§ 146.72 - Post-closure care.

§ 146.72 Post-closure care.

(a) The owner or operator of a Class I hazardous waste well shall prepare, maintain, and comply with a plan for post-closure care that meets the requirements of paragraph (b) of this section and is acceptable to the Director. The obligation to implement the post-closure plan survives the termination of a permit or the cessation of injection activities. The requirement to maintain an approved plan is directly enforceable regardless of whether the requirement is a condition of the permit.

(1) The owner or operator shall submit the plan as a part of the permit application and, upon approval by the Director, such plan shall be a condition of any permit issued.

(2) The owner or operator shall submit any proposed significant revision to the plan as appropriate over the life of the well, but no later than the date of the closure report required under § 146.71(c).

(3) The plan shall assure financial responsibility as required in § 146.73.

(4) The plan shall include the following information:

(i) The pressure in the injection zone before injection began;

(ii) The anticipated pressure in the injection zone at the time of closure;

(iii) The predicted time until pressure in the injection zone decays to the point that the well's cone of influence no longer intersects the base of the lowermost USDW;

(iv) Predicted position of the waste front at closure;

(v) The status of any cleanups required under § 146.64; and

(vi) The estimated cost of proposed post-closure care.

(5) At the request of the owner or operator, or on his own initiative, the Director may modify the post-closure plan after submission of the closure report following the procedures in § 124.5.

(b) The owner or operator shall:

(1) Continue and complete any cleanup action required under § 146.64, if applicable;

(2) Continue to conduct any groundwater monitoring required under the permit until pressure in the injection zone decays to the point that the well's cone of influence no longer intersects the base of the lowermost USDW. The Director may extend the period of post-closure monitoring if he determines that the well may endanger a USDW.

(3) Submit a survey plat to the local zoning authority designated by the Director. The plat shall indicate the location of the well relative to permanently surveyed benchmarks. A copy of the plat shall be submitted to the Regional Administrator of the appropriate EPA Regional Office.

(4) Provide appropriate notification and information to such State and local authorities as have cognizance over drilling activities to enable such State and local authorities to impose appropriate conditions on subsequent drilling activities that may penetrate the well's confining or injection zone.

(5) Retain, for a period of three years following well closure, records reflecting the nature, composition and volume of all injected fluids. The Director shall require the owner or operator to deliver the records to the Director at the conclusion of the retention period, and the records shall thereafter be retained at a location designated by the Director for that purpose.

(c) Each owner of a Class I hazardous waste injection well, and the owner of the surface or subsurface property on or in which a Class I hazardous waste injection well is located, must record a notation on the deed to the facility property or on some other instrument which is normally examined during title search that will in perpetuity provide any potential purchaser of the property the following information:

(1) The fact that land has been used to manage hazardous waste;

(2) The name of the State agency or local authority with which the plat was filed, as well as the address of the Regional Environmental Protection Agency Office to which it was submitted;

(3) The type and volume of waste injected, the injection interval or intervals into which it was injected, and the period over which injection occurred.