House committee advances bill to limit wind and solar waste, adopts technical amendments

The House Energy and Finance Policy Committee on March 3 advanced House File 1040, a bill requiring producers and sellers to account for end-of-life management of wind and solar equipment and banning disposal of some components in landfills. Representative Scott, the bill author, moved the measure to the Environment and Natural Resources Committee after the committee approved technical oral amendments.

Representative Scott said she first introduced a version of the bill in 2014 and described local cleanup costs from earlier renewable-energy waste problems. "I didn't want that happening in other people's communities," she said, citing a local cleanup that she said cost taxpayers more than $20 million and pointing to large piles of retired wind blades visible near Interstate 35 in Iowa.

The bill sets up a product-stewardship framework patterned on existing programs such as paint stewardship. Under language discussed in committee, the measure would allow producers to submit stewardship plans for approval by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA); after commissioner approval, vendors would begin collecting an assessment added to the sale price to finance recycling or other end-of-life management.…