HB171: establishing a moratorium on the issuance of permits for new landfills.

HB 171 - AS AMENDED BY THE HOUSE

20Mar2025... 0465h

2025 SESSION

25-0149

08/06

HOUSE BILL 171

AN ACT establishing a moratorium on the issuance of permits for new landfills.

SPONSORS: Rep. N. Germana, Ches. 15; Rep. Potenza, Straf. 19; Rep. Haskins, Rock. 11; Rep. S. King, Coos 4

COMMITTEE: Environment and Agriculture

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ANALYSIS

This bill establishes a moratorium on the issuance of permits for new landfills.

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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.

Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]

Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.

20Mar2025... 0465h 25-0149

08/06

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Twenty Five

AN ACT establishing a moratorium on the issuance of permits for new landfills.

Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:

1 New Section; Moratorium; Study by the Department of Environmental Services. Amend RSA 149-M by inserting after section 9 the following new section:

149-M:9-a Moratorium on Issuance of Permits for New Landfill. 

I. Notwithstanding RSA 149-M:9, the department shall not issue any permit to construct or operate a new landfill facility in New Hampshire under RSA 149-M:9. The department may accept applications, evaluate them for completeness, and request more information to make an application complete, but shall not proceed to further evaluation or process any applications, notwithstanding RSA 541-A:29, in order that any evaluation of need, benefit, harm, or appropriateness of the site proposed will await the development of new regulations, data, technologies, and policies.

II. Nothing in paragraph I shall be construed to prohibit the expansion or modification of any landfill facilities on any site on which, as of December 1, 2022, a Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) Subtitle D landfill exists that has been permitted in accordance with RSA 149-M:9.

III. In this section, the term “site” means a single parcel or adjacent parcels, owned in their entirety by a landfill operator or its affiliates as of December 1, 2022, including a site where one or more public utility easements traverse the site. 

2 Repeal. RSA 149-M:9-a, relative to a moratorium on the issuance of permits for new landfills in New Hampshire, is repealed.

3 Effective Date. 

I. Section 2 of this act shall take effect July 1, 2028.

II. The remainder of this act shall take effect upon its passage.