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OPEN DUMP CLEAN-UP LAW

Santa Rosa Rancheria is incorporating environmental protection in our plans to recycle all our solid waste from our houses and business and using new technology to Recycle the water from our planned waste water treatment plant.

Short Title
This ordinance shall be known and may be cited as the "Open Dump Clean-up Law".
Purpose
(A) The Santa Rosa Rancheria, Tachi Yokut Tribe is enacting this law to provide a process and standards for the assessment, closure and post-closure maintenance of open dumps within Tribal territory in a safe, effective and timely manner. The Tribe is compelled to act because of the particular threat open dumps pose to the environment, health, safety, and economic security of the Tribe and its members. In particular, open dumps present a significant threat to the quality of groundwater and surface water resources. The scarcity of water in California, especially drinking water sources, the Tribe's limited natural resources, and the Tribe's intention to remain in its homeland in perpetuity require the Tribe to address the threat posed by open dumps through the exercise of its inherent sovereign power and constitutional authority to protect the Tribal health, safety, welfare and environment.

(B) The Tribe recognizes that if open dump closure is improperly performed in the first instance, corrective action in the future is likely to be expensive, complex and time consuming. The Tribe desires to work with the Indian Health Service as the Indian Health Service fulfills its trust obligations and its statutory obligations under the Indian Lands Open Dump Cleanup Act of 1994, 25 U.S.C. §§ 3901-3908, to provide financial and technical assistance to the Tribe to close open dumps within Tribal territory.

(C) When Congress passed the Indian Lands Open Dump Cleanup Act, it determined that Federal agencies had originally established or used many of the landfills located on Indian lands. Congress also determined that the Federal government has since ignored the environmental problems related to open dumps. In enacting the Indian Lands Open Dump Cleanup Act, Congress confirmed that there is a continuing obligation on the part of the Federal government to ensure that these landfills do not degrade the environment. The President and Congress placed this responsibility on the Indian Health Service when the Indian Lands Open Dump Cleanup Act was enacted into law. That Act requires the Indian Health Service to provide financial and technical assistance to the Tribe, either directly or by contract, to close open dumps in compliance with standards promulgated by the Tribe, if such standards are more stringent than the Federal standards. This law is intended to facilitate the Indian Health Service-assisted cleanup of open dumps within Tribal territory.

Declaration of Policy and Goals. The Tribe declares that its policy is to prevent any further environmental degradation from open dumping, and to mitigate the damage that has been caused by past practices by properly assessing, closing, and monitoring the existing open dumps.
Definitions As used in this chapter:
(A) "Closure activity" means the making of any material change in the use or appearance of land in connection with the closure of an open dump.

(B) "Closure" or "close" means bringing an open dump into compliance with this Code.

(C) "Contamination" or "contaminate" means introduce a substance into the environment

(1) the concentration of that substance in the groundwater to exceed the maximum contaminant level (MCL) specified under § 300g-1 of Title 42 of the U.S. Code (SDWA MCLs) (2) an increase in the concentration of that substance in the groundwater where the existing concentration of that substance exceeds the maximum contaminant level specified under § 300g-1 of Title 42 of the U.S. Code
(3) a violation of Tribal, California or Federal water quality standards
(4) the concentration of that substance in the unsaturated zone or the groundwater to present an imminent and substantial endangerment to health or the environment.

(D) "Council" means the elected governing body of the Tribe.

(E) "Degrade" or "degradation" means the increase in concentration of one or more hazardous substances in the unsaturated zone and groundwater above background concentrations for those same geologic materials where the fluid pressure in the pore space is equal to or greater than the atmospheric pressure.

