23.1-04-01. Declaration of purpose

23.1-04-01. Declaration of purpose The department of environmental quality shall administer this chapter to: 1. Protect human health and the environment from the effects of the improper, inadequate, or unsafe past or present management of hazardous waste and underground storage tanks. 2. Establish a program to regulate hazardous waste from the time of generation through transportation, storage, treatment, and disposal. 3. Promote reduction of hazardous waste generation, reuse, recovery, and treatment as preferable alternatives to landfill disposal. 4. Assure the safe and adequate management of hazardous waste with a minimum of hazardous waste disposal sites within the state. 5. Establish a program to regulate underground storage tanks. 6. Promote reduction of surface and ground water contamination resulting from leaking underground storage tanks.