Introduced By: Representatives Voccola and Russo
Date Introduced : February 3, 1998
It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:
SECTION 1. Sections 23-19-5, 23-19-9, 23-19-10.3 of the General Laws in Chapter 23-19 entitled "Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corporation" are hereby amended to read as follows:
23-19-5. Definitions. -- The following words and phrases shall have the meanings ascribed to them in this section unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:
(1) "Bonds and notes" means bonds, including without limitation refunding bonds, notes, including without limitation renewal notes and bond anticipation notes, and other obligations or evidences of indebtedness of the corporation issued pursuant to the provisions of this chapter and the resolutions of the corporation.
(2) "Central landfill" means the central landfill located in Johnston.
(3) "Corporation" means the Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corporation created and established pursuant to this chapter.
(4) "Landfill revenues" means the surplus, if any, of all tipping fees and other revenues received at the central landfill over the annual costs of the landfill, and a pro-rata share of the corporation's administrative expenses.
(5) "Municipal solid waste" means that solid waste generated by the residents of a municipality in the course of their daily living, the disposal of which the governing body of that municipality has undertaken in the discharge of its duties to protect the health of the municipality. Municipal solid waste does not include solid waste generated by residents of a municipality in the course of their employment or that generated by any manufacturing or commercial enterprise.
(6) "Municipal solid waste disposal arrangements" means those arrangements entered into by a municipality which provide for the final disposal of wastes in a manner approved by the department of health, the department of environmental management, and the corporation; provided, however, that the disposal of wastes in transfer stations or facilities for interim storage shall not constitute final disposal of the wastes.
(7) "Municipality" means any town or city within the state.
(8) "Person" means any individual, firm, institution, partnership, association or corporation, public, or private, organized or existing under the laws of the state or other states including federal corporations, but excluding municipalities.
(9) "Project" means the design, acquisition, ownership, operation, construction, rehabilitation, improvement, development, sale, lease, or other disposition of, or the provision of financing for, any solid waste management facility {ADD or the industrial and/or business parks in the town of Johnston authorized by section 23-19-9(7) and the highway access authorized by section 23-19-10.3 ADD}.
(10) "Recyclable materials" means those materials separated from solid waste for reuse. The director of the department of environmental management through regulations shall specify those materials that are to be included within the definition of recyclables. The materials to be included may change from time to time depending upon new technologies, economic conditions, characteristics of the waste stream, environmental effects, or other factors.
(11) "Recycling" means the reuse of recovered resources in manufacturing, agriculture, power production, or other processes.
(12) "Resource recovery" means the processing of solid wastes in such a way as to produce materials or energy which may be used in manufacturing, agriculture, and other processes.
(13) "Resource recovery system" means the corporation's integrated system of resource recovery consisting of a series of waste processing facilities designed to process a minimum of seventy percent (70%) of the municipal and commercial solid waste streams by employing an on-site waste separation technology for the purpose of recycling and/or reusing a minimum of seventy percent (70%) of the solid waste stream, and minimal use of landfills for the purpose of providing temporary backup or bypass landfill capacity and residue disposal from waste processing facilities and any other related facilities and services.
(14) "Resource recovery system costs" means all operating costs of the system; debt service and other financing costs related to the resource recovery system; the costs of recycling grants-in-aid and similar obligations of the corporation; allocations for extraordinary and unexpected costs; and a pro-rata share of the corporation's administrative expenses.
(15) "Resource recovery system revenues" means all amounts received by the corporation as municipal tipping fees, non-municipal tipping fees, energy revenues, revenues from the sale of recyclable materials, and all other revenues received with respect to the resource recovery system, but shall not include any landfill revenues and any amounts received as a state subsidy.
(16) "Revenues" means monies or income received by the corporation in whatever form, including but not limited to fees, charges, lease payments, interest payments on investments, payments due and owing on account of an instrument, contract, or agreement between the corporation, any municipality, or person, gifts, grants, or any other monies or payments to which the corporation is entitled under the provisions of this chapter or any other law, or of any agreement, contract, or indenture.
(17) "Segregated solid waste" means material which has been separated from the waste stream at the generation source for purpose of recovering and recycling the materials.
(18) "Solid waste" means garbage, refuse, sludge from a waste treatment plant, water supply treatment plant, or air pollution control facility and other discarded materials, including solid, liquid, semisolid, or contained gaseous material generated by residential, institutional, commercial, industrial, and agricultural sources but does not include solids or dissolved materials in domestic sewage.
