BILL NUMBER: AB 1900 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 25, 2012
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 2, 2012
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 19, 2012
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 11, 2012
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Members Gatto, Chesbro, and Roger Hernández
(Coauthor: Assembly Member Gordon)
(Coauthor: Senator Cannella)
FEBRUARY 22, 2012
An act to amend Sections 25420 and 25421 of the Health and Safety
Code, and to amend Section 454.4 of, and to add
Sections 399.24 and 769 to , the Public Utilities
Code, relating to energy.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1900, as amended, Gatto. Renewable energy resources:
biomethane.
Existing law requires the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to
specify the maximum amount of vinyl chloride that may be found in
landfill gas. Existing law prohibits a gas producer from knowingly
selling, supplying, or transporting to a gas corporation, and a gas
corporation from knowingly purchasing, landfill gas containing vinyl
chloride in a concentration exceeding the maximum amount determined
by the PUC. Existing law requires a person who produces, sells,
supplies, or releases landfill gas for sale offsite to a gas
corporation to sample and test, bimonthly, the gas at the point of
distribution for chemicals known to the state to cause cancer or
reproductive toxicity.
This bill would require the PUC to identify all constituents that
may be found in landfill gas that is to be injected into a common
carrier pipeline and that could adversely impact the health and
safety of the public, and to specify the maximum amount of those
constituents that may be found in that landfill gas. This bill would
require the PUC to develop reasonable and prudent testing protocols
for gas collected from a solid waste landfill that is to be injected
into a common carrier pipeline to determine if the gas contains any
of the identified constituents at levels that exceed the standards
set by the PUC. This bill would prohibit a gas producer from
knowingly selling, supplying, transporting, or purchasing gas
collected from a hazardous waste landfill.
This bill would require the PUC, on or before January 1, 2014, to
consider adopting pilot projects involving the injection of
biomethane into common carrier pipelines where a project satisfies
certain safety, quality, and efficiency requirements, as specified.
This bill would require the PUC to adopt policies and
programs that promote the in-state production and distribution of
biomethane.
This bill would also require the PUC to specify minimum
electricity targets for electrical corporations to procure
electricity from landfill gas in their annual procurement updates.
Existing law allows the PUC to set heating and purity requirements
for biomethane injected into a gas pipeline. Existing law allows gas
corporations to impose tariffs on biomethane injected into their
pipelines.
This bill would require the PUC to adopt pipeline access rules
that are the substantial equivalent of Rule 39 of San Diego
Gas and Electric Company's Gas Tariff Rule Book to
will ensure that each gas corporation provides
nondiscriminatory open access to its
each corporation's gas pipeline system to any party for
the purpose of physically interconnecting with the gas pipeline
system and effectuating the delivery of gas.
This bill would make other conforming changes.
Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or any
order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the PUC
is a crime.
Because this bill would require action by the PUC to implement
certain of its requirements, a violation of which would be a crime,
these provisions would impose a state-mandated local program by
creating a new crime.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local
agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this
act for a specified reason.
This bill would become operative only if this bill and AB 2196 of
the 2011-12 Regular Session are both enacted and become effective on
or before January 1, 2013.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 25420 of the Health and Safety Code is amended
to read:
25420. For purposes of this chapter, the following definitions
apply:
(a) "Commission" means the Public Utilities Commission.
(b) "Delivery of landfill gas by dedicated pipeline" means gas
captured at a solid waste facility and transported from that site to
an eligible renewable energy resource, as defined in the California
Renewables Portfolio Standard Program (Article 16 (commencing with
Section 399.11) of Chapter 2.3 of Part 1 of Division 1 of the Public
Utilities Code), that utilizes best available control technology for
the control of air pollutants, using a pipeline that is not a common
carrier pipeline used to transport natural gas to customers other
than the eligible renewable energy resource, or otherwise subject to
the jurisdiction of the commission.
(c) "Department" means the Department of Toxic Substances Control.
(d) "Gas corporation" has the same meaning as defined in Section
222 of the Public Utilities Code and is subject to rate regulation by
the commission.
(e) "Hazardous waste landfill" means a landfill that is a
hazardous waste facility, as defined in Section 25117.1.
(f) "Person" means an individual, trust, firm, joint stock
company, partnership, association, business concern, limited
liability company, or corporation. "Person" also includes any city,
county, district, and the state or any department or agency thereof,
or the federal government or any department or agency thereof to the
extent permitted by law.
(g) "Solid waste landfill" means a landfill that is a solid waste
facility, as defined in Section 40194 of the Public Resources Code,
or at which solid waste, as defined in Section 40191 of the Public
Resources Code, is disposed.
SEC. 2. Section 25421 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to
read:
25421. (a) (1) The commission shall, by rule or order, identify
all constituents that may be found in landfill gas that is to be
injected into a common carrier pipeline and that could adversely
impact the health and safety of the public. Potential impacts
include, but are not limited to, health and safety hazards to utility
employees or to the general public, damage to pipeline facilities,
and other impacts that may inhibit the marketability of gas.
