00SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 31                                                                                          
01 Relating to the minimum federal criteria for municipal solid waste landfills.                                           
02 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                               
03  WHEREAS the United States Environmental Protection Agency has established                                              
04 October 9, 1993, as the effective date for compliance with all minimum federal criteria for                             
05 municipal solid waste landfills, except the financial assurance criteria, which are effective                           
06 April 9, 1994; and                                                                                                      
07  WHEREAS it took the Environmental Protection Agency seven years to adopt these                                         
08 criteria in response to the Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments of 1984 (P.L. 98-616) to                               
09 the Resource and Conservation Recovery Act (42 U.S.C. 6901 - 6992k); and                                                
10  WHEREAS the states have had only two years' time to adopt necessary regulations                                        
11 and to implement measures to comply with the criteria; and                                                              
12  WHEREAS the state of Alaska and its citizens have made a good faith effort to                                          
13 comply with the federal criteria; and                                                                                   
14  WHEREAS the criteria may require solid waste transfer stations and regional landfills                                  

01 to be established, and since the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation estimates                              
02 that these transfer stations and regional landfills would cost local governments more than the                          
03 one percent increase in local government budgets that is considered by the Environmental                                
04 Protection Agency to be a significant economic effect, complying with the criteria may exceed                           
05 the practicable capacity of many local governments; and                                                                 
06  WHEREAS the problems that low density populations face in complying with the                                           
07 federal criteria cannot be resolved within the time allowed for compliance;                                             
08  BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the United States Congress                                      
09 to extend the effective date of the financial assurance criteria for municipal solid waste                              
10 landfills under 40 CFR Part 258, Subpart G, to April 9, 1996, and to extend the effective date                          
11 for the state to implement all other minimum federal criteria for municipal solid waste                                 
12 landfills under 40 CFR Part 258, Subparts A through F, to October 9, 1995; and be it                                    
13  FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the United States                                             
14 Congress to take appropriate action to assure that municipal solid waste landfill units are not                         
15 considered open dumps under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act due to a failure                                 
16 to comply with the new minimum federal criteria for municipal solid waste landfills under 40                            
17 CFR Part 258 until on or after October 9, 1995, unless the landfill unit does not comply with                           
18 the federal criteria that were in effect on October 8, 1991.                                                            
19  COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Al Gore, Jr., Vice-President                                  
20 of the United States and President of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Robert C. Byrd, President                          
21 Pro Tempore of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Thomas S. Foley, Speaker of the U.S. House                                
22 of Representatives; the Honorable Carol Browner, Administrator of the U.S. Environmental                                
23 Protection Agency; the Honorable Dana A. Rasmussen, Regional Administrator of Region 10                                 
24 of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; and to the Honorable Ted Stevens and the                                   
25 Honorable Frank Murkowski, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, U.S.                                             
26 Representative, members of the Alaska delegation in Congress.