Local Finance Bulletin #30

In 1991, the Environmental Protection Agency issued strict regulations concerning the design, location, operation, and closing of municipal solid waste landfills; and requiring that landfill sites be monitored for thirty years after their closing. The bulletin discusses estimating the costs of closure and post-closure care, analyzes the six mechanisms an operator may use to provide financial assurance for those costs, analyzes the probable impact of the financial assurance regulations on North Carolina local government operators of municipal solid waste landfills, and discusses the strengths and weaknesses of the various mechanisms.