Section 17. A toxics user may petition the department for the temporary waiver of any law which the department administers or any regulation adopted by the department if the toxics user proposes to comply with such law or regulation through implementation of a toxics use reduction technique or combination of toxics use reduction techniques in preference to other techniques, or through use of innovative toxics use reduction techniques. By January 1, 1991, the department shall develop regulations governing waiver applications and issuance of waivers.

The department may grant a waiver if the department finds that the following conditions are met:

(A) that the proposed toxics use reduction technique or combination of techniques will be effective in achieving toxics use reduction and will achieve compliance with toxics laws and regulations within the time period of the waiver; and

(B) that the proposed technique or combination of techniques will not cause or contribute to an unreasonable risk to public health or safety or the environment in their operation, function or malfunction; and

(C) for waivers regarding the use of innovative toxics use reduction techniques, that the proposed technique or combination of techniques ultimately will achieve greater toxics use reduction than currently available toxics use reduction techniques; and

(D) for waivers regarding the use of a toxics use reduction technique or combination of such techniques in preference to other techniques, that the long-term benefit to the environment from the proposed technique or combination of techniques outweighs the benefits to the environment from more prompt compliance through other techniques.

The department shall decide whether or not to issue a waiver within one hundred and twenty calendar days of receiving an application for a waiver.

Any waiver granted shall be for a period not to exceed two years. A toxics user may reapply for a waiver if he has been initially refused, or may apply for an extension of a current waiver. The department shall make decisions on these determinations within sixty calendar days of receiving said applications.

The department shall monitor the implementation and effectiveness of the approved toxics use reduction techniques. If at any time the department finds that the toxics user has not made a good faith effort to implement the approved toxics use reduction techniques or that the application was not made in good faith, the waiver shall be terminated and the toxics user shall have twenty-one calendar days to achieve compliance with the requirements prescribed by the laws and regulations from which the waiver was granted.

For violations which continue beyond the twenty-one day limit the toxics user shall be considered in violation of this chapter and subject to the penalties established in section seventeen.

If at any time the department finds that the toxics user has made a good faith effort to implement the approved toxics use reduction techniques and to maintain compliance with the waiver but finds that implementation of the approved toxics use reduction techniques does not meet the conditions for the issuance of a waiver, then the agency shall suspend or revoke the waiver and the toxics user shall have sixty days to achieve the requirements prescribed by the laws and regulations from which the waiver was granted.

In any event, the toxics user shall eliminate as quickly as possible all unreasonable risks to public health, safety, welfare or the environment.

A toxics user may also request that the department assist it in seeking a waiver from any federal laws or regulations which are administered by the department if the toxics user proposes to comply with such law or regulation through implementation of a toxics use reduction technique or combination of toxics use reduction techniques in preference to other techniques, or through use of innovative toxics use reduction techniques.