BILL ANALYSIS ------------------------------------------------------------ |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 222| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |1020 N Street, Suite 524 | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ------------------------------------------------------------ THIRD READING Bill No: AB 222 Author: Adams (R) and Ma (D), et al Amended: 7/15/10 in Senate Vote: 21 SENATE ENERGY, U.&C. COMMITTEE : 6-1, 7/7/09 AYES: Padilla, Benoit, Calderon, Cox, Strickland, Wright NOES: Wiggins NO VOTE RECORDED: Corbett, Kehoe, Lowenthal, Simitian SENATE ENV. QUALITY COMMITTEE : 7-0, 6/28/10 AYES: Simitian, Runner, Corbett, Hancock, Lowenthal, Pavley, Strickland SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8 ASSEMBLY FLOOR : Not relevant SUBJECT : Solid waste SOURCE : BioEnergy Producers Association DIGEST : This bill (1) repeals the term gasification in the California Integrated Waste Management Act, (2) revises and recasts the definition of transformation to exclude from that definition, among other things, anaerobic digestion, as defined, (3) to include in that definition solid waste conversion at a biorefinery, as defined, and (4) revises the definition of "solid waste" and removes "gasification" from that definition. CONTINUED AB 222 Page 2 ANALYSIS : Under the California Integrated Waste Management Act (Act) of 1989 : 1.Requires each city or county source reduction and recycling element to include an implementation schedule that shows a city or county must divert 25% of solid waste from landfill disposal or transformation by January 1, 1995, through source reduction, recycling, and composting services, and must divert 50% of solid waste on and after January 1, 2000. (PRC Section 41780.) 2.Defines "gasification" to mean a technology that uses a noncombustion thermal process to convert solid waste to a clean burning fuel for the purpose of generating electricity, and that, at minimum, meets all of the following criteria: A. The technology does not use air or oxygen in the conversion process, except ambient air to maintain temperature control. B. The technology produces no discharges of air contaminants or emissions, including greenhouse gases, as defined in HSC Section 38505(g). C. The technology produces no discharges to surface or groundwaters of the state. D. The technology produces no hazardous waste. E. To the maximum extent feasible, the technology removes all recyclable materials and marketable green waste compostable materials from the solid waste stream prior to the conversion process and the owner or operator of the facility certifies that those materials will be recycled or composted. F. The facility where the technology is used is in compliance with all applicable laws, regulations, and ordinances. AB 222 Page 3 G. The facility certifies to the board that any local agency sending solid waste to the facility is in compliance with this division and has reduced, recycled, or composted solid waste to the maximum extent feasible, and the board makes a finding that the local agency has diverted at least 30 percent of all solid waste through source reduction, recycling, and composting. 3.Defines "solid waste disposal," "disposal," or "dispose" to mean the final deposition of solid wastes onto land. (PRC Section 40192.) 4.Defines "solid waste facility" to include a solid waste transfer or processing station, a composting facility, a gasification facility, a transformation facility, and a disposal facility. For purposes of Part 5 (PRC Section 45000), "solid waste facility" additionally includes a solid waste operation that may be carried out pursuant to an enforcement agency notification, as provided in regulations adopted by the board.;. (PRC 40194). 5.Defines "transformation" as incineration, pyrolysis, distillation, or biological conversion other than composting. "Transformation" does not include composting, gasification, or biomass conversion. (PRC Section 40201.) FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: No SUPPORT : (Verified 8/4/10) BioEnergy Producers Association (source) adaptiveARC, Inc. Biomass Coordinating Council California Farm Bureau Federation California State Association of Counties Cities of Bell, Glendale, Hawthorne, Pico Rivera and Vernon Clean Cities Coalition Clements Environmental Fulcrum BioEnergy,Inc. Global Energy, Inc. ICM, Inc. AB 222 Page 4 INEOS Bio International Union of Operating Engineers Interstate Waste Technologies Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Los Angeles County Solid Waste Management Committee Long Beach Coalition for a Safe Environment Marin Sanitary Service Miller De Wulf Corporation North Valley Coalition New Planet Energy, LLC Orange County Board of Supervisors Pacific Gas and Electric Company Phoenix Biomass Energy, Inc. Redwood City Planning Remediation Earth, Inc. Republic Services, Inc. San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors San Luis Obispo County Integrated Waste Management Authority Sempra Energy Solid Waste Association of North America Southern California Edison Sustainable conservation Ternion Bio Industries ThermoChem Recovery International, Inc. Theroux Environmental Waste To Energy, LLC Yolo County Board of Supervisors OPPOSITION : (Verified 8/4/10) Alameda County Waste Management Authority and Recycling Board Breathe California California Chamber of Commerce (unless amended) California League of Conservation Voters Council California Resource Recovery Association Center for Biological Diversity Clean Water Action Coalition for Clean Air Environment California Environmental Defense Fund Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives Global Anti-Incinerator Alliance AB 222 Page 5 GreenAction Natural Resources Defense Council Planning and Conservation League Sierra Club California Solid Waste Association (unless amended) ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : The author's office indicates that this bill repeals the term "gasification" in current code and that it will also change the definition of transformation to exclude anaerobic digestion, but include solid waste conversion at a biorefinery. ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION : The California Chamber of Commerce states, "While California is aggressively working to meets its ambitious environmental and energy goals, a number of issues are arising that are causing delays in building the infrastructure and system the state needs. For this reason, it is even more important that the state looks for ways to develop a basket of tools to meet our goals. Unfortunately, the amendments of July 15th pose a further obstacle by creating new permitting barriers by imposing Siting Element requirements that do not currently exist. Further, codifying in statute that solid waste processed by the merging of all conversion technologies count as disposal reflects quite a major setback.. DLW:cm 8/4/10 Senate Floor Analyses SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE **** END ****