(19) "Solid waste management facility" means any plant, structure, equipment, and other property, real, personal, or mixed, or the modification or replacement of any of the foregoing, for the receipt, storage, treatment, utilization, processing, transporting, or final disposition of or recovery of resources from solid waste other than segregated solid waste, or any facility which disposes of solid waste by reconstituting, converting, or otherwise recycling it into material which is not waste; or any property or system to be used in whole or in part for any of the aforesaid purposes, whether or not another purpose is also served by it; or any other property or system incidental to, or which has to do with, or the end purpose of which, is any of the foregoing; or any combination of two (2) or more of the foregoing.
(20) "Statewide resource recovery system development plan" means that plan which will specify the location, size, and type of solid waste management facilities that may be required to develop an integrated statewide resource recovery system for the effective management of solid waste in Rhode Island. It will also specify a proposed schedule by which the component facilities will be phased into the statewide system, and it will provide for the administrative and financial requirements for implementing the plan.
(21) "Waste management" means actions taken to effectuate the receipt, storage, transportation, and processing for resource recovery and recycling, or for the ultimate disposal, of solid waste.
(22) "Waste processing facility" means a solid waste facility employing recycling based technology employing an on-site waste separation technology designed to process both nonsource separated and source separated solid waste for the purpose of recycling, and/or composting, and/or reusing a minimum of seventy percent (70%) of the municipal and commercial solid waste streams.
23-19-9. Purposes of the corporation. -- (a) The purposes of the corporation shall be:
(1) The planning, design, construction, financing, management, ownership, operation, and maintenance of transfer stations, waste processing facilities, resource recovery facilities, and all other solid waste management facilities deemed necessary by the corporation as being desirable, convenient, or appropriate to carry out the provisions of this chapter;
(2) The provision of solid waste management services to municipalities and persons within the state by receiving solid wastes at the corporation facilities, pursuant to contracts between the corporation and the municipalities, and persons, the recovery of resources and resource values from the solid wastes, and the production from the services and resource recovery operations, of revenues sufficient to provide for the support of the corporation and its operations on a self-sustaining basis with due regard to the provision of the services at a reasonable cost to the clients it has contracted with;
(3) The fullest feasible utilization, through contractual arrangements, of private industry for implementation of the corporation's plans and programs, and for such other activities as may be considered necessary, desirable, or convenient by the corporation;
(4) Assistance with and coordination of efforts directed towards source separation of solid wastes for recycling purposes; and
(5) Assistance in the development of industries and commercial enterprises within the state based upon resource recovery, recycling, and reuse;
(6) Provided, either by contract with a private concern or directly by the corporation, or a recycling facility at, or within a convenient distance of, all solid waste management facilities under the jurisdiction of the solid waste management corporation; and
(7) Assist in the development of an industrial park in the town
of Johnston for points {ADD south of Central Pike, ADD} west of Old
Pocasset Road, {ADD to the intersection of Old Pocasset Road and
Scituate Avenue, then west of route 295, bounded to the south
by the northern shore (mean high water line) of the Upper Simmons
Reservoir and the Lower Simmons Reservoir, ADD} {DEL south of
Central Pike and north of Shun Pike, DEL} through the exercise
of the eminent domain power and through contractual arrangements.
(b) These purposes shall be considered to be operating responsibilities of the corporation, in accordance with the statewide solid waste management plan, and are to be considered public purposes. It is the intention of this chapter that the corporation shall be granted all powers necessary to fulfill these purposes and to carry out its assigned responsibilities, and that the provisions of this chapter are to be construed liberally in furtherance of this intention.
23-19-10.3. Highway construction -- Eminent domain. --
Subject to the limitations set forth in section 23-19-10.2(b)(2),
the corporation shall have the right to acquire any land, or any
interest therein, by the exercise of the power of eminent domain,
whenever it shall be determined by the corporation that the acquisition
of the land, or interest, is necessary for development and construction
of highway access from Route 295 to Scituate Avenue, in connection
with the development of an industrial park in the town of Johnston
for points {ADD south of Central Pike, ADD} west of Old Pocasset
Road, {ADD to the intersection of Old Pocasset Road and Scituate
Avenue, then west of routhe 295, bounded to the south by the northern
shore (mean high water line) of the Upper Simmons Reservoir and
the Lower Simmons Reservoir, ADD} {DEL south of Central Pike
and north of Shun Pike; DEL} such exercise of the power of
eminent domain to be in accordance with the procedures set forth
in section 23-19-10.2(c).
SECTION 3. This act shall take effect upon passage.
