acertain amount of containerized foodscrap, food processing residuals, and soiled or unrecycled paper (§ 5).

*House Amendment “A” increases the time DEEP has to act on a solid waste permit application from an on-farm AD facility operator from 90 to 180 days.

It also adds the organic material composting and food waste provisions (§§ 2-5).

EFFECTIVE DATE:

October 1, 2021, except for the provisions concerning (1) on-farm AD facilities and (2) DEEP’s reach out and education efforts and compost regulations, which are effective upon passage.

§ 1 — ON-FARM ANAEROBIC DIGESTION FACILITIES Current law exempts certain AD facilities from the requirement that its operator obtain a permit from DEEP to construct and operate a solid waste facility.

To be exempt, an AD facility must be collocated on a farm withananimal feeding operation(see BACKGROUND).The bill further requires that the animal feeding operation maintain a comprehensive nutrient management plan as developed by the U.S.

Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (i.e., a plan that minimizes adverse impacts of animal feeding operations on water sHB6503 / File No.

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625 quality and public health).

Under current law, an exempt AD facility must, among other things, use feed stock that is not more than 5% by volume food scraps, food processing residuals, and soiled or unrecycled paper.

The bill increases this cap from 5% to 40%.

As under current law, an exempt facility must also use feedstock that isat least 50%by volume farmgeneratedorganic waste from an animal feeding operation.

Existing law allows the agriculture commissioner to inspect exempt AD facilities to ensure compliance with the feed stock requirements.

Under current law, if the DEEP commissioner determines that an AD facility isoperating without apermit but isnotcollocated onafarmwith an animal feeding operation or is processing more than the required percentage by volume of food scraps, food processing residuals, and soiled or unrecyclable paper, the facility’s operator must apply to DEEP for a solid waste permit.

The bill instead requires this if the commissioner determines an AD facility is not collocated on a farmwith an animal feeding operation or is not in compliance with all the feed stock requirements.

By law, the operator must file for a permit within five days after receiving notice of the commissioner’s determination.

The bill requires the DEEP commissioner to approve or deny the permit application within 180 days after receiving it.

Additionally, under the bill, for any permit application submitted to DEEP for an AD facility that is not collocated with an animal feeding operation but that is located on land used for farming, the DEEP commissioner must pre-approve or pre-deny the application within 180 days after receiving it.

The 180 days applies to matters that are entirely within the commissioner’s discretion or determination.

§ 2 — SOURCE-SEPARATED ORGANIC MATERIALS The bill broadens the scope of the law requiring certain organic materials generators to separate the materials and recycle them at composting facilities by applying the law’s requirements to smaller generators.

sHB6503 / File No.

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625 Under current law, commercial food wholesalers or distributors, industrial food manufacturers or processors, supermarkets, resorts, or conference centers generating an annual average projected volume of at least 52 tons of source-separated organic materials must (1) separate the materials from other solid waste and (2) recycle them at a permitted source-separated organic material composting facility located within 20 miles of the generation site that has available capacity and is willing to accept them.

Beginning January 1, 2022, the bill applies these requirements to generators (1) generating an annual average projected volume of at least tons of source-separated organic materials a year and (2) located within 20 miles of an authorized source-separated organic material composting facility.

Consequently, the bill likely increases the number of facilities that must comply with this requirement.

Bylaw,generatorsmaycomplywiththerequirementsbycomposting the organic materials or treating it with certain organic treatment equipment on-site.

§ 3 — DEEP REACH OUT AND EDUCATION CAMPAIGN The bill requires the DEEP commissioner to participate in a reach out and education campaign on using certain composting facilities to divert food waste from the waste stream.

Under the bill, the commissioner must engage with municipalities about (1) their ability to establish an aerated static pile composting facility to divert food waste from the municipal solid waste stream, including the permit application and procedures involved, and (2) the potential fiscal and environmental benefits of the composting facility.

Aerated static pile composting generally involves organic waste mixed ina large pile withlayersofcertainloosely piledmaterialssuch as wood chips or shredded newspaper to allow air to pass through the pile.

The bill requires the commissioner to also engage with commercial entities and school systems about how they can divert source-separated sHB6503 / File No.

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625 organic materials to authorized composting facilities specifically designed to accept them.

The bill also requires the DEEP commissioner, by February 1, 2022, to report to the Environment Committee on its efforts, including (1) responses from municipalities, entities, and school systems and (2) municipalities’ efforts to establish composting facilities resulting from DEEP’s reaching out.

§ 4 — COMPOST REGULATIONS The bill allows the DEEP commissioner to adopt regulations providing specifications for the production, quality, and use of compost made from source-separated organic materials and mixed municipal solid waste.

These regulations must be made in consultation with the agriculture commissioner, Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, UConn extension service, and the Department of Public Health.

Under the bill, these regulations must have provisions that do the following:

1.

promote composting processes;

2.

provide clean, high-quality, nontoxic, and marketable end- product;

3.

protect land and water resources from contaminants;

4.

prevent adverse environmental and public health effects from composting operations or applying its product;

5.

set maximum allowable levels of toxic and other contaminants in the composting product;

6.

include contaminant testing criteria;

7.

have at least two classes of compost, with a (a) Class I made from only compostable source-separated organic materials such as food waste, grass clippings, and yard waste and (b) Class II made sHB6503 / File No.

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625 from mixed municipal solid waste with compostable organic materials that were not separated at generation;

8.

set maximum allowable contaminant levels for Class I compost that will allow for its unrestricted use;

and 9.

ban using Class II compost for agricultural or horticultural purposes unless it meets the maximum allowable contaminant levels for Class I compost, as determined by the regulations’ testing criteria.

§ 5 — SOLID WASTE FACILITY PERMITS Current law generally prohibits anyone with a solid waste facility permit from altering the facility’s design or operation without obtaining a permit modification from DEEP.

The bill exempts a facility from this requirement if it is adding the following to its operation:

1.

receiving up to 75 tons per day of containerized food scrap, food processing residuals, and soiled or unrecycled paper or 2.

storing up to 150 cubic yards of this containerized material.

To qualify for the bill’s exemption, receiving these scraps, residuals, and paper must (1) occur in a fully enclosed building;

(2) stay containerized, except when being transferred;

and (3) be managed to control odor, leachate, and vector (e.g., insects or rodents) attraction.

The bill requires a facility’s owner or operator to, within 30 days after adding these items for receipt, provide written notice to the DEEP commissioner about it.

BACKGROUND Animal Feeding Operation By law, an animal feeding operationisanon-farmlot or facility, other than an aquatic animal production facility, where (1) animals have been, are currently, or will be stabled or confined and fed or maintained for a sHB6503 / File No.

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625 total of at least 45 days in a 12-month period and (2) crops, vegetation, forage growth, or post-harvest residues are not sustained in the normal growing season over any portion of the lot or facility.

Organic Material and Composting Facilities By law, “source-separated organic material” includes such things as food scraps, food processing residue, and soiled or unrecyclable paper that are separated, at generation, from nonorganic material (CGS § 22a- 207(30)).

A “composting facility” is land, appurtenances, structures, or equipment where organic materials originating from another process or location and separated at generation from nonorganic material are recovered through accelerated biological decomposition under controlled aerobic or anaerobic conditions (CGS § 22a-207(29)).

Related Bill sSB 930 (File 557), favorably reported by the Environment Committee, contains the same organic material composting and food waste provisions as this bill.

COMMITTEE ACTION Environment Committee Joint Favorable Substitute Yea 32 Nay 0 (03/31/2021) sHB6503 / File No.

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