Section 3734.25. Paying portion of costs of closing facility or abating pollution

(A) The director of environmental protection may make grants of moneys from the hazardous waste facility management fund created in section 3734.18 of the Revised Code or the hazardous waste clean-up fund created in section 3734.28 of the Revised Code for payment by the state of up to two-thirds of the reasonable and necessary expenses incurred by a municipal corporation, county, or township for the proper closure of or abatement of air or water pollution or soil contamination from a solid waste facility in which significant quantities of hazardous waste were disposed of and that the political subdivision owns and once operated.

(B) A municipal corporation, county, or township shall submit an application for a grant on forms provided by the director, together with detail plans and specifications indicating the measures to be performed, an itemized estimate of the project's cost, a description of the project's benefits, and such other information as the director prescribes. The plan for closure or abatement of air or water pollution or soil contamination may be prepared in consultation with the director or the board of health of the city or general health district in which the facility is located. The director may award the applicant a grant only if the director finds that the proposed measures will provide for the proper closure of the facility and will abate or prevent air or water pollution or soil contamination, including, but not limited to, those measures necessary or desirable to:

(1) In the case of a facility at which land burial of hazardous waste occurred, establish and maintain a suitable cover of soil and vegetation over the cells in which waste is buried in order to minimize erosion, the infiltration of surface water into the cells, the production of leachate, and the accumulation or runoff of contaminated surface waters and to prevent air emissions of hazardous waste from the facility;

(2) Collect and treat contaminated surface water runoff from the facility;

(3) Collect and treat leachate produced at the facility;

(4) Install test wells and other equipment or facilities to monitor the quality of surface waters receiving runoff from the facility or to monitor air emissions of hazardous waste from the facility;

(5) Regularly monitor and analyze surface water runoff from the facility, the quality of waters receiving the runoff, and ground water quality in the vicinity of the facility, and regularly monitor leachate collection and treatment systems installed under the grant and analyze samples from them;

(6) Remove and dispose of hazardous waste from the facility at a suitable hazardous waste disposal facility where necessary to protect public health or safety or to prevent or abate air or water pollution or soil contamination.

(C) The director shall determine the amount of the grant based upon the director's determination of what constitutes reasonable and necessary expenses for the proper closure of the facility or for the prevention or elimination of air or water pollution or soil contamination from the facility. In making a grant, the director shall enter into a contract with the municipal corporation, county, or township that owns the facility to ensure that the moneys granted are used for the purposes of this section and that measures performed are properly done. The final payment under a grant may not be made until the director inspects and approves the completed cleanup.

The contract shall require the municipal corporation, county, or township to execute an easement whereby the director, an authorized employee of the agency, or a contractor employed by the director may enter upon the facility to sample, repair, or reconstruct air and water quality monitoring equipment constructed under the contract. Such easements shall be for a specified period of years and may be extinguished by agreement between the political subdivision and the director.

When necessary to protect public health or safety, the contract may require the municipal corporation, county, or township to enter into an environmental covenant with the director in accordance with sections 5301.80 to 5301.92 of the Revised Code.

Amended by 129th General AssemblyFile No.28, HB 153, §101.01, eff. 9/29/2011.

Effective Date: 07-01-1985; 12-30-2004