Cite as: 27 CNCA § 1304

A. The Commission shall have the authority and power to:

1. issue permits, promulgate rules and issue orders relating to the construction, operation, closure, post-closure, maintenance and monitoring of hazardous waste facilities;

2. initiate and take appropriate enforcement actions;

3. make final decisions on permit applications;

4. make final decisions in all administrative appeals under this code;

5. Approve or disapprove methods of treatment, storage, transportation or disposal of hazardous waste and other wastes that are not specifically addressed by other parts of the Cherokee Nation Environmental Quality Code;

6. Require terms and conditions in permits, including terms limiting the duration of any permit;

7. Restrict or prohibit disposal practices including, but not limited to, any type of land disposal of any form of hazardous waste. Land disposal includes, but is not limited to landfills, surface impoundments, waste plies, deep wells, land treatment facilities, salt dome and bed formations and underground mines or caves;

8. Promulgate such rules as they deem necessary or appropriate to implement this code;

9. Establish a comprehensive regulatory program for hazardous waste and any other wastes not specifically regulated by other parts of the Cherokee Nation Environmental Quality Code;

10. Require monitoring, reports, remediation, environmental assessments and other actions they may deem appropriate to ensure the protection of public health, safety and welfare and the protection of the environment; and

11. Determine and enforce penalties for violation of the Cherokee Nation Hazardous Waste Code, permits, orders and rules promulgated thereunder;

12. Evaluate the benefit and establish rules or requirements for pollution prevention, waste reduction, recycling and labeling for any containers used for the disposal, storage, treatment, transportation of or disposal of hazardous waste;

13. Until such time as the Commission may promulgate rules, issue orders or otherwise establish requirements that are more stringent, the Commission and their duly authorized representatives shall have the authority to enforce as minimum requirements those contained in any applicable federal laws or regulations.

B. The Administrator or their designee shall have the authority to:

1. Provide the owner or operator of a hazardous waste facility a list of all materials which are acceptable for treatment, recycling, storage, transportation or disposal as a facility or in any part of Indian Country;

2. Conduct compliance inspections of hazardous waste facilities and recycling, transporting, and generating facilities;

3. Require submittal of information, including manifests or other forms, by persons proposing to own or operate a hazardous waste facility or who generate, store, treat, transport, recycle or dispose of hazardous waste within Cherokee Nation;

4. Develop, maintain, and monitor public records of the source and amount of hazardous waste generated in Cherokee Nation and the methods used to dispose of, recycle, or treat said waste or material;

5. Require and approve or disapprove disposal plans from all persons generating hazardous waste or shipping hazardous waste within, from, or into Cherokee Nation indicating the amount of hazardous waste generated, the handling, storage, treatment, and disposal methods, and the hazardous waste facilities used. The disposal plans shall be kept current by the persons generating or shipping hazardous waste and the Commission shall be advised within five (5) working days of any changes in the disposal plans;

6. Require reports from all persons generating hazardous waste, indicating the amount generated the treatment and disposal methods, and the treatment, disposal, and recycling sites used. Such reports are to be made on at least a quarterly basis;

7. Require periodic reports or manifest certifications regarding programs and efforts to reduce the volume or quantity and toxicity of such hazardous waste;

8. Require reports from all operators of hazardous waste facilities who receive hazardous waste for treatment or storage or disposal, listing the amount, transporter, and generator of all hazardous waste received. Such reports are to be made on at least a monthly or quarterly basis, as designated by the Commission;

9. Inform persons generating hazardous waste of available, alternative methods of disposal of such waste and assist the persons in developing satisfactory disposal plans;

10. Coordinate program activities with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency;

11. Require the preparation and implementation of an emergency response plan for spills of hazardous waste, spills of hazardous materials or other spills of waste; and

12. Make information obtained by the Nation regarding hazardous waste facilities and sites available to the public in substantially the same manner, and to the same degree, as would be the case if the hazardous waste program in Cherokee Nation were being carried out by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Historical Data

LA 41–05, eff. December 15, 2005. Renumbered from 63 CNCA § 1304.