KRS 224.50-760: Special wastes -- Exemptions from KRS 224.46-510 and

224.46-520 -- Permit -- Notice -- Hearing.

(1) (a) For purposes of this section and KRS 224.46-580(7), special wastes are

those wastes of high volume and low hazard which include but are not

limited to mining wastes, utility wastes (fly ash, bottom ash, scrubber

sludge), wastes from coal gasification facilities (vitrified coarse solid

residues, prilled or blocked sulfur) approved by the cabinet based on

submittal of appropriate testing demonstrating that the wastes are of low

hazard, sludge from water treatment facilities and wastewater treatment

facilities, cement kiln dust, gas and oil drilling muds, and oil production

brines. Other wastes may be designated special wastes by the cabinet;

(b) Disposal sites or facilities for special wastes shall be exempt from the

provisions of KRS 224.46-520 and the provisions of KRS 224.43-810 and

224.43-815 but may be regulated by the cabinet consistent with the

Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976, as amended (Pub. L.

94-580), and regulations issued pursuant thereto, unless the special

waste received is listed or meets the criteria of a hazardous waste in

regulations pursuant to KRS 224.46-510(3). If the special waste is a

hazardous waste as specified in regulations pursuant to KRS

224.46-510(3), the site or facility shall be required by the cabinet to

comply with the provisions of KRS 224.46-520 but shall not be subject to

the requirements of KRS 224.40-310(6);

(c) Generators of special wastes shall register with the cabinet and be

subject to the provisions of KRS 224.46-510, except for generators of coal

mining wastes which shall be regulated pursuant to the provisions of KRS

Chapter 350;

(d) The cabinet shall, when promulgating regulations affecting special waste,

recognize special waste as a separate and distinct indivisible category

and shall recognize the distinct differences between the category of

special wastes and other hazardous wastes and solid wastes as defined

in KRS 224.1-010(30)(a) and 109.012(12) due to the fact that special

wastes have large volume but low hazardousness. The cabinet's

regulations for the generation, transport, recordkeeping, reporting,

treatment, storage, and disposal shall reflect those distinct differences.

The cabinet's regulations shall recognize and incorporate, where

appropriate, and if consistent with the policies of KRS 224.46-510 to

224.46-570, any deadline extensions, studies, and specialized

requirements for specific kinds of special wastes that are or may be

undertaken at the federal or other levels of government; and

(e) It is the intent of the General Assembly that the processing of sludge from

water treatment facilities and wastewater treatment facilities by

composting shall be considered an industrial process. The cabinet shall,

when promulgating administrative regulations affecting sludge from water

treatment facilities and wastewater treatment facilities, consider the

treatment of this sludge by composting as an industrial process. The

provisions of this paragraph and subsection (3) of this section shall not

apply to a city, county, urban-county government, charter county

government, or special district as defined in KRS Chapter 65, or to a

public or private college or university that processes its own water

treatment or wastewater treatment sludge by composting on property

owned or leased by the city, county, urban-county government, charter

county government, special district, or public or private college or

university.

(2) Generators of waste oil shall be exempt from the provisions of KRS

224.46-510 and 224.46-520 so long as waste oil is not specified as a

hazardous waste in regulations pursuant to KRS 224.46-510(3) but may be

regulated by the cabinet consistent with the Resource Conservation and

Recovery Act of 1976, as amended (Pub. L. 94-580), and regulations issued

pursuant thereto.

(3) A permit application to establish, operate, or modify a composting site or

composting facility for the processing of water treatment sludge or wastewater

treatment sludge, shall require immediately the general public notice provided

for in KRS 224.40-310(4) and (5). If a hearing is requested, no permit to

establish, operate, or modify a composting site or facility shall be issued prior to

the public hearing. The hearing shall be held within the county where the

composting site or facility is located or proposed. Composting of this sludge

shall be considered an industrial process.