(a) As used in this section:

(1) “Financial assurance” refers to the ability of an applicant or permit holder to pay the costs of assessment and remediation in the event of a release of pollutants from a facility, closure of the facility in accordance with all applicable requirements, and post-closure monitoring and maintenance of the facility.

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(2) “Financial qualification” refers to the ability of an applicant or permit holder to pay the costs of proper design, construction, operation, and maintenance of the facility.

(3) “Financial responsibility” encompasses both financial assurance and financial qualification.

(b) The Commission may adopt rules governing financial responsibility requirements for applicants for permits and for permit holders to ensure the availability of sufficient funds for the proper design, construction, operation, maintenance, closure, and post-closure monitoring and maintenance of solid waste management facilities and for any corrective action the Department may require during the active life of a facility or during the closure and post-closure periods.

(c) The Department may provide a copy of any filing that an applicant for a permit or a permit holder submits to the Department to meet the financial responsibility requirements under this section to the State Treasurer. The State Treasurer shall review the filing and provide the Department with a written opinion as to the adequacy of the filing to meet the purposes of this section, including any recommended changes.

(d) The Department may, in its sole discretion, require an applicant for a permit to construct a facility to demonstrate its financial qualification for the design, construction, operation, and maintenance of a facility. The Department may require an applicant for a permit for a solid waste management facility to provide cost estimates for site investigation; land acquisition, including financing terms and land ownership; design; construction of each five-year phase, if applicable; operation; maintenance; closure; and post-closure monitoring and maintenance of the facility to the Department. The Department may allow an applicant to demonstrate its financial qualifications for only the first five-year phase of the facility. If the Department allows an applicant for a permit to demonstrate its financial qualification for only the first five-year phase of the facility, the Department shall require the applicant or permit holder to demonstrate its financial qualification for each successive five-year phase of the facility when applying for a permit to construct each successive phase of the facility.

(e) If the Department requires an applicant for a permit or a permit holder for a solid waste management facility to demonstrate its financial qualification, the applicant or permit holder shall provide an audited, certified financial statement. An applicant who is required to demonstrate its financial qualification may do so through a combination of cash deposits, insurance, and binding loan commitments from a financial institution licensed to do business in the State and rated AAA by Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s Investor Service, or Fitch, Inc. If assets of a parent, subsidiary, or other affiliate of the applicant or a permit holder, or a joint venturer with a direct or indirect interest in the applicant or permit holder, are proposed to be used to demonstrate financial qualification, then the party whose assets are to be used must be designated as a joint permittee with the applicant on the permit for the facility.

(f) The applicant and permit holder for a solid waste management facility shall establish financial assurance by a method or combination of methods that will ensure that sufficient funds for closure, post-closure maintenance and monitoring, and any corrective action that the Department may require will be available during the active life of the facility, at closure, and for any post-closure period of time that the Department may require even if the applicant or permit holder becomes insolvent or ceases to reside, be incorporated, do business, or maintain assets in the State. Rules adopted by the Commission shall allow a business entity that is an applicant for a permit or a permit holder to establish financial assurance through insurance, irrevocable letters of credit, trusts, surety bonds, corporate financial tests, or any other financial device as allowed pursuant to 40 Code of Federal Regulations § 258.74 (July 1, 2010 Edition), or any combination of the foregoing shown to provide protection equivalent to the financial protection that would be provided by insurance if insurance were the only mechanism used. Assets used to meet the financial assurance requirements of this section shall be in a form that will allow the Department to readily access funds for the purposes set out in this section. Assets used to meet financial assurance requirements of this section shall not be accessible to the permit holder except as approved by the Department. Where a corporate financial test is used that is substantially similar to that allowed under 40 Code of Federal Regulations § 258.74 (July 1, 2010 Edition), the assets shall be presumed both to be readily accessible by the Department and not otherwise accessible to the permit holder.

(g) In order to continue to hold a permit under this Article, a permit holder must maintain financial responsibility and must provide any information requested by the Department to establish that the permit holder continues to maintain financial responsibility. A permit holder shall notify the Department of any significant change in the: (i) identity of any person or structure of the business entity that holds the permit for the facility; (ii) identity of any person or structure of the business entity that owns or operates the facility; or (iii) assets of the permit holder, owner, or operator of the facility. The permit holder shall notify the Department within 30 days of a significant change. A change shall be considered significant if it has the potential to affect the financial responsibility of the permit holder, owner, or operator, or if it would result in a change in the identity of the permit holder, owner, or operator for purposes of either financial responsibility or environmental compliance review. Based on its review of the changes, the Department may require the permit holder to reestablish financial responsibility and may modify or revoke a permit, or require issuance of a new permit.

(h) To meet the financial assurance requirements of this section, the owner or operator of a sanitary landfill, other than a sanitary landfill for the disposal of construction and demolition debris waste, shall establish financial assurance sufficient to cover a minimum of two million dollars ($2,000,000) in costs for potential assessment and corrective action at the facility. The Department may require financial assurance in a higher amount and may increase the amount of financial assurance required of a permit holder at any time based upon the types of waste disposed in the landfill, the projected amount of waste to be disposed in the landfill, the location of the landfill, potential receptors of releases from the landfill, and inflation. The financial assurance requirements of this subsection are in addition to the other financial responsibility requirements set out in this section.

(h1) To meet the financial assurance requirements of this section, the owner or operator of a sanitary landfill for the disposal of construction and demolition debris waste shall establish financial assurance sufficient to cover a minimum of one million dollars ($1,000,000) in costs for potential assessment and corrective action at the facility. The financial assurance requirements of this subsection are in addition to the other financial responsibility requirements set out in this section.

(i) The Commission may adopt rules under which a unit of local government and a solid waste management authority created pursuant to Article 22 of Chapter 153A of the N.C. Gen. Stat. may meet the financial responsibility requirements of this section by either a local government financial test or a capital reserve fund requirement.

(j) In addition to the other methods by which financial assurance may be established as set forth in subsection (f) of this section, the Department may allow the owner or operator of a sanitary landfill permitted on or before August 1, 2009, to meet the financial assurance requirement set forth in subsection (h) of this section by establishing a trust fund which conforms to the following minimum requirements:

(1) The trustee shall be an entity which has the authority to act as a trustee and whose trust operations are regulated and examined by a State or federal agency.

(2) A copy of the trust agreement shall be placed in the facility’s operating record.

(3) Payments into the trust fund shall be made annually by the owner or operator over a period not to exceed five years. This period is referred to as the pay-in period.

(4) Payments into the fund shall be made in equal annual installments in amounts calculated by dividing the current cost estimate for potential assessment and corrective action at the facility, which, for a sanitary landfill, other than a sanitary landfill for the disposal of construction and demolition debris waste, shall not be less than two million dollars ($2,000,000) in accordance with subsection (h) of this section, by the number of years in the pay-in period.

(5) The trust fund may be terminated by the owner or operator only if the owner or operator establishes financial assurance by another method or combination of methods allowed under subsection (f) of this section.

(6) The trust agreement shall be accompanied by a formal certification of acknowledgement. (2007-550, s. 5(a); 2011-262, s. 1; 2014-120, s. 27.)