Cost estimate for closure

1. The cost estimates for closure. a. The owner or operator shall have a detailed written estimate, in current dollars, of the cost of disposing of any hazardous secondary material as listed or characteristic hazardous waste, and the potential cost of closing the facility as a treatment, storage, and disposal facility. (1) The estimate must equal the cost of conducting the activities described in subsection 1 at the point when the extent and manner of the facility's operation would make these activities the most expensive; and (2) The cost estimate must be based on the costs to the owner or operator of hiring a third party to conduct these activities. 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 subsection 4 of section 33.1-24-05-75.) The owner or operator may use costs for onsite disposal in accordance with applicable requirements if the owner or operator can demonstrate that onsite disposal capacity will exist at all times over the life of the facility. (3) The cost estimate may not incorporate any salvage value that may be realized with the sale of hazardous secondary materials, or hazardous or nonhazardous wastes, facility structures or equipment, land, or other assets associated with the facility. (4) The owner or operator may not incorporate a zero cost for hazardous secondary materials, or hazardous or nonhazardous wastes that might have economic value. b. During the active life of the facility, the owner or operator shall adjust the cost estimate for inflation within sixty days prior to the anniversary date of the establishment of the financial instruments used to comply with section 33.1-24-02-36. For owners and operators using the financial test or corporate guarantee, the cost estimate must be updated for inflation within thirty days after the close of the firm's fiscal year and before submission of updated information to the department as specified in subdivision c of subsection 5 of section 33.1-24-02-36. The adjustment may be made by recalculating the cost estimate in current dollars, or by using an inflation factor derived from the most recent implicit price deflator for gross national product published by the United States department of commerce in its survey of current business, as specified in paragraphs 1 and 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 cost estimate by the inflation factor. The result is the adjusted cost estimate. (2) Subsequent adjustments are made by multiplying the latest adjusted cost estimate by the latest inflation factor. c. During the active life of the facility, the owner or operator shall revise the cost estimate no later than thirty days after a change in a facility's operating plan or design that would increase the costs of conducting the activities described in subdivision a, or no later than sixty days after an unexpected event which increases the cost of conducting the activities described in subdivision a. The revised cost estimate must be adjusted for inflation as specified in subdivision b. d. The owner or operator shall keep the following at the facility during the operating life of the facility: The latest cost estimate prepared in accordance with subdivisions a and c and, when this estimate has been adjusted in accordance with subdivision b, the latest adjusted cost estimate.