BILL ANALYSIS
SB 605
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Date of Hearing: July 15, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Kevin De Leon, Chair
SB 605 (Ashburn) - As Amended: May 04, 2009
Policy Committee: Natural
ResourcesVote:9-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
Yes Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill expands existing exemptions to review under the
California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) for certain work on
existing pipelines to include a "biogas" pipeline located in
Fresno, Kern, Kings, or Tulare counties. Specifically, this
bill:
1)Expands the exemption described above to include a pipeline
located in the counties of Fresno, Kern, Kings, or Tulare that
is used to transport "biogas" derived from anaerobic digestion
of dairy animal waste and meets compressed natural gas
specifications adopted by the Air Resources Board.
2)Sunsets January 1, 2013.
FISCAL EFFECT
Negligible state costs.
COMMENTS
1)Rationale . The author states that collection of biogas
produced at dairy operations is an emerging method that can
reduce emissions of methane, a greenhouse gas (GHG). The
author claims that projects to allow transport of this biogas
to natural gas distribution facilities are often delayed by
long and expensive CEQA reviews. The author contends that
extending existing CEQA exemptions for certain pipeline
project to biogas pipeline projects will facilitate the
capture and use of biogas as an energy source.
SB 605
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2) Background . CEQA requires the principal public agency with
responsibility for carrying out or approving a proposed
project-known as the lead agency- to prepare a negative
declaration, mitigated negative declaration, or environmental
impact report for the action, unless the project is exempt
from CEQA. Existing law exempts from CEQA a pipeline project
consisting of inspection, maintenance, repair, restoration,
reconditioning, relocation, replacement, or removal of an
existing intrastate liquid pipeline subject to the Pipeline
Safety Act, subject to specified conditions, including:
a) The project is less than eight miles in length.
b) Construction and excavation activities are not
undertaken over more than one half mile at a time.
c) The section of pipeline is not less than eight miles
from any section that has received an exemption in the past
12 months.
d) Project activities are undertaken within an existing
right-of-way and the right-of-way is restored to its
pre-project condition.
e) The diameter of the pipeline is not increased.
3)The Benefits of Biogas Do No End At the County Line . The
author contends that biogas collected from dairies reduces
emission of GHGs and provides a source of energy. The author
points to those benefits, along with the presumed minor
environmental effects of the biogas pipeline projects, to
justify extending the CEQA pipeline exemption to them.
Presumably, those benefits hold true wherever biogas is
collected and used, not just in Fresno, Kern, Kings, or Tulare
counties. It is therefore unclear why the bill should provide
a CEQA exemption to biogas pipeline projects only in those
four counties, rather than statewide.
4)Support . The only registered support to this bill is the Kern
County Board of Supervisors. There is no registered
opposition to the bill.
Analysis Prepared by : Jay Dickenson / APPR. / (916) 319-2081