(2) The commission shall, by rule or order, specify the maximum
amount of constituents identified pursuant to paragraph (1) that may
be found in landfill gas that is to be injected into a common carrier
pipeline. The maximum amount adopted by the commission shall not
exceed the equivalent of the no significant risk level set in Section
25705 of Title 27 of the California Code of Regulations for
constituents that are specified in that section.
(3) This subdivision does not require the commission to revise any
standard in effect on the effective date of this paragraph.
(b) The commission shall make findings that are sufficient to
ensure that the standards adopted pursuant to subdivision (a) do not
do either of the following:
(1) Expose any customer, employee, or other person to landfill gas
if that gas contains any chemical known to the state to cause cancer
or reproductive toxicity without first giving clear and reasonable
warning to that individual, except as provided by Section 25249.10.
(2) Expose a natural gas pipeline to an unreasonable risk of harm
to pipeline integrity.
(c) The commission shall develop reasonable and prudent testing
protocols for gas collected from a solid waste landfill that is to be
injected into a common carrier pipeline to determine if the gas
contains any of the constituents that the commission has identified
pursuant to subdivision (a) at levels that exceed the standards set
by the commission.
(1) Recognizing the potential environmental benefits of landfill
gas that satisfies required standards and specifications, the
commission shall ensure that the protocols it adopts pursuant to this
section provide for efficient testing procedures that accurately,
and, where needed, continuously, identify levels of constituents in
landfill gas that is to be injected into a common carrier pipeline.
(2) Every person who produces, sells, supplies, or releases gas
collected at a solid waste landfill, that is to be injected into a
common carrier pipeline for sale offsite to a gas corporation or
noncore customer, shall comply with the standards and testing
protocols set by the commission.
(d) (1) A gas producer shall ensure that landfill gas it seeks to
inject into a pipeline satisfies the standards set by the commission
pursuant to subdivision (a). A gas corporation shall administer
testing protocols consistent with those standards, and shall not
knowingly accept landfill gas that does not satisfy those standards.
(2) A gas producer shall not knowingly sell, supply, or transport
gas collected from a hazardous waste landfill to a gas corporation. A
gas corporation shall not knowingly purchase gas collected from a
hazardous waste landfill.
(e) This section does not prohibit the onsite usage of landfill
gas for the generation of electricity or any other onsite productive
use by an eligible renewable energy resource, or the delivery of
landfill gas by a dedicated pipeline for the generation of
electricity, the production of steam, or any other productive use or
other industrial applications.
SEC. 3. Section 399.24 is added to the Public Utilities Code, to
read:
399.24. (a) On or before
January 1, 2014, the commission shall consider adopting pilot
projects that satisfy all of the following requirements:
(1)
(a) Are capable of being safely implemented.
(2)
(b) Demonstrate the accuracy of the commission's
testing protocols established pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section
25421 of the Health and Safety Code.
(3)
(c) Demonstrate the level of consistency of the quality
of gas injected into the gas pipeline system.
(4)
(d) Demonstrate the capacity of biomethane to be
procured at the lowest cost and best fit.
(b) To fill the energy and transportation needs of the state, the
commission shall adopt policies and programs that promote the
in-state production and distribution of biomethane. The policies and
programs shall facilitate the development of a variety of sources of
in-state biomethane.
SEC. 4. Section 454.4 of the Public Utilities
Code is amended to read:
454.4. (a) The commission shall establish rates for gas which is
utilized in cogeneration technology projects not higher than the
rates established for gas utilized as a fuel by an electric plant in
the generation of electricity, except that this rate shall apply only
to that quantity of gas which an electrical corporation serving the
area where a cogeneration technology project is located, or an
equivalent area, would require in the generation of an equivalent
amount of electricity based on the corporation's average annual
incremental heat rate and reasonable transmission losses or that
quantity of gas actually consumed by the cogeneration technology
project in the sequential production of electricity and steam, heat,
or useful work, whichever is the lower quantity.
(b) The commission shall specify minimum electricity targets for
electrical corporations to procure electricity from landfill gas in
their annual procurement updates.
SEC. 5. SEC. 4. Section 769 is added
to the Public Utilities Code, to read:
769. For each gas corporation, the commission shall adopt
pipeline access rules that are the substantial equivalent of
Rule 39 of San Diego Gas and Electric Company's Gas Tariff Rule
Book, as was in effect on January 1, 2013, to ensure that each gas
corporation provides will ensure
nondiscriminatory open access to its each
corporation's gas pipeline system to any party for the purpose
of physically interconnecting with the gas pipeline system and
effectuating the delivery of gas.
SEC. 6. SEC. 5. This act shall
become operative only if this act and Assembly Bill 2196 of the
2011-12 Regular Session are both enacted and become effective on or
before January 1, 2013.
SEC. 7. SEC. 6. No reimbursement is
required by this act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIII B of the
California Constitution because the only costs that may be incurred
by a local agency or school district will be incurred because this
act creates a new crime or infraction, eliminates a crime or
infraction, or changes the penalty for a crime or infraction, within
the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government Code, or changes the
definition of a crime within the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII
B of the California Constitution.