LRBs0184/1
ZDW:skw
2021 - 2022 LEGISLATURE
ASSEMBLY SUBSTITUTE AMENDMENT 1,
TO ASSEMBLY BILL 99
June 16, 2021 - Offered by Representatives Sortwell and Kitchens.
AB99-ASA1,1,4 1An Act to amend 289.54 (2); and to create 289.43 (8) (d), 289.63 (6) (e), 289.64
2(4) (e), 289.645 (4) (i) and 289.67 (1) (fp) of the statutes; relating to:
3requirements and exemptions relating to materials dredged from Great Lakes
4and creating administrative rules relating to dredged materials exemptions.
Analysis by the Legislative Reference Bureau
This bill requires the Department of Natural Resources to promulgate a rule
that exempts facilities for the disposal of material dredged from Lake Michigan or
Lake Superior from license and operating plan requirements.
Under current law, DNR establishes, by rule, standards for the location, design,
construction, sanitation, operation, monitoring, and maintenance of solid waste
facilities. These are facilities for the treatment, storage, or disposal of solid waste,
which broadly includes garbage, refuse, sludge, and other discarded or salvageable
materials. Current law prohibits operation of a solid waste facility without a license
issued by DNR and a plan of operation approved by DNR.
The bill requires DNR to promulgate a rule exempting facilities from these
requirements for purposes of disposal of material dredged by a municipality or its
contractors from Lake Michigan, Lake Superior, or their bays or harbors, if DNR
determines that the dredging and disposal will have a demonstrable economic public
benefit, the cumulative adverse environmental impact of the dredging is

insignificant and will not result in specified harms, and the facility is in compliance
with landfill performance standards established under DNR administrative rules.
The bill creates in the administrative code the exemption required by the bill
and creates numerous requirements for the location and operation of a disposal
facility. The bill also creates in the administrative code requirements for a
municipality to apply for the exemption created by the bill.
Under current law, DNR may not approve a request by the operator of a solid
waste disposal facility to accept dredged materials that contain polychlorinated
biphenyls (PCBs) or heavy metals in a concentration of less than 50 parts per million
unless DNR holds a public meeting in the municipality where the disposal facility
is located. Under the bill, DNR may not approve a request by the operator of a solid
waste disposal facility to accept dredged materials that contain PCBs or heavy
metals in any concentration until after a public hearing is held. The bill also requires
the public hearing to be held in the county, rather than the municipality, where the
facility is located.
Finally, current law imposes several fees, commonly called tipping fees, on
generators of solid waste that is disposed of at a landfill or other waste disposal
facility. This bill exempts from these fees the disposal of soils and dredged sediments.
The people of the state of Wisconsin, represented in senate and assembly, do
enact as follows: