(a) As used in this section:

(1) “Recycled wood” means any wood or wood fuel which is derived from such products or processes as pallets, skids, spools, packaging materials, bulky wood waste or scraps from newly built wood products, provided such wood is not treated wood;

(2) “Treated wood” means wood which contains an adhesive, paint, stain, fire retardant, pesticide or preservative;

(3) “Processed wood” means recycled wood or treated wood or any combination thereof which has been processed at a volume reduction facility permitted under this chapter;

(4) “Regulated wood fuel” means processed wood from construction and demolition activities which has been sorted to remove plastics, plaster, gypsum wallboard, asbestos, asphalt shingles and wood which contains creosote or to which pesticides have been applied or which contains substances defined as hazardous under section 22a-115;

(5) “Combustible” means the heat-producing constituents of a fuel;

(6) “Combustion” means the rapid chemical combination of oxygen with the combustible element of a fuel resulting in the production of heat;

(7) “Fuel” means a substance containing combustibles used for producing heat, light, power or energy;

(8) “Regulated wood fuel merchant” means any person who offers for sale or sells, transfers, or provides in retail or wholesale trade, regulated wood fuel, including agents, brokers, wholesalers, distributors or producers who sell regulated fuel;

(9) “Regulated wood fuel user” means a biomass gasification plant or a resources recovery facility, as defined in section 22a-207, that stores or utilizes regulated wood fuel for the purpose of creating by combustion heat, light, power or energy and combusts in excess of one hundred million BTUs per hour; and

(10) “Biomass gasification plant” means a biomass gasification plant that qualifies as a Class I renewable energy source, as defined in section 16-1.

(b) Notwithstanding the provisions of this chapter, processed wood is not a solid waste provided: (1) Such wood is received for use at a biomass gasification plant or a resource recovery facility as a regulated wood fuel; (2) such wood is used for land application in accordance with standards for such use adopted by the Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection in accordance with chapter 54; or (3) such wood is used for building products or other uses in accordance with any applicable state or federal standards.

(c) No person other than a regulated wood fuel user shall use or burn regulated wood fuel. No regulated wood fuel user shall use or burn (1) regulated wood fuel which contains nonwood material, other than dirt or metal fasteners, unless such material comprises less than one per cent, by dry weight, of such regulated wood fuel, or (2) any such fuel which contains more than fifteen one-hundredths of one per cent, by dry weight, total chlorine. Any sampling or analysis to determine the percentage of total chlorine or the amount of nonwood material shall be provided for by the regulated wood fuel merchant and shall be certified by such merchant as having met any standards or methodologies for such sampling or analysis approved or required by the commissioner. Notwithstanding any other provisions of this section, any person who exclusively burns wood, other than regulated wood fuel, as a fuel shall comply with the regulations adopted under section 22a-174 for stationary sources of air pollution.

(d) No regulated wood fuel merchant shall store, offer for sale, sell, make available, deliver for use or exchange in trade for use in this state (1) regulated wood fuel which contains nonwood material, other than dirt or metal fasteners, unless such material comprises less than one per cent, by dry weight, of such regulated wood fuel, or (2) any such fuel which contains more than fifteen one-hundredths of one per cent, by dry weight, total chlorine.

(e) Any person who sells regulated wood fuel for use in this state or who uses such fuel in this state shall maintain records of all sales or use of such fuel which contains nonwood materials and such records shall be made available for inspection by the commissioner, or his designee, during regular business hours. Such records shall be maintained for at least three years.

(f) Nothing in this section shall prohibit a biomass gasification plant or a resources recovery facility from accepting, processing and combusting wood that is not hazardous waste or is not otherwise prohibited by law.

(P.A. 94-142, S. 1, 2; P.A. 95-128; P.A. 06-74, S. 5; P.A. 11-80, S. 1.)

History: P.A. 94-142 effective May 20, 1994; P.A. 95-128 amended Subsec. (a) to add definitions of “regulated wood fuel” and related terms, added a new Subsec. (c) re use of regulated wood fuel, added a new Subsec. (d) re regulated wood fuel merchants, added a new Subsec. (e) re maintenance of records and added a new Subsec. (f) re use of certain wood by resources recovery facilities; P.A. 06-74 applied provisions to biomass gasification plants in Subsecs. (a)(9), (b) and (f), added Subsec. (a)(10) defining “biomass gasification plant”, and made a technical change in Subsecs. (d) and (f); pursuant to P.A. 11-80, “Commissioner of Environmental Protection” was changed editorially by the Revisors to “Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection” in Subsec. (b), effective July 1, 2011.