Sec. 12.

(1) Immediately following designation of the candidate sites by the authority, the authority, after consultation with the department and the department of natural resources, shall begin site characterization at each candidate site. The site characterization shall establish a comprehensive baseline environmental monitoring program at each of the candidate sites.

(2) The monitoring program at each candidate site shall provide, to the maximum extent feasible, for the participation of the local monitoring committee for each candidate site and the training of the members to facilitate their participation. The program shall be designed to establish baseline environmental data for at least 1 year at each candidate site, to determine compliance with the applicable final siting criteria provided for in section 10, to provide early warning of the magnitude and extent of any release, and to provide reliable environmental data to be utilized in preparing the construction and operating license submitted to the department by the authority and to be utilized in the design, construction, operation, site closure and stabilization, postclosure observation and maintenance, and institutional control of the disposal site. The monitoring program for each candidate site shall include collected and analyzed data concerning standing and running surface water and drainage; groundwater samples off-site and at the candidate site boundary; soil, vegetation, animal, and insect samples; atmospheric samples; and radiological measurements off-site, at the candidate site boundary, and within the candidate site. Each local monitoring committee shall be entitled to obtain portions of all samples collected pursuant to the monitoring program for the candidate site which that local monitoring committee represents for analysis by an independent laboratory. Each local monitoring committee is entitled to receive a copy of the results of each test prepared as a part of site characterization by any state department or agency.

(3) The authority shall provide the review board established pursuant to section 13 with 12 months of site characterization data as soon as 12 months of data for each site are available.

(4) The authority and authorized representatives of the authority and the authorized representatives of the department, the department of natural resources, and the department of agriculture shall have access to each candidate site for the purpose of conducting site characterization and performing any of the authority's responsibilities or duties provided in this act.

History: 1987, Act 204, Imd. Eff. Dec. 22, 1987 ;-- Am. 1994, Act 434, Imd. Eff. Jan. 6, 1995