(G) "Hazardous substance" means:

(a) any substance designated pursuant to § 1321(b)(2)(A) of Title 33 of the U.S. Code (The Federal Water Pollution Control Act or Clean Water Act)
(b) any element, compound, mixture, solution, or substance designated pursuant to § 9602 of Title 42 of the U.S. Code (The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act)
(c) any hazardous waste having the characteristics identified under or listed pursuant to § 6921 of Title 42 of the U.S. Code (the Solid Waste Disposal Act), but not including any waste the regulation of which under the Solid Waste Disposal Act, 42 U.S.C. § 6901 et seq., has been suspended by Act of Congress
(d) any toxic pollutant listed under § 1317 (a) of Title 33 of the U.S. Code (The Federal Water Pollution Control Act or Clean Water Act)
(e) any hazardous air pollutant listed under § 7412 of Title 42 of the U.S. Code (The Clean Air Act)
(f) any imminently hazardous chemical substance or mixture with respect to which the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency has taken action pursuant to§ 2606 of Title 15 of the U.S. Code (The Toxic Substances Control Act)
(g) oil of any kind or in any form, including but not limited to, petroleum, fuel oil, sludge, oil refuse, and oil mixed with wastes other than dredged spoil (Oil Pollution Act, 33 U.S.C. § 2701(23))
(h) asbestos in any location
(i) any substance determined by the Council to pose a substantial present or potential hazard to human health or the environment when improperly treated, stored, transported, or disposed of, or otherwise managed.

(H) "Leachate" means liquid that has passed through or emerged from solid waste and contains soluble, suspended or miscible materials removed from such waste.

(I) "Open Dump" means any area where solid waste is found and which does not comply with this Code, including those areas determined to be in non-compliance by the Council.

Note: There are no "Open Dumps" on Santa Rosa Rancheria.

(J) "Remove" or "Removal" means to cleanup or remove solid waste and hazardous substances from the environment, dispose of removed material, or take such other actions as may be determined by the Council to prevent, minimize, or mitigate damage to the public health or welfare or to the environment, including restoration, clamation, recovery and the like of a natural resource adversely affected by an open dump.

(K) "Sanitary Landfill" means a solid waste disposal facility which complies with this Code.

(L) "Solid Waste" means, for purposes of closing open dumps, any garbage, refuse, sludge from a waste treatment plant, water supply treatment plant, or air pollution control facility and other discarded material, including solid, liquid, semisolid, or contained gaseous material resulting from industrial, commercial, mining, and agricultural operations, and from community activities.

(M) "Territory" means the lands and waters over which the Tribe has jurisdiction.

(N) "Unsaturated zone" means the zone between the land surface and the water table in which the pore spaces contain H2O at less than atmospheric pressure, as well as air and other ga ses.

Application of Law.
The requirements of this Law shall apply to the Indian Health Service, its agents and contractors, and the duties under the Indian Lands Open Dump Cleanup Act of 1994, 25 U.S.C. §§ 3901-3908. The Act also provides an opportunity for the Tribe to perform many of the Indian Health Service's statutory duties. The requirements of this chapter, therefore, shall apply equally to the Tribe, or any person(s) designated by the Tribe, who performs the duties of the Indian Health Service as required by the Indian Lands Open Dump Cleanup Act of 1994.
Tribal Performance of Indian Health Service Duties.
As required by the Indian Lands Open Dump Cleanup Act of 1994, the Director of the Indian Health Service shall provide financial and technical assistance to the Tribe to enable the Tribe to carry out the Federal government's obligation to close open dumps and provide for post-closure maintenance of such facilities. That Act states that to the maximum extent feasible, the Director of the Indian Health Service shall carry out duties under the Act through contracts, compacts, or memoranda of agreement with Indian Tribal governments pursuant to the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. § 450 et seq.), section 7 of the Act of August 5, 1954 (42 U.S.C. § 2004a), or section 302 of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act (25 U.S.C. § 1632).

Note: The Tribe declares its intention to pursue these agreements with the Director of the Indian Health Service.

Comprehensive Solid Waste Management
(A) The Council may prioritize the closure of open dumps by specifying the order in which open dumps shall be closed. All closure activity shall proceed according to the priorities of the Council. As required by section 5(c) of the Indian Lands Open Dump Cleanup Act of 1994, 25 U.S.C. § 3904(c), if the Indian Health Service directly closes the open dumps, it shall request the Council's priorities and rely on those priorities in performing all duties under the Act.

