BILL ANALYSIS Ó ----------------------------------------------------------------- |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 712| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |1020 N Street, Suite 524 | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- THIRD READING Bill No: SB 712 Author: Lara (D) Amended: 1/17/14 Vote: 21 SENATE ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY COMMITTEE : 8-0, 1/15/14 AYES: Hill, Gaines, Corbett, Fuller, Hancock, Jackson, Leno, Pavley NO VOTE RECORDED: Vacancy SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 5-0, 1/21/14 AYES: De León, Gaines, Hill, Padilla, Steinberg NO VOTE RECORDED: Walters, Lara SUBJECT : Hazardous waste facility: permitting: interim status SOURCE : Author DIGEST : This bill requires the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC), on or before December 31, 2015, to take final action on an application for a hazardous waste facilities permit that is submitted by a facility operating under a grant of interim status on or before January 1, 1986, by either issuing a final permit or a final denial of the application. ANALYSIS : Existing law: CONTINUED SB 712 Page 2 1.Under the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) of 1976, governs the disposal hazardous waste: A. Through regulation, sets standards for the treatment, storage, transport, tracking and disposal of hazardous waste in the United States. B. Authorizes states to carