BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1701
SENATE COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
Senator S. Joseph Simitian, Chairman
2011-2012 Regular Session
BILL NO: AB 1701
AUTHOR: Wieckowski
AMENDED: June 11, 2012
FISCAL: Yes HEARING DATE: July 2, 2012
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT: Rachel Wagoner/
Joanne Roy
SUBJECT : UNDERGROUND STORAGE TANKS: LOCAL AGENCIES
SUMMARY :
Existing law :
1)Regulates, generally, the storage of hazardous substances in
Underground Storage Tanks (USTs) and requires USTs that are
used to store hazardous substances to meet certain
requirements, including that the primary containment be product
tight and that the tank's secondary containment meet specified
standards.
2)Requires the Secretary of the California Environmental
Protection Agency to establish a unified hazardous waste and
hazardous materials management regulatory program, known as the
Certified Unified Program Agency (CUPA), as a means of
consolidating the local rules or local ordinances relating to
the generation or handling of hazardous waste or hazardous
materials (Health and Safety Code §25404 et seq.).
3)Requires, under the existing Barry Keene Underground Storage
Tank Cleanup Trust Fund Act of 1989 (Act), owners and operators
of petroleum USTs to take corrective action on an unauthorized
release of petroleum, including requirements for the
preparation of a work plan.
This bill provides for state certification of cities and counties
to oversee the cleanup of USTs by:
1)Requiring a city or county to apply to the State Water
Resources Control Board (SWRCB) to be certified to implement
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the local UST cleanup programs.
2)Allowing only a certified city or county to implement the local
UST oversight cleanup program after July 1, 2013.
3)Authorizing the SWRCB to certify a city or county that it
determines is qualified to oversee or perform the abatement,
and requiring the SWRCB to adopt procedures and criteria for
certifying cities and counties. Local agency certification by
the SWRCB must include a review, at a minimum, of all of the
following factors of the city or county capacity:
a) Adequacy of the technical expertise possessed by the city
or county.
b) Adequacy of staff resources.
c) Adequacy of budget resources and funding mechanisms.
d) Training requirements.
e) Past performance in implementing and enforcing corrective
action requirements.
f) Recordkeeping and accounting systems.
4)Providing that if a local agency is not certified by the SWRCB,
after July 1, 2013, the SWRCB must assign UST remediation cases
from that city or county to either the Regional Water Quality
Control Board (RWQCB) or to a certified local program.
5)Providing that an agreement between an RWQCB and a water
district to oversee, coordinate or implement a cooperative
oversight program entered into prior to January 1, 2013, must
remain in effect in accordance with the terms of the agreement
or as the terms may be amended in the future.
6)Removing obsolete provisions of the UST cleanup program,
including the authority for the Santa Clara Valley Water Agency
to operate as the local UST oversight agency and for the
funding of these activities by the SWRCB.
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COMMENTS :
1)Purpose of Bill . According to the author, "Leaks from
underground storage tanks (USTs) represent a threat to
California groundwater and land resources. Even a small amount
of petroleum released from a leaking UST can contaminate
groundwater. The multiple local agencies with responsibility
for cleanup oversight result in highly varied local
requirements and processes for the cleanup of underground
tanks. This variability has led to delays in site cleanups and
increased state and business costs."
The author states that, on November 30, 2011, the Assembly
Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials Committee conducted an
oversight hearing on state and local regulation and management
of USTs containing hazardous materials including petroleum.
The hearing held in San Jose reviewed policies and actions to
increase the efficiency and timeliness of UST cleanups.
According to the author, one of the findings from the hearing
was the need to standardize local agency oversight of cleanups
to provide timely closure of sites.
The author points out that oversight of UST cleanup is
currently carried out by a range of state and local agencies
including nine RWQCBs, 22 local oversight programs (LOPs), and
over 90 local implementing agencies (LIAs). The multiple local
agencies with responsibility for cleanup oversight result in
highly varied local requirements and processes for the cleanup
of USTs. According to the author, this variability has led to
delays in site cleanups and increased state and business costs.
2)Regulation of Water Quality . The SWRCB, in conjunction with
nine semiautonomous RWQCBs, regulates water quality in the
state. The RWQCBs -which are funded by the SWRCB and are under
the SWRCB's oversight-implement water quality programs in
accordance with policies, plans and standards developed by the
SWRCB. Current law also requires every petroleum underground
storage tank (UST) owner to pay a fee-known as the UST
Maintenance Fee- and set, as of January 2012, at 1.4 cents per
gallon. UST fee revenue is placed in the UST Cleanup Fund and
is available to assist eligible businesses and individuals to
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pay for unexpected and catastrophic expenses associated with
the cleanup of leaking petroleum USTs. The fund also provides
money to RWQCBs and local regulatory agencies to abate
emergency situations or to cleanup abandoned sites that pose a
threat to human health, safety and the environment as a result
of a petroleum release from a UST.
3)LUSTs, LIAs and LOPs. The SWRCB is required to implement a
local oversight program for the abatement of, and oversight of
the abatement of, unauthorized releases of hazardous
substances, such as petroleum, from leaking underground storage
tanks. The program is implemented by the RWQCBs and numerous
local agencies with varying requirements.
Generally, there are two categories of local agencies that
oversee abatement and cleanup of Leaking Underground Storage
Tanks (LUSTs). The first category is known as local
implementation agencies (LIAs). LIAs are mostly cities and
counties, or their subdivisions, whose oversight of LUSTs and
other hazardous substance regulation predates the state's
uniform program for the management of hazardous substances,
which began in 1996. LIAs are not directly responsible to any
state agency. Some UST owners complain LIA requirements
sometimes vary substantially from state requirements, leading
to confusion and delay in LUST abatement and cleanup. Some
contend LIAs lack legal authority to oversee LUST abatement.
The second category of local agencies overseeing LUST abatement
is local oversight programs (LOPs). Like LIAs, LOPs are
generally comprised of cities and counties or their
subdivisions. LOPs, however, operate according to a contract
with the SWRCB. LOPs, therefore, receive their LUST oversight
authority directly from, and are accountable to, a state
agency. Some UST owners contend LOP requirements, when
compared to those of LIAs, are consistent and predictable.
4)Double-Jointing Required . AB 1701 and AB 1566 (Wieckowski)
amend Health and Safety Code §25281 which provides definitions
for terms used in Chapter 6.7 pertaining to underground storage
of hazardous substances.
In order to prevent the potential of either bill from chaptering
out the other, amendments are needed to double-joint the two
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bills.
5)Related legislation .
AB 1566 (Wieckowski) expands the types of tanks regulated as
aboveground storage tanks and requires the Office of the State
Fire Marshal to provide oversight to unified program agencies
carrying out the Aboveground Petroleum Storage Act (Health and
Safety Code §25270 et seq.)
AB 1715 (Smyth) provides specified requirements for underground
storage tank closure cases.
6)Previous legislation . AB 358 (Smyth) Chapter 571, Statutes of
2011, revised the UST program to expedite case closures.
AB 1188 (Ruskin) Chapter 649, Statutes of 2009, increased the
petroleum storage fee by $0.006 per gallon, between January 1,
2010, and December 31, 2011, and AB 291 (Wieckowski) Chapter
569, Statutes of 2011, extended this sunset to January 1, 2014.
SB 1161 (Lowenthal) Chapter 616, Statutes of 2008, extended the
sunset date for the UST fund to January 1, 2016, changed the
definition of "tank" to include components attached to the
tank, and allocated funding to brownfield cleanups.
AB 2729 (Ruskin) Chapter 644, Statutes of 2008, as it relates
to USTs, allocated $10 million to schools and revises the
priority ranking used by the SWRCB by prioritizing large school
districts above otherwise un-ranked tank owners and operators
to receive financial awards for claims submitted to the SWRCB
for UST remediation costs.
SOURCE : Assemblymember Wieckowski
SUPPORT : Alameda County Water District, California
Association of Environmental Health
Administrators,
California Independent Oil Marketers Association
OPPOSITION : None on file.
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