1. (a) An owner or operator may satisfy the requirements of financial assurance for closure by establishing either a fully funded trust or a pay-in trust which conforms to the requirements of this section, in addition to the requirements specified in Subchapters A and B of this chapter (relating to General Financial Assurance Requirements and Financial Assurance Requirements for Closure), and submitting an originally signed duplicate of the executed trust agreement to the executive director.
2. (b) The trustee must be an entity which has the authority to act as a trustee and whose trust operations are regulated and examined by a federal or state agency.
3. (c) The wording of the trust agreement must be identical to the wording specified in §37.301(a) of this title (relating to Trust Agreement for Closure) including a formal certification of acknowledgment as specified in §37.301(b) of this title.
4. (d) Schedule A of the trust agreement as specified in §37.301(a) of this title must be updated within 30 days after an approved change in the amount of the current closure cost estimate covered by the agreement, or annual inflation adjustments.
5. (e) A fully funded trust requires that the initial payment into the trust fund be at least equal to the current closure cost estimate, or when a combination of mechanisms are used in accordance with §37.41 of this title (relating to Use of Multiple Financial Assurance Mechanisms), the initial payment plus the amount of the combined mechanism(s) must be at least equal to the current closure cost estimate. A receipt from the trustee for the initial payment must be submitted by the owner or operator to the executive director with the originally signed duplicate of the trust agreement.

6. (f) A pay-in trust requires annual payments by the owner or operator over the term of the initial registration or permit, the remaining term of the initial registration or permit, or over the remaining operating life of the facility as estimated in the closure plan, whichever period is shorter; this period is hereafter referred to as the "pay-in period." The payments into the closure trust fund must be made in accordance with this subsection.

   1. (1) For a new facility, a receipt from the trustee for the first payment must be submitted by the owner or operator to the executive director in accordance with §37.31 of this title (relating to Submission of Documents). The first payment must be at least equal to the current closure cost estimate divided by the number of years in the pay-in period; or when a combination of mechanisms are used in accordance with §37.41 of this title, the first payment must be at least equal to the current closure cost estimate less the amount of the combined mechanism(s) divided by the number of years in the pay-in period. Subsequent payments must be made no later than 30 days after each anniversary date of the first payment. The amount of each subsequent payment must be determined by this formula.
7. (g) After the initial payment for a fully-funded trust or after the pay-in period is completed for a pay-in trust, whenever the current closure cost estimate changes, the owner or operator must compare the new estimate with the trustee's most recent annual valuation of the trust fund. If the value of the fund is less than the amount of the new estimate, the owner or operator, within 60 days after the change in the cost estimate, must either deposit an amount into the fund so that its value after this deposit at least equals the amount of the current closure cost estimate, or obtain an additional financial assurance mechanism as specified in this subchapter to cover the difference.
8. (h) If the value of the trust fund is greater than the total amount of the current closure cost estimate, the owner or operator may submit a written request to the executive director for release of the amount in excess of the current closure cost estimate.
9. (i) Within 60 days after receiving a request from the owner or operator for release of funds as specified in subsection (h) of this section, the executive director, if he approves the request, shall instruct the trustee to release to the owner or operator such funds in writing.
10. (j) After beginning closure, an owner or operator or any other person authorized by the executive director to perform closure may request reimbursement for closure expenditures by submitting itemized bills to the executive director. The owner or operator may request reimbursements for partial closure only if sufficient funds are remaining in the trust fund to cover the maximum costs of closing the facility over its remaining operating life. After receiving bills for closure activities, the executive director shall instruct the trustee to make reimbursement in such amounts as the executive director specifies in writing, if the executive director determines that the partial or final closure expenditures are in accordance with the approved closure plan, or otherwise justified. If the executive director has reason to believe that the cost of closure over the remaining life of the facility will be significantly greater than the value of the trust fund, the executive director may withhold reimbursement of such amounts as deemed prudent until it is determined, in accordance with Subchapters A and B of this chapter (relating to General Financial Assurance Requirements and Financial Assurance Requirements for Closure) that the owner or operator is no longer required to maintain financial assurance for final closure of the facility.
11. (k) If an owner or operator substitutes other financial assurance as specified in this section for all or part of the trust fund, he may submit a written request to the executive director for release of the amount in excess of the current closure cost estimate covered by the trust fund.

Source Note:The provisions of this §37.201 adopted to be effective December 30, 1996, 21 TexReg 12297.