a) The
owner or operator must have detailed a written estimate, in current dollars, of
the cost of closing the facility in accordance with the requirements in
Sections
724.211
through
724.215
and applicable closure requirements in Sections
724.278,
724.297,
724.328,
724.358,
724.380,
724.410,
724.451,
724.701
through
724.703, and
724.1102.
1) The estimate must equal the cost of final
closure at the point in the facility's active life when the extent and manner
of its operation would make closure the most expensive, as indicated by its
closure plan (see Section
724.212(b)
).
2) The closure cost estimate
must be based on the costs to the owner or operator of hiring a third party to
close the facility. A third party is a party who is neither a parent nor a
subsidiary of the owner or operator. (See definition of parent corporation in
Section
724.241(d).)
The owner or operator may use costs for on-site disposal if the owner or
operator demonstrates that on-site disposal capacity will exist at all times
over the life of the facility.
3)
The closure cost estimate must not incorporate any salvage value that may be
realized with the sale of hazardous wastes, or non-hazardous wastes if
permitted by the Agency pursuant to Section
724.213(d),
facility structures or equipment, land, or other assets associated with the
facility at the time of partial or final closure.
4) The owner or operator must not incorporate
a zero cost for hazardous wastes, or non-hazardous wastes if permitted by the
Agency pursuant to Section
724.213(d),
that might have economic value.
b) During the active life of the facility,
the owner or operator must adjust the closure cost estimate for inflation
within 60 days prior to the anniversary date of the establishment of the
financial instruments used to comply with Section
724.243.
For owners and operators using the financial test or corporate guarantee, the
closure cost estimate must be updated for inflation within 30 days after the
close of the firm's fiscal year and before submission of updated information to
the Agency as specified in Section
724.243(f)(3).
The adjustment may be made by recalculating the maximum costs of closure in
current dollars, or by using an inflation factor derived from the annual
Implicit Price Deflator for Gross National Product (Deflator) as published by
the U.S. Department of Commerce in its Survey of Current Business, as specified
in subsections (b)(1) and (b)(2). The inflation factor is the result of
dividing the latest published annual Deflator by the Deflator for the previous
year.
1) The first adjustment is made by
multiplying the closure cost estimate by the inflation factor. The result is
the adjusted closure cost estimate.
2) Subsequent adjustments are made by
multiplying the latest adjusted closure cost estimate by the latest inflation
factor.
BOARD NOTE: The table of Deflators is available as Table
1.1.9., "Implicit Price
Deflators for Gross Domestic Product", in the National Income and Product
Account Tables, published by U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic
Analysis, National Economic Accounts, available on-line at the following web
address: www.bea.gov/national/nipaweb/Table
View.asp?SelectedTable=13&FirstYear=2002&LastYear=2004&Freq=Qtr.
c) During the active
life of the facility the owner or operator must revise the closure cost
estimate no later than 30 days after the Agency has approved the request to
modify the closure plan, if the change in the closure plan increases the cost
of closure. The revised closure cost estimate must be adjusted for inflation,
as specified in subsection (b).
d)
The owner or operator must keep the following at the facility during the
operating life of the facility: the latest closure cost estimate prepared in
accordance with subsections (a) and (c) and, when this estimate has been
adjusted in accordance with subsection (b), the latest adjusted closure cost
estimate.