November 21, 2002

Status of State Plans for Municipal Solid Waste Landfills

Overview

The following three tables show which states, localities, and territories have submitted negative
declarations or state plans to EPA to cover existing municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills.1 We (EPA)
are providing the tables to help you (the public, governments, and industry) see what MSW landfills are
subject to either a state plan or to a federal plan. States must send us their plans for regulating existing
MSW landfills. For states that don't submit plans to us, we must prepare and enforce our federal plan.
We proposed this federal plan December 16, 1998 and published it in the Federal Register on
November 8, 1999. It became effective on January 7, 2000. State plans and the federal plan
implement and enforce the requirements of the MSW landfill air emission guidelines that appeared in the
Federal Register on March 12, 1996.

Indian tribes have the option of submitting tribal plans, though none has so far. If an existing MSW
landfill is located in Indian Country and a Tribe lacks an effective tribal plan, our federal plan covers the
landfill.

Table 1 lists those areas that have submitted negative declarations, Table 2 lists areas that have
effective state plans, and Table 3 lists areas that have not submitted negative declarations and do not
currently have an effective state plan.

Table 1 - States, Localities and Territories that Submitted Negative Declarations

Existing MSW landfills located in states, localities, and territories that submit negative declarations will
be subject to our federal plan. A negative declaration can be made only in either of two cases:

•	There are no existing MSW landfills.

•	There are no existing MSW landfills that require installing and operating a gas collection and
control system.2

A negative declaration must include a report of the landfill's design capacity if the state, locality, or
territory has landfills that fit into the second bulleted category.

1	Existing MSW landfills are those that: 1) commenced construction, reconstruction or
modification before May 30, 1991 and have not been modified or reconstructed on or after that date
and 2) have accepted waste since November 8, 1987 or have capacity for future waste deposition.

2	MSW landfills that have a design capacity of 2.5 million megagrams and 2.5 million cubic
meters or larger must install a gas collection and control system if they emit 50 megagrams per year or
more of nonmethane organic compound emissions.

1


-------
If the permitted design capacity of the landfill increases so that it meets the threshold for installing and
operating a gas collection and control system, then we will consider the landfill new and treat it under
the New Source Performance Standard for MSW landfills rather than under the emission guidelines.

Table 1

State, locality, territory

Negative declaration submitted?

District of Columbia

Yes

Maine

Yes

New Hampshire

Yes

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Yes

Rhode Island

Yes

Vermont

Yes

Washoe County, Nevada

Yes

Table 2 - States, localities and territories with a state plan that is EPA-Approved and
Effective

Existing MSW landfills in states, localities and territories that have EPA-approved and effective state
plans are subject to the state plan and not our federal plan. Exceptions:

•	The whole state plan or a part of it is vacated (made legally void).

•	The state plan is changed to make it less stringent than the emission guidelines.

Table 2

State, local, territory

Effective date of state plan

Alabama

December 7, 1998

Allegheny County, Pennsylvania

April 16, 1999

Arizona

November 19, 1999

California

November 22, 1999

Chattanooga, Tennessee

April 24, 2000

Colorado

September 28, 1998

Delaware

November 16, 1999

2


-------
State, local, territory

Effective date of state plan

Florida

August 3, 1999

Georgia

January 12, 1999

Idaho

May 30, 2000

Illinois

January 22, 1999

Indiana

May 30, 2000

Iowa

June 22, 1998

Kansas

May 19, 1998

Kentucky

June 21, 1999

Knox County, Tennessee

April 24, 2000

Louisiana

October 28, 1997

Maryland

November 8, 1999

Minnesota

September 25, 1998

Missouri

June 23, 1998

Montana

September 8, 1998

Nashville, Tennessee

February 16, 1999

Nebraska

June 23, 1998

Nevada

November 19, 1999

New Mexico

February 10, 1998

New York

September 17, 1999

North Dakota

February 13, 1998

Ohio

October 6, 1998

Oklahoma

May 18, 1999

Oregon

August 25, 1998

Puerto Rico

August 15, 2002

South Carolina

October 25, 1999

3


-------
State, local, territory

Effective date of state plan

South Dakota

August 2, 1999

Tennessee

November 29, 1999

Texas

August 16, 1999

Utah

March 16, 1998

West Virginia

July 23, 2001

Wyoming

July 31, 1998

Table 3 - States, localities, and territories without a negative declaration and without a state
plan that is EPA-approved and effective

Existing MSW landfills in states, localities, and territories listed in Table 3 are subject to our federal plan
unless we approve a state plan and it becomes effective.3 States, localities, and territories that have
submitted state plans that we are reviewing (column 2) or that are expecting to submit a state plan
(column 3) and do, will be subject to their state plans if we approve them. If we receive a state plan
after the federal plan is final, we will review the state plan and approve it if it meets the criteria for an
approvable state plan.4

Existing landfills are likely to be subject to our final federal plan in states, localities, and territories that
are not expected to submit a state plan (column 4). If such a state, locality, or territory requests and is
granted delegation of the federal plan, then it (not EPA) will implement and enforce the federal plan.
	Table 3	

State, locality, State or tribal plan State or tribal plan No state or tribal plan
territory	under EPA review, to EPA by,	expected. Has state or

date	Tribe taken delegation of

/	federal plan?,

Yes or No

Alaska	No

3	A state plan becomes effective on the date specified in the notice published in the Federal
Register announcing EPA's approval. The federal plan became effective on January 7, 2000.

4	The criteria for an approvable state plan are described in the document, Municipal Solid
Waste Landfills, Volume 2: Summary of the Requirements for Section 111(d) State Plans for
Implementing the Municipal Solid Waste Landfills Emission Guidelines
(http://www.epa.gov/ttn/uatw/landfill/landflpg.html).

4


-------
State, locality,
territory

State or tribal plan
under EPA review,

~

State or tribal plan
to EPA by,
date

No state or tribal plan
expected. Has state or
Tribe taken delegation of
federal plan?,

Yes or No

Albuquerque, New
Mexico





No

American Samoa





No

Arkansas

/





California Air
Pollution Control
Districts5

Clark County,
Nevada

Connecticut





No

Guam





No

Hawaii





May take delegation

Massachusetts





No

Michigan

Mississippi





No

New Jersey



?



North Carolina





No

Northern Mariana
Islands





No

Pennsylvania

/





Virgin Islands



2003

No

Virginia



2005



5Districts include Antelope Valley, Calaveras County, Imperial County, Mendocino County,
Modoc County, San Joaquin Valley Unified, San Luis Obispo County, and Siskiyou County

5


-------
State, locality, State or tribal plan State or tribal plan No state or tribal plan
territory	under EPA review, to EPA by,	expected. Has state or

date	Tribe taken delegation of

/	federal plan?,

Yes or No

Washington	No

Wisconsin
Disclaimer

We have provided these tables as a matter of convenience. The information is correct to the best of
our knowledge, but, it isn't controlling in determining whether a MSW landfill is subject to a state or
tribal plan or to our federal plan. If this information is inaccurate, please notify Ms. Mary Ann Warner
at (919) 541-1192 or at warner.marvann@epa.gov.

6


-------