(B) Whereas effective and comprehensive open dump closure necessarily requires planning for the present and future solid waste disposal needs of the Tribe, and to ensure that the Indian Health Service fulfills its obligations to provide a solid waste management system to the Tribe, in no event shall all the open dumps within the Territory be closed before the Indian Health Service has provided alternatives for the disposal of the solid waste generated on Tribal lands as required by the Indian Lands policies and obligations.

Approved Closure Plan Required
(A) All activities undertaken by the Indian Health Service and its agents in furtherance of its obligations under the Indian Lands Open Dump Cleanup Act of 1994 shall be in accordance with a written closure plan which has been approved by resolution of the Council.

(B) The closure plan shall be submitted to the Council for its approval at least 90 days prior to the date on which the Indian Health Service proposes to begin closure activity.

(C) The Council hereby reserves the power to delegate the function of reviewing the closure plan for comments to aid the Council in its determination whether to approve a closure plan.

(D) The Council may allow such presentations, evidence, or arguments concerning the approval of the closure plan as it deems appropriate. (E) A decision of the Council accepting or rejecting approval of the closure plan shall be final.

Contents of Closure Plan.
A closure plan shall present the complete plans and engineering analysis necessary for evaluation of the design, operation, monitoring, closure and post-closure maintenance of open dumps within Tribal territory. A closure plan shall include, at a minimum, the following:

(A) A description of each open dump proposed to be closed under the closure plan.
(B) A schedule for completing all closure activities at each open dump.
(C) Measures required to comply with Tribal and Federal law, and with Title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations Parts 257 and 258.
(D) Measures required to ensure that there is no reasonable probability of adverse effects on health or the environment from each open dump during the closure period and the thirty year period following closure of each dump.
(E) Provisions for a detailed analysis that fully and accurately characterizes the physical properties and chemical composition of the solid waste found in each open dump and the unsaturated zone underlying each open dump, including a provision for reporting the results of the analysis to the Council.
(F) Provisions for an evaluation of the ability of the solid waste and the constituents in the solid waste to leach into the environment, including a provision for reporting the results of the evaluation to the Council.
(G) Provisions for groundwater or other monitoring as necessary to detect contamination or degradation, including a provision for reporting the results of all monitoring to the Council. (adapted from 42 U.S.C. § 6949a(c) (Revisions of guidelines and criteria).
(H) Provisions for a final cover system designed to minimize leachate generation by limiting the amount of percolation through the dump, reduce facility maintenance by stabilizing the final surface through design of compatible slopes and establishment of vegetation, minimize the climactive effects of freeze-thaw and desication on the final cover system, and provide venting of gas from those open dumps which contain solid waste with a high moisture content or which is readily biodegradable.
(I) Provisions for removal of all hazardous substances from open dumps by the Indian Health Service in accordance with all Tribal and Federal laws, including a provision for the delivery to the Tribe of signed copies of all manifests required by section 6922(5) of Title 42 of the U.S. Code for the treatment, storage, and disposal of hazardous waste.
(J) Provisions for post-closure care and maintenance of each open dump sufficient to maintain the integrity and effectiveness of any final cover system for at least thirty years.
(K) Provisions for planning and satisfying present and future solid waste disposal needs of the Tribe.
(L) Such other provisions as may be required by the Council or the Council's designee.

Enforcement
Any act conducted in violation of this law, or failure to perform an act required by this law may be subject to injunction in action commenced by the Council or its designee in any appropriate court. This ordinance shall not be construed as a waiver of Tribal sovereign immunity, or to limit any other civil action or remedy available to the Tribe under Tribal, state or federal law.
Waiver
Any requirement of this law may be waived by resolution of the Council if the Council finds that such a waiver would not present a threat to human health or the environment.