BILL ANALYSIS AB 1674 Page 1 CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS AB 1674 (Saldana) As Amended August 11, 2010 Majority vote ----------------------------------------------------------------- |ASSEMBLY: |68-4 |(May 13, 2010) |SENATE: |32-3 |(August 23, | | | | | | |2010) | ----------------------------------------------------------------- Original Committee Reference: E.S. & T.M. SUMMARY : Provides exemptions for specified underground petroleum storage tanks (UST) from current construction and monitoring requirements. The Senate amendments provide an exemption from the UST construction and monitoring requirements for USTs located in a below-grade structure and connected to an emergency generator tank system. EXISTING LAW : 1)Requires all USTs installed after April 1, 2003 to be double-contained, both primary and secondary containment to be "product tight" (impervious to the liquid and vapor phases of the substance stored); water intrusion to be prevented, secondary containment to meet specified volumetric requirements. Requires the tank to have a continuous leak monitoring system, pressurized piping to be equipped with leak detection and the tank to be tested using enhanced leak detection before it is placed into use. 2)Provides exemption from underground tank design, installation and operation requirements for tanks if all exterior surfaces, including connected piping and the floor directly beneath the tank can be monitored by direct viewing. AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY, the bill would make various technical changes to existing law pertaining to USTs and aboveground storage tanks (ASTs) including: 1)Exempts from certain UST design and construction requirements those USTs for which exterior surfaces of the UST can be visually monitored (such as those that are in concrete vaults) AB 1674 Page 2 and where the USTs meet other regulatory requirements. 2)Eliminates a provision of current law that allows the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) to object to a local agency decision as to whether a tank meets UST regulatory requirements. 3)Makes various technical changes to existing law pertaining to ASTs, including deleting the authorization for a local Unified Program Agency (UPA) to waive a local AST regulatory fee on state or local government agencies. FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, this bill may result in annual costs to state agencies. State agencies operate ASTs and this bill deletes local agencies' ability to waive fees on such state agencies. The actual cost of this bill depends on: 1) the number of ASTs operated by state agencies; and, 2) the amount of fees local agencies charge those state agencies that the local agencies otherwise would have waived. COMMENTS : 1)Need for the bill. According to the sponsors of the bill, the California Health Officers Association, AB 1674 will address enforcement issues involving fuel storage tanks. Specifically, the bill clarifies that vaulted tanks are not mandated to meet every requirement placed on USTs installed after July 1, 2004. Certain requirements, such as pressure monitoring between the soil and the exterior walls of the tanks, are not applicable to tanks that are below-grade but not buried in the ground. The bill makes a technical amendment to the Above Ground Petroleum Storage Act (APSA) to include CUPA oversight of above ground petroleum storage in federal facilities. This change will enable the collection of fees that will provide cost recovery for APSA program implementation. According to the California Council for Environmental and Economic Balance telecommunication and other utilities are required by federal law to maintain back-up electrical power generating systems to ensure that services are not interrupted in the event that grid power is unavailable. In many instances, these systems are located in the basements of AB 1674 Page 3 buildings housing vital equipment. Typically, these systems are powered by diesel engines that have small attached fuel tanks that may be manually inspected to assure that the escape of petroleum. 2)UST design standards . Federal and state laws and regulations set standards for UST system design, construction, installation and notification; upgrading of existing UST systems, general operating requirements, release detection; reporting and investigation; corrective action and out-of-service and closed UST systems. Those standards were enacted to reduce the risk of water contamination by petroleum products and hazardous and toxic additives such as MTBE that can leak from USTs. Analysis Prepared by : Robert Fredenburg / E.S. & T.M. / (916) 319-3965 FN: 0005476