BILL ANALYSIS Ó ------------------------------------------------------------ |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 2205| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |1020 N Street, Suite 524 | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ------------------------------------------------------------ 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 CONTINUED AB 2205 Page 2 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 CONTINUED AB 2205 Page 3 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. CONTINUED AB 2205 Page 4 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 CONTINUED AB 2205 Page 5 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 **** END **** CONTINUED