BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                      



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          |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE            |                  AB 2205|
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                                 THIRD READING


          Bill No:  AB 2205
          Author:   V. Manuel Pérez (D), et al.
          Amended:  8/6/12 in Senate
          Vote:     21

           
           SENATE ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY COMMITTEE  :  7-0, 6/18/12
          AYES:  Simitian, Strickland, Blakeslee, Hancock, Kehoe, 
            Lowenthal, Pavley

           SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE  :  Senate Rule 28.8
           
          ASSEMBLY FLOOR  :  Not relevant


           SUBJECT  :    Hazardous waste:  ores and minerals

           SOURCE  :     Simbol Materials


           DIGEST  :    This bill clarifies that wastes from the 
          extraction, beneficiation, and processing of ores and 
          minerals includes spent brine solutions that are used to 
          produce geothermal energy and that are transferred, via a 
          closed piping system, to an adjacent facility for 
          reclamation, beneficiation, or processing to recover 
          minerals or other commercial substances, if the spent brine 
          solutions, and any liquid residuals derived from the 
          solutions are (1) managed in accordance with specified 
          provisions of the Code of Federal Regulations, (2) returned 
          after processing, via closed piping, and subsequently 
          managed in accordance with the exemption under existing 
          law, and (3)                       not solid or semisolid 
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          hazardous residuals.

           Senate Floor Amendments  of 8/6/12 make technical amendments 
          and add a coauthor.
           ANALYSIS  :    

          Existing law:

          1. Authorizes the State Water Resources Control Board 
             (SWRCB) and Regional Water Quality Control Boards 
             (RWQCBs) to regulate geothermal waste.  (Water Code 
             Section 13000 et seq.)

          2. Authorizes the Department of Toxic Substances Control 
             (DTSC) to regulate waste generated during geothermal 
             energy production, and requires DTSC to establish 
             standards and regulations for the management of 
             hazardous wastes to protect against the hazards to 
             public health, domestic livestock, wildlife and the 
             environment.  (Health and Safety Code Section (HSC) 
             25100 et seq.)

          3. Exempts from regulation by DTSC, geothermal wastes from 
             the exploration, development, and production of 
             geothermal energy, if such wastes are contained within 
             the operating system of that same facility.  (HSC 
             Section 25143.1)

          4. Requires the wastes to be "contained" on site at an 
             operating geothermal production facility and requires 
             the removal of geothermal waste that is relocated for 
             drying within 30 days.  (HSC Section 25143.1)

          5. Exempts wastes from the extraction, beneficiation, and 
             processing of ores and minerals that are not subject to 
             regulation under the federal Resource Conservation and 
             Recovery Act from regulation by DTSC, except the 
             Carpenter-Presley-Tanner Hazardous Substance Account Act 
             (HSC Section 25300 et seq.) and the Toxic Pits Cleanup 
             Act of 1984 (HSC Section 25208 et seq.)

          6. Defines "wastes from the extraction, beneficiation, and 
             processing of ores and minerals" as soil, waste rock, 
             overburden, and other solid, semisolid, or liquid 

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             natural materials that are removed, unearthed, or 
             otherwise displaced as a result of excavating or 
             recovering an ore or a mineral, or the residuals of 
             those ores after treatment or processing.  (HSC Section 
             25143.1)

          Comments
           
           Purpose  .  According to the author, this bill "seeks to 
          clarify that existing regulations and exemptions that apply 
          to geothermal plants also apply to new processes that 
          extract materials from geothermal waste in connection with 
          that plant in a closed-loop system.  The proposed amendment 
          is intended to provide certainty to both geothermal 
          developers and extraction companies, ensuring that neither 
          party's geothermal exemption will be imperiled due to the 
          extraction of beneficial commercial substances." 

           Geothermal power plant operations  .  Geothermal powerplants 
          use super-heated geothermal brine pumped from below the 
          earth's surface to heat boilers that drive steam turbines, 
          generating renewable electricity.  After being used to heat 
          the boilers, the cooled brine is injected back underground 
          to recharge the geothermal resource, creating a closed-loop 
          system.  Geothermal plants, particularly those near the 
          Salton Sea, often filter materials out of the brine to 
          avoid fouling their equipment and to enable the brine to be 
          pumped back into the resource more easily.

          Flash geothermal steam plants, the kind found in the 
          Imperial Valley, bring up hot water brines with levels of 
          toxic and radioactive substances that are often 
          sufficiently high to be considered hazardous.  When the 
          resulting steam is then condensed to brine, it may contain 
          up to 30% of its weight as dissolved solids.  This hot 
          brine is then treated to separate out the solids, known as 
          filter cake.  At a temperature of about 200 degrees 
          Fahrenheit, the resulting brine is then sent to outdoor 
          pools where still more solids precipitate out.  Finally, 
          the remaining fluids are re-injected into the underground 
          reservoir.  The solid residues are tested on site and any 
          hazardous filter cake is managed as solid or hazardous 
          waste.


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           Regulation of geothermal brine  .  According to documents 
          filed by the SWRCB relative to geothermal permits, the 
          United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) 
          proposed hazardous waste management standards that included 
          reduced requirements for several types of large volume 
          wastes including geothermal waste.  Subsequently, Congress 
          exempted these wastes from the Resource Conservation and 
          Recovery Act, Subtitle C hazardous waste regulations.  
          Among the wastes covered by the 1978 proposal were "gas and 
          oil drilling muds and oil production brines."  The oil and 
          gas exemption was expanded in 1980 to include drilling 
          fluids and produced water, from crude oil, natural gas and 
          geothermal wells.  The extended list of exempt wastes 
          includes "hydrogen sulfide abatement wastes from geothermal 
          energy production" and "well completion, treatment and 
          stimulation fluids."

          In California, DTSC has been granted primary enforcement 
          authority for hazardous waste regulation by US EPA.  
          Geothermal wastes, however, are exempt from regulation as 
          hazardous waste by the California Code of Regulations Title 
          22, and the HSC including Section 25143.1(a) which 
          provides:  "Any geothermal waste resulting from drilling 
          for geothermal resources is exempt from the requirements of 
          this chapter because the disposal of these geothermal 
          wastes is regulated by the California Regional Water 
          Quality Control Boards."

          In 2006, questions raised about DTSC's jurisdiction over 
          geothermal plants led to the current language for the 
          exemption.  To avoid duplicative regulation by RWQCBs and 
          DTSC, AB 1294 (Ducheny), Chapter 143, Statutes of 2006, 
          clarified that any waste from the operation of a geothermal 
          energy plant was also exempt from DTSC regulation, in 
          addition to the existing exemption for waste from drilling.

           FISCAL EFFECT  :    Appropriation:  No   Fiscal Com.:  Yes   
          Local:  No

           SUPPORT  :   (Verified  8/6/12)

          Simbol Materials (source)
          Brawley Chamber of Commerce
          CleanTECH San Diego

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          EnergySource
          Geothermal Energy Association
          Imperial County Board of Supervisors
          Imperial Irrigation District
          Imperial Valley Economic Development Corporation
          Marine Group Boat Works


          DLW:k  8/6/12   Senate Floor Analyses 

                         SUPPORT/OPPOSITION:  SEE ABOVE

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