(a) Easement protection. No solid waste unloading, storage, disposal, or processing operations shall occur within any easement, buffer zone, or right-of-way that crosses the facility. No solid waste disposal shall occur within 25 feet of the center line of any utility line or pipeline easement but no closer than the easement, unless otherwise authorized by the executive director. All pipeline and utility easements shall be clearly marked with posts that extend at least six feet above ground level, spaced at intervals no greater than 300 feet.
(b) Buffer zones.
  (1) Except for facilities that are authorized by a notification, the owner or operator shall maintain a minimum separating distance of 50 feet between feedstock or final product storage areas; solid waste storage, processing, Type IAE landfill units, Type IV landfill units, and Type IVAE landfill units within and adjacent to the facility boundary on property owned or controlled by the owner or operator. The buffer zone shall not be narrower than that necessary to provide for safe passage for fire fighting and other emergency vehicles. The executive director may consider alternatives to buffer zone requirements for permitted and registered storage and processing municipal solid waste facilities.
  (2) For landfill permits that existed before the comprehensive rule revisions of this chapter as adopted in 2006 became effective, the owner or operator is subject to the former rules and shall establish and maintain a buffer zone in compliance with the permit. For new Type I landfills, vertical or lateral expansions of existing Type I landfills, and existing Type IAE landfills that subsequently no longer satisfy the conditions specified in §330.5(b)(1) of this title (relating to Classification of Municipal Solid Waste Facilities), the owner or operator shall establish and maintain the buffer zone prescribed by this paragraph. All buffer zones must be within and adjacent to the facility boundary on property owned or controlled by the owner or operator.
    (A) For any new Type I landfill, the owner or operator shall establish and maintain a 125-foot buffer zone.
    (B) For any vertical expansion, the owner or operator shall establish and maintain a 125-foot buffer zone. A vertical expansion is any height increase that exceeds the maximum permitted final contour for any cell or unit for which an increase is requested. For a vertical expansion, the buffer distance must be measured from the outermost edge of the newly permitted solid waste disposal airspace.
    (C) For any lateral expansion to areas not previously permitted, the owner or operator shall establish and maintain a 125-foot buffer zone. For a lateral expansion, the buffer distance must be measured from the edge of the horizontally expanded portion of the landfill.
    (D) For vertical or lateral expansions of existing landfills, the new buffer zone requirements shall apply only to newly permitted airspace and shall not apply to any previously permitted airspace, regardless of whether or not the previously permitted airspace has been constructed or filled with solid waste. The new buffer zone may include any previously permitted airspace.
  (3) The executive director may consider alternatives to buffer zone requirements in paragraph (2) of this subsection. Alternatives may be approved where the owner or operator demonstrates that:
    (A) the prescribed buffer zone standard is not feasible; and
    (B) there is a specific engineered design alternative that:
      (i) is consistent with the performance goal of providing a visual screening of solid waste processing and disposal activities;
      (ii) affords ready access for emergency response, maintenance, and monitoring;
      (iii) affords equivalent control of odors and windblown waste as the prescribed buffer zone; and
      (iv) provides sufficient distance to meet the drainage and sediment control requirements applicable to the facility.

Source Note: The provisions of this §330.543 adopted to be effective March 27, 2006, 31 TexReg 2502