Waste discharge permits: landfills.

Under existing law, the State Water Resources Control Board and the 9 California regional water quality control boards regulate water quality and prescribe waste discharge requirements in accordance with the Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act and the federal national pollutant discharge elimination system permit program established by the federal Clean Water Act. The California Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989 prohibits a regional water board from issuing a waste discharge permit for a new landfill, or a lateral expansion of an existing landfill, that is used for the disposal of nonhazardous solid waste if the land has been primarily used at any time for the mining or excavation of gravel or sand, as specified. The act defines "landfill used for the disposal of nonhazardous solid waste" as a disposal site regulated by a regional water board as a Class III landfill, as provided. This bill would additionally prohibit a regional water board from issuing a waste discharge permit for a new landfill that is used for the disposal of nonhazardous solid waste if the land is located within the Tijuana River National Estuarine Research Reserve or within an area that is tributary to the Tijuana River, except as provided. The bill would also expand the definition of "landfill used for the disposal of nonhazardous solid waste" to also include a disposal site regulated by a regional water board as a Class II landfill, as provided. The bill would state that its provisions are severable.