BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1190
SENATE COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
Senator Jerry Hill, Chair
2013-2014 Regular Session
BILL NO: AB 1190
AUTHOR: Bloom
AMENDED: May 7, 2013
FISCAL: Yes HEARING DATE: June 26, 2013
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT: Rachel Machi
Wagoner
SUBJECT : HAZARDOUS WASTE: TRANSPORTATION
SUMMARY :
Existing law :
1)Authorizes the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC)
to regulate hazardous waste generation, transportation,
treatment, storage, and disposal pursuant to both the
federal Resources Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) rules
and additional state requirements.
2)Requires shipments of hazardous waste to be accompanied by a
hazardous waste manifest and transported by a hazardous
waste hauler registered by DTSC.
3)Exempts shipments of hazardous waste from the manifest and
registered hauler requirements if the waste is transported
from a "remote site" to a "consolidation site," as defined,
operated by the generator; the transport of the waste is not
federally regulated; and, the generator meets specified
requirements relating to personnel, training, transport
vehicles, liability, shipping papers, and packaging.
4)Provides an exemption for that public utility, local
publicly owned utilities and municipal utility districts
that may transport up to 1,600 gallons of hazardous
wastewater pumped from utility vaults and up to 500 gallons
of other liquid hazardous wastes.
This bill increases the maximum amount of specified hazardous
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waste that public utilities are authorized to transport in a
single shipment from a remote site to a consolidation site
without using a hazardous waste manifest to up to 5,000
gallons of hazardous wastewater to be transported in a single
shipment (which is an increase from the current maximum of
1,600 gallons).
COMMENTS :
1) Purpose of Bill . According to the author, this bill,
"adjusts the capacity requirements for non-RCRA hazardous
waste transportation by public utilities and local
publicly owned utilities to reflect the existing
transport capacity.
Currently, the utility fleets travel with partial loads
due to requirements in statute. This results in
unnecessary trips to clear right-of-ways, vaults, or to
perform regular maintenance, increasing not just the
amount of time that these trucks spend on the road but
also increasing road congestion, diesel emissions and
fuel consumption. It also slows down the process of
restoring service to ratepayers."
2) Hazardous waste transportation . According to DTSC, a
hazardous waste manifest must accompany most hazardous
waste that is shipped off site. The Uniform Hazardous
Waste Manifest is the shipping document that travels with
hazardous waste from the point of generation, through
transportation, to the final treatment, storage, and
disposal facility. Each party in the chain of shipping,
including the generator, signs and keeps one of the
manifest copies, creating a "cradle-to-grave" tracking of
the hazardous waste. Hazardous waste that is transported
off-site on public highways must be moved to an
authorized treatment, storage, or disposal facility by a
registered hazardous waste transporter in an inspected
and certified vehicle, using a Uniform Hazardous Waste
Manifest.
When the remote site hazardous waste manifest and
transport exemption was originally enacted, it was
intended to facilitate the safe collection and
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transportation of small amounts of hazardous waste
generated in remote locations to a consolidation site.
3) Background: Classifying and Regulating Hazardous
Wastes . California has broader and more specific
definitions for waste than the federal requirements. In
addition to the listed and characteristic wastes under
the federal rules and California's non-RCRA hazardous
wastes, the state also adds extremely hazardous wastes
and special wastes. California has not adopted all of
the federal waste and hazardous waste exclusions, which
makes its waste determination rules stricter than the
federal requirements. Wastes can be considered hazardous
if they are either listed or if they are a mixture of a
listed hazardous waste and other wastes.
Despite California's stricter regulation of hazardous
waste, there remain potentially significant gaps in
regulation, primarily due to the fact that so little is
known about toxicity of so many waste streams. Moreover,
since the determination of toxicity is left to vague
criteria (e.g., the hazardous waste "exhibits" a
characteristic of toxicity), the state is operating
within a context of considerable uncertainty.
While AB 1190 does nothing to alter the existing
architecture to regulate hazardous waste, the integrity
of public health and environmental protections afforded
by these waste laws may be compromised by allowing
utilities to transport larger quantities of hazardous
wastewater without characterization and without manifest.
The sponsors cite that this expansion of the current
allowance would allow for quicker response time in
emergencies after storm events. While this may be
laudable, allowing 5,000 gallon trucks of unclassified
unmanifested hazardous waste on California highways for
any reason increases the risk of exposure to 5,000
gallons of hazardous waste in an accidental spill. Is it
worth the risk to public safety and the environment in an
emergency if a spill occurs from a large capacity truck?
Classification of hazardous waste and manifests are what
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allow the Certified Unified Program Agencies (CUPAs) to
respond and act in the case of a highway spill. Without
these two things, there is the potential for 5,000 gallon
trucks to spill on California highways without having the
necessary information for CUPA hazardous waste personnel
to respond to accidents.
4) Arguments in support . According to the California
Fire Chiefs Association, "An increase in the allowable
volume of contaminated water from underground
substructures from 1,600 to 5,000 gallons per load would
benefit the public in the following ways: Shorten
restoration times for emergency utility operations;
Prevent further contamination or potential release of
contaminants in flooded vaults during a storm event;
Decrease in fuel consumption, reduce vehicle miles
traveled and diesel emissions from hauling multiple loads
with smaller rank trucks or partial loads; Decrease in
response time to evacuate water from vaults reducing lane
closure times and decreases street traffic during routine
work and emergencies."
5) Arguments in opposition . According to Sierra Club
California, "This bill would allow hazardous waste that
would normally be required to be documented and followed
through a standardized manifest system to escape
compliance with that system. This exemption from the
manifest system risks encouraging mishandling and illegal
dumping of hazardous waste. The purpose of this
tracking, including the federal mandate that manifests be
uniform across the country, is to protect public health
and the environment. Clear tracking ensures proper
disposal. It also ensures that, should there be an
accidental spill, that critical information is available
to help identify the quantity and quality of the waste,
and the responsible parties. A trained generator or
transporter can fill out a manifest within a matter of
minutes. It is not a burden. AB 1190 would expand the
amount of waste that could be hauled by a public utility
without benefit of a manifest. The proponents argue that
a shipping list will be as good as a manifest. In fact,
this is not true. A shipping list does not bring with it
the same level or expectation of training, responsibility
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and accountability that a manifest does."
6) Recent related legislation . AB 868 (Davis, 2011) .
Would have revised the condition for exempting manifest
and transporter requirements pertaining to hazardous
waste to an increased maximum weight of 10,000 pounds (an
increase from the currently allowable 2,500 pounds or 275
gallons) and increased the maximum 1,600 gallon hazardous
wastewater exception for utility generators to a maximum
of 5,000 gallons. This bill was held in the
Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials Committee.
SB 466 (Oropeza, 2010) . Would have revised the condition
for exempting manifest and transporter requirements
pertaining to hazardous waste to an increased maximum
weight of 10,000 pounds and increases the maximum 1,600
gallon hazardous wastewater exception for certain
generators to a maximum of 5,000 gallons. This bill was
held in the Senate Environmental Quality Committee.
SOURCE : California Council for Environmental and
Economic Balance (CCEEB)
SUPPORT : California Fire Chiefs Association
California Municipal Utilities Association
OPPOSITION : Sierra Club California