(a) The General Assembly has found that there is an increased interest in obtaining permits from the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality for the purpose of constructing and operating commercial medical waste incineration facilities. The federal Clean Air Act, 42 U.S.C. § 7429(a)(1)(C), has directed the United States Environmental Protection Agency to promulgate regulations concerning these facilities. The General Assembly has determined that it is necessary to delay the issuance of permits to these facilities until those regulations are promulgated in order to ensure that any permits issued will be based on the latest available information concerning technology and safety as set forth in the federal regulations.

(b) As scientific understanding of the potential public health and environmental impacts from large-scale medical waste incineration evolves, the General Assembly finds that continued caution regarding the development of commercial-scale medical waste incineration facilities is necessary in order to protect the public health, safety, and welfare. Even though medical waste incinerators constitute major sources of potentially harmful emissions into the air, the United States Environmental Protection Agency has yet to promulgate technology standards necessary to assure safe operation. In the meantime, highly speculative ventures seek to profit from the regulatory uncertainty by promoting undercapitalized incineration facilities handling volumes of waste far in excess of that from the largest hospital.

(c) This subchapter seeks to protect the public welfare by assuring that:

(1) Commercial-scale medical waste incinerators beginning operation after March 1, 1995, will be in compliance with the most recent operating standards and regulations;

(2) The owner or operator of any commercial-scale medical waste incinerator beginning operation after March 1, 1995, shall demonstrate financial assurances necessary to ensure the proper operation, maintenance, and closure of such facilities;

(3) A transfer of ownership or control of any commercial-scale medical waste will prompt regulatory officials to apply permitting standards and procedures as stringent as those applicable for the issuance of a new permit;

(4) Generators of medical waste are encouraged to follow the hierarchy of waste management goals set out in the Arkansas Pollution Prevention Act, § 8-10-201 et seq.; and

(5) Both generators of medical waste and regulatory officials will give proper consideration to alternative technologies for treating medical waste other than incineration.