(1) The Legislature finds that:

(a) The beauty and quality of Mississippi’s environment and the public health, safety and welfare of the citizens of the State of Mississippi must be protected from unsound waste management practices which might result from lack of access to proper hazardous waste management facilities.

(b) Inefficient and improper methods of managing waste create hazards to public health, cause pollution of the lands, air and water resources, and constitute a waste of natural resources.

(c) It is the policy of the State of Mississippi that the generation of waste should be reduced or eliminated at the source, whenever feasible; waste that is generated should be recycled or reused, whenever feasible; waste that cannot be reduced, recycled or reused should be treated in an environmentally safe manner; and disposal should be employed only as a last resort and should be conducted in an environmentally safe manner.

(d) It is a requirement under Section 104(c)(9) of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act of 1980, Pub.L. No. 96-510, 94 Stat. 2767, 42 U.S.C.S. 9601 et seq., as amended, and the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986, Pub.L. No. 99-499, 100 Stat. 1613, as amended, as a condition of receiving non-emergency federal remedial action funding after October 17, 1989, that each state assure that it has adequate capacity to manage the hazardous waste generated in the state and expected to be generated in the state for the next twenty (20) years.

(e) In response to the federal requirement for hazardous waste capacity assurance, the State of Mississippi has developed and submitted its Capacity Assurance Plan to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The Capacity Assurance Plan sets out the state’s need with respect to the types of hazardous waste management required by the state and the proposal for siting needed facilities.

(2) It is the intent of the Legislature that proper facilities must be sited as needed for the management of hazardous waste to meet the needs of Mississippi generators, and allow maximum effective use of regional hazardous waste management facilities; however, the Legislature believes that these objectives should be accomplished without Mississippi becoming a magnet for the hazardous waste from all other states and without the proliferation of unnecessary and unsafe facilities in this state.