BILL ANALYSIS
AB 2583
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Date of Hearing: April 20, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY AND TOXIC MATERIALS
Pedro Nava, Chair
AB 2583 (Hall) - As Amended: April 7, 2010
As Proposed To Be Amended
SUBJECT : Water treatment facilities safety.
SUMMARY : Requires public water systems and wastewater
treatment facilities to use safer technologies and raw materials
to reduce the environmental threat from hazardous material.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Requires the California Emergency Management Agency (CalEMA)
to develop regulations by January 1, 2013, to include specific
standards for public water systems and wastewater treatment
facilities within the Risk Management Plans (RMP) required by
the California Accidental Release Prevention (CalARP) program.
2)Requires CalEMA to consult with water agencies, local
governments administering the CalARP program, and other
interested parties in developing their regulations on public
water systems and wastewater treatment facilities.
3)Requires public water systems and wastewater treatment
facilities and their direct suppliers to include in their RMP
plans safer technologies to reduce the public health and
environmental hazards from the unintended and intentional
releases of hazardous substances.
4)Defines "safer technology" as technology, products, and raw
materials or practices that, when compared to existing
practices, significantly reduces or eliminates the possibility
of the release of hazardous materials or other hazards to
public health and the environment.
5)Provides that the selection of safer technologies should
include a consideration of the appropriate products based on
the disinfection methodology used by the water systems.
6)Provides that public water systems and wastewater treatment
facilities should consider the ability of the safer technology
to perform adequately for its intended use, provide adequate
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competition, and be available at a reasonable price in a
reasonable period of time.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Requires businesses handling hazardous materials to maintain
an inventory of hazardous materials and to prepare a business
plan relating to the handling and response to a release or
threatened release of hazardous materials.
2)Establishes that the program for prevention of accidental
releases of regulated substances adopted by the US
Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA), with the additional
provisions specified by the state, is the accidental release
prevention program for the state Cal ARP (HSC Section 25533 et
seq.)
3)Requires CalEMA and the appropriate administering agency in
each city or county to implement Cal ARP.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown.
COMMENTS :
1)Need for the bill: According to the author, "the use of
chlorine is a primary method to chemically process, treat and
disinfect drinking and waste water. While there are
significant public health benefits to this method of water
treatment, millions of Californians are exposed to potentially
deadly chemical spills and accidents resulting from the
transportation of chlorine, particularly along rail lines.
Current law requires water agencies to make chemical purchase
decisions for water treatment based on cost alone. This
requirement prevents these agencies from being able to factor
public safety and environmental safety impacts when purchasing
potentially hazardous substances, like chlorine to treat
drinking water."
2)Federal Risk Management Plan (RMP ): The Clean Air Act
Amendments of 1990 require the US EPA to adopt the Chemical
Accident Prevention Provisions regulation (40 CFR Part 68).
These regulations require facilities that handle regulated
substances, in quantities that exceed the listed threshold, to
prepare and submit a Risk Management Plan (RMP). For a new
facility or modified existing systems, the RMP must be in
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place prior to the introduction of the regulated substance.
3)California CalARP Program . In California, if a facility is
required to complete an RMP, then that facility is also
required to complete the California Accidental Release
Prevention (CalARP) Program. The requirements of the CalARP
Program encompass the requirements of the RMP however, the
CalARP Program contains additional requirements (such as
seismic analysis and interaction with the local Administering
Agency), and lower threshold quantities for various regulated
substances. Consequently, a facility that is not required to
comply with the Federal EPA's RMP regulation may still be
required to develop a CalARP program upon request of the local
administering agency.
4)Inherently safer technology (IST) - federal action : Congress
is currently considering legislation to reauthorize the
current chemical facility security program that could require
use of safer chemicals in some cases and force water systems
to adopt security measures. The provision, generally known as
"inherently safer technology" was included in a bill (H.R.
2868) that passed the House of Representatives in November.
Related legislation:
SCR 60 (Negrete McLeod): This resolution urges water agencies
to mitigate the potential harm involved in the release of
hazardous substances by substituting Inherently Safer Technology
(Awaiting action in the Senate Environmental Quality Committee).
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Teamsters Public Affairs Council
GreenPeace
Sierra Club
Opposition
American Chemistry Council
Association of California Water Agencies
California Association o f Sanitation Agencies
Calleguas Municipal Water District
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Eastern Municipal Water District
El Dorado Irrigation District
Metropolitan Waste District of Southern California
Sacramento Regional County Sanitation District
Analysis Prepared by : Bob Fredenburg / E.S. & T.M. / (916)
319-3965