35-11-1603.

35-11-1603.

(c) Sites that are not eligible for voluntary remediation are subject to all other applicable requirements of this act, including the provisions of W.S. 35-11-1613.  (d) Nothing herein shall relieve owners or operators of eligible sites from applicable permit requirements under this act or limit the director's ability to undertake enforcement action relating to a complaint under article 7 of this act and impose a penalty for violation of the act under article 9 of this act.

(e) Nothing in this article shall limit the director's authority to order any person to abate any condition that poses an imminent or substantial endangerment to human health or the environment, or the director's authority to issue emergency orders under W.S. 35-11-115.

35-11-1602. Eligibility for voluntary remediation program; sites eligible; sites ineligible.

(a) Eligible sites shall include sites which meet the following conditions:

(i) Sites, or portions of sites, where releases occurred before the effective date of this article and:

(A) The site, or portion of site, where the release occurred was not subject to the permit requirements of this act at the time of the release; or

(B) The site is covered by an order of the department, council or by any court and entered with the consent of the person or entity.

(ii) Sites, or portions of sites, where releases occurred on or after the effective date of this article and where the owner or operator is implementing a pollution prevention plan consistent with rules promulgated under this act;

(iii) Waste management or disposal units that have been permitted under this act and the director determines that the release from the permitted unit, if restricted or prohibited by the permit, cannot be remediated in accord with the permit requirements because of technical impracticability.

(b) Eligible sites shall not include:

(i) A site for which remediation is not voluntary under W.S. 35-11-1601(b);  (ii) A site that is listed on the National Priorities List of Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), 42 U.S.C. §§ 9601-9675;

(iii) A commercial solid waste management facility, commercial waste incineration or disposal facility subject to W.S. 35-11-514;

(iv) Underground and aboveground storage tanks subject to article 14 of this act;

(v) Radioactive waste storage facilities subject to article 15 of this act;

(vi) Abandoned mine land sites subject to article 12 of this act; or

(vii) Any site where a release resulted from continuous or repeated violations of any law, rule, regulation or order under this act.

35-11-1603. Participation in the voluntary remediation program; application; time for determination.

To participate in the voluntary remediation program a person must submit an application to the department that identifies the owner and provides a location and description of the site. The application shall also describe the site-specific conditions which the applicant believes satisfy one (1) or more of the eligibility criteria of W.S. 35-11-1602. No later than forty- five (45) days after receipt of the application, the department shall give written notice to the applicant containing the department's determination of the site eligibility for participation in the voluntary remediation program.

35-11-1604. Public participation; notice; plan.

(a) Following any determination by the department that a site is an eligible site, or following the submission of any application to modify an existing remedy agreement, the owner or operator shall give written notice to all surface owners of record of land which is contiguous to the site, and to all known adjacent surface owners of record of land, and shall publish notice once per week for four (4) consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the county in which the site is located. The notice published in a newspaper shall be a display advertisement. The notice to individual landowners and the notice published in a newspaper shall identify the site, provide a summary of the criterion in W.S. 35-11-1602 which makes the site eligible for participation in the voluntary remediation program under this article, describe the process for the public to request the development of a public participation plan under subsection (b) of this section, and provide a thirty (30) day period for the public to request that a public participation plan be developed.

(b) For any eligible site where there is significant public interest as determined by the director after considering the factors enumerated in paragraphs (i) through (iii) of this subsection, the person who has submitted an application for participation, or the owner of the site, shall prepare and implement a public participation plan which shall be approved by the director. In preparing the plan, the applicant or owner shall consult with and consider the public participation needs of interested parties, including but not limited to contiguous surface owners of record and all known adjacent surface owners of record of land, local government, local economic development agencies or groups, and public interest groups. In determining whether there is significant public interest, the director shall consider whether there have been responses to the notice required under subsection (a) of this section requesting the development of a public participation plan by:

(i) At least twenty-five (25) individuals;

(ii) An organization representing at least twenty- five (25) individuals; or

(iii) The governing body of a local government.

(c) Any owner or operator of an eligible site which is also subject to permitting or corrective action requirements of the hazardous waste rules and regulations promulgated under W.S.