(a) This section specifies how an application for a commercial hazardous waste management facility shall be designated as expedited.
(b) For permit applications received after the effective date of this section, prioritization will occur at the time of receipt of a Part B hazardous waste permit application.
(c) Permit applications for storage capacity at the same facility or a different facility owned by the same parent company which also offers recycling, processing, or disposal services shall have the same priority as the recycling, treatment, or disposal technology with which it is associated.
(d) Prioritization of permit applications for needed, innovative, or regional technologies shall be as follows.
  (1) If the technology covered by the application is not identified on Table 2, the applicant may submit the information described under subsections (e) or (f) of this section. If all processing and/or land disposal capacity included in the permit is associated with a needed or demonstrated innovative or regional technology, then the application is designated as expedited.
  (2) If more than 70% of the total maximum annual throughput capacity of recycling, processing, and disposal units or process trains covered by the application is associated with a needed or demonstrated innovative or regional technology, then the application is designated as expedited subject to the following applicable requirements.
    (A) The applicant must specify whether or not each hazardous waste recycling, processing, or disposal unit is a needed or demonstrated innovative or regional technology.
    (B) The applicant must specify whether or not each hazardous waste recycling, processing, or disposal unit, associated with or part of a process train, is a needed or demonstrated innovative or regional technology, based on the following:
      (i) for permit applications containing multiple units functioning in series in order to recycle, process, and/or dispose of hazardous waste, the individual units shall be considered part of a process train; and
      (ii) whether or not each unit is a needed, innovative or regional technology shall be evaluated based on the technology represented by the process train. A unit is considered to be a needed, innovative or regional technology if it is associated with or part of a process train which is a needed, innovative or regional technology.
    (C) The applicant shall calculate the percentage figure to be used under subsection (d)(2) of this section to determine the priority for the entire application as follows:
      (i) total the maximum annual throughput capacity for hazardous waste recycling, processing, and/or disposal in units or process trains covered by the application that are associated with or identified as a needed or demonstrated innovative or regional technology;
      (ii) divide the total from clause (i) of this subparagraph by the total maximum annual throughput capacity of all recycling, processing, and disposal units and process trains covered by the application; and
      (iii) multiply the quotient from clause (ii) of this subparagraph by 100.
(e) An application including an innovative technology to process hazardous waste shall be designated as expedited if the applicant demonstrates that the proposed innovative technology meets the requirements of subsection (d) and (e)(1) or (2) of this section, and obtains the written approval of the executive director.
  (1) The proposed innovative technology must be demonstrated to be a substitute for a technology which is on Table 2. To make this demonstration, the applicant must:
    (A) identify the targeted waste streams and show that the proposed innovative technology would be able to process the same types of waste streams, based on information available in the most recent Needs Assessment, as would be managed by the needed technology for which the innovative technology is proposed to be substituted; and
    (B) show that use of the proposed innovative technology would not move a targeted waste stream down the state's waste management hierarchy, from the substituted needed technology to a less preferred management method, in accordance with the public policy concerning hazardous waste management under the Texas Solid Waste Disposal Act, Texas Health and Safety Code, §261.023.
  (2) The proposed innovative technology must be demonstrated to implement the state's public policy on hazardous waste management as specified under the Texas Solid Waste Disposal Act, Texas Health and Safety Code, §361.023. To make this demonstration, the applicant shall demonstrate to the satisfaction of the executive director that the proposed innovative technology is a more preferred management method, higher in the state's waste management hierarchy, when compared to current management practices used for handling the targeted waste streams, and shall submit at least the following information, to the satisfaction of the executive director, for the targeted waste stream(s), whether managed in or out of the State of Texas, or managed on-site or off-site:
    (A) types and quantities of targeted waste streams generated in the State of Texas;
    (B) current management practice for processing or land disposing of the targeted waste stream; and
    (C) a favorable comparison of the type and quantity of residuals and products generated by the innovative technology and current management practices.
(f) If no statewide need has been identified in Table 2 and if an applicant considers that there is a regional need for the proposed technology, then the applicant may submit additional information specified under paragraphs (1)-(3) of this subsection to demonstrate that the permit application should be designated as expedited, in accordance with this subsection and subsection (d) of this section. In order for the proposed regional technology to be designated as expedited, the approximate annual quantity of the targeted hazardous waste stream(s) which are generated within the region, which will be processed and/or disposed commercially, and which could not be processed or disposed by other commercial hazardous waste management facilities in the region, shall equal at least 60% of the total hazardous waste capacity of the proposed unit(s). All data used to support this analysis shall be from the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission hazardous and industrial waste annual or monthly waste management reports submitted by owners and operators of hazardous waste management facilities, except as noted in this subsection. The applicant will define the region, subject to the written approval of the executive director, which must consist of at least one county and shall not extend outside the State of Texas. The regional waste management analysis under this subsection must include only hazardous wastes generated in the State of Texas. Subject to the written approval of the executive director, a permit application may be designated as expedited based on regional need, in accordance with this subsection and subsection (d) of this section, and provided that the applicant submits the following information:
  (1) a description of the targeted waste stream(s) by form and EPA hazardous waste numbers, including the approximate annual quantity generated in the region that is processed or disposed at any commercial hazardous waste management facility using the same technology. If significant changes in on-site management options have occurred in the region since the preparation of the most recent Needs Assessment, the applicant may document the approximate annual quantity generated, the generator, and type of hazardous waste which will require commercial hazardous waste management, and include this quantity in the applicant's regional analysis. The applicant may also submit data, other than Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission data, substantiating that there is a regional need, specifying waste stream type, including form and EPA hazardous waste numbers; approximate annual quantity generated; and identity of the generators and their location in the region;
  (2) a map delineating the boundaries of the region, and showing the locations of the following:
    (A) the facility where the new capacity is proposed; and
    (B) all other existing, permitted, or interim status commercial hazardous waste management facilities that offer the same hazardous waste processing and/or disposal technologies in the State of Texas; and
  (3) a comparison of the annual capacity of the proposed technology to the quantity of the targeted waste streams which:
    (A) are generated within the region; and
    (B) cannot be processed or disposed by other commercial hazardous waste management facilities within the region.
(g) Permit applications for hazardous waste facilities consisting of only hazardous waste storage unit(s), with no hazardous waste processing or disposal unit(s), shall not be expedited, with the following exceptions:
  (1) permit applications for storage-only facilities associated with a different facility owned by the same parent company which offers recycling, processing, or disposal services using a needed technology shall be prioritized as provided in subsection (c) of this section; and
  (2) permit applications for hazardous waste storage needed on a regional or statewide basis, provided that the applicant submits documentation consisting of at least one of the following, subject to the written approval of the executive director:
    (A) an analysis of targeted waste stream(s) and commercially available waste management technologies, showing that there is no processing or disposal technology commercially available for management of the targeted waste stream(s) in the State of Texas; or
    (B) a regional analysis documenting the demand for storage by the region's generators, including the distances hazardous wastes are transported for storage, the quantities transported, and a map showing the locations of commercial storage facilities in the region.

Source Note: The provisions of this §281.32 adopted to be effective November 7, 1994, 19 TexReg 8542.