(a)
The Legislature finds and declares as follows:
(1)
Existing laws require numerous permits before a hazardous waste facility can be constructed and operated. The permits are issued by governmental agencies, at both the state and local levels under land use planning, zoning, hazardous waste, air quality, water quality, and solid waste management laws.
(2)
The approval of hazardous waste facilities is not currently a coordinated process. The failure to coordinate the issuance of multiple permits,
licenses, land use approvals, and other types of authorizations causes lengthy and costly delays. The end result of the process cannot be predicted, with any degree of certainty, by either the proponent of a project to site and construct a facility or by the concerned public.
(3)
Present procedures for approving hazardous waste facilities do not provide meaningful opportunities for public involvement and are not suitably structured to allow the public to make its concerns known and to cause these concerns to be taken into consideration.
(4)
A formal administrative process for reviewing local discretionary land use decisions on applications to site and construct a hazardous waste facility has not been established and made available to interested persons who wish to appeal these decisions.
(b)
The Legislature,
therefore, declares that there is a critical need to clarify the requirements that must be met, and the basic procedures that must be followed, in connection with the approval of hazardous waste facilities.
(c)
It is the intent of the Legislature, in enacting this article, to establish the means to expedite the approval of needed hazardous waste facilities; to ensure that new hazardous waste facilities are not sited unless the facility operator provides financial assurance that the operator can respond adequately to damage claims arising out of the operation of the facility; to ensure that the facilities comply with applicable laws and regulations; to clarify the procedures to be followed in approving a facility; to establish specific means to give the concerned public a voice in decisions relating to the siting and issuance of permits for hazardous waste facilities; and to establish a process for appealing local decisions on applications for
land use approval for hazardous waste facilities.