BILL ANALYSIS
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1674
Author: Saldana (D)
Amended: 8/2/10 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE ENV. QUALITY COMMITTEE : 7-0, 6/14/10
AYES: Simitian, Runner, Corbett, Hancock, Lowenthal,
Pavley, Strickland
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 68-4, 5/13/10 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Hazardous substances: storage tanks
SOURCE : California Association of Environmental Health
Administrators
Industrial Environmental Association
DIGEST : This bill makes various technical changes to
existing law pertaining to underground storage tanks and
aboveground storage tanks.
ANALYSIS : Existing law generally regulates the storage
of hazardous substances in underground storage tanks,
including imposing certain requirements on those
underground storage tanks installed on or after July 1,
2003, and before July 1, 2004, or on or after July 1, 2004.
Existing law exempts from the underground storage tank
requirements an underground storage tank that meets all of
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specified criteria, one of which is that the applicable
local agency determines, without objection from the State
Water Resources Control Board, that the underground storage
tank meets or exceeds the requirements generally imposed on
underground storage tanks under existing law.
This bill, with respect to the criteria that an underground
storage tank is required to meet for an exemption, deletes
the requirement that the board not object to the local
agency's determination. To qualify for the exemption, the
bill also provides that if the underground storage tank is
installed on and after July 1, 2003, the local agency would
be required to determine that the tank meets or exceeds the
requirements for underground storage tanks installed after
January 1, 1984, except for certain in lieu conditions for
motor vehicle fuel tanks, and that any portion of a vent
line, vapor recovery line, or fill pipe that is beneath the
surface of the ground is subject to regulation as a pipe.
This bill adds an exemption from the requirements of
underground storage tanks for a tank located in a
below-grade structure and connected to an emergency
generator tank system if specified conditions are met.
The Aboveground Petroleum Storage Act defines terms for its
purposes, including defining "tank facility" as one or more
aboveground storage tanks, including any piping that is
integral to the tanks, that contain petroleum and that are
used by a single business entity at a single location or
site.
This bill, instead, defines "tank facility" for those
purposes as one of those tanks that are used by an owner or
operator, rather than a single business entity, at a single
location or site.
The Aboveground Petroleum Storage Act authorizes the
Unified Program Agency (UPA) to waive a specified fee, that
pays the necessary and reasonable costs incurred by the UPA
in administering the act, when a state or local government
agency submits a tank facility statement, the submission of
which triggers payment of the fee.
This bill deletes the authorization for the UPA to waive
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that fee for a state or local government agency that
submits the tank facility statement.
Background
This bill addresses two separate issues. First, by using
the words "owner or operator" rather than "single business
entity" in the tank facility definition, it conforms with
preceding definitions in the section of owner or operator
which include business entities as well as governmental and
academic agencies. In actual practice, Certified Unified
Program Agencies (CUPAs) currently inspect governmental and
commercial ASTs already and this technical amendment
clarifies that authority.
Second, the bill attempts to lay out the proper
requirements for USTs that are vaulted rather than buried,
which means, in practice, that they can be visually
inspected by CUPAs. The statutory requirements were
written primarily for tanks physically surrounded by soil
rather than below-grade tanks suspended in a concrete vault
and, as currently written, create confusion in the field
during inspections.
Comments
According to the author, "Current law requires impractical
testing of vaulted USTs that can be visually inspected and
is unclear as to whether the SWRCB has to review and
approve every exemption that a CUPA may grant for a UST.
Also, current law does not grant the authority to allow
CUPAs to inspect aboveground fuel tanks on DoD [Department
of Defense] land."
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/2/10)
California Association of Environmental Health
Administrators (co-source)
Industrial Environmental Association (co-source)
AT&T
County of San Diego
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ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Adams, Ammiano, Arambula, Bass, Beall, Tom
Berryhill, Blakeslee, Block, Blumenfield, Bradford,
Brownley, Buchanan, Charles Calderon, Carter, Chesbro,
Conway, Cook, Coto, Davis, De La Torre, De Leon,
Emmerson, Eng, Evans, Feuer, Fletcher, Fong, Fuentes,
Fuller, Furutani, Galgiani, Garrick, Gilmore, Hall,
Hayashi, Hernandez, Hill, Huber, Huffman, Jones, Knight,
Lieu, Logue, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mendoza, Miller,
Monning, Nava, Nestande, Niello, Nielsen, V. Manuel
Perez, Portantino, Ruskin, Salas, Saldana, Smyth,
Solorio, Audra Strickland, Swanson, Torlakson, Torres,
Torrico, Tran, Villines, Yamada, John A. Perez
NOES: Anderson, Bill Berryhill, Gaines, Jeffries
NO VOTE RECORDED: Caballero, DeVore, Hagman, Harkey,
Norby, Silva, Skinner, Vacancy
TSM:mw 8/4/10 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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