Title 23
Health and Safety

Chapter 19.1
Hazardous Waste Management

§ 23-19.1-6. Powers and duties of the director.

(a) The director shall adopt any plans, rules, regulations, procedures, and standards as may be necessary to ensure proper, adequate, and sound hazardous waste management and to protect the health and safety of the public, and the environment from the effects of improper hazardous waste management. The plans, rules, regulations, procedures, and standards shall be developed by the director with input and review by the affected persons and agencies including the statewide planning program, the health department, and representative of the generator, transport, and disposal industry as well as an environmental representative. The rules, regulations, procedures, and standards as adopted by the director shall, to the maximum extent practical, be compatible with the rules, regulations, procedures, and standards promulgated by the U.S. environmental protection agency pursuant to §§ 3001-3006 of the Federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976, 42 U.S.C. § 6901 et seq. The Rhode Island department of environmental management (the department) rules and regulations for the investigation and remediation of hazardous material releases (250-RICR-140-30-1) shall not include any provision requiring the remediation of arsenic which is naturally occurring at levels less than nineteen parts per million (19 ppm).

(b) The director is authorized to exercise all powers, direct and incidental, necessary to carry out the purposes of this chapter, assure that the state complies with any federal hazardous waste management act and retains maximum control under it, and receives all desired federal grants, aid, and other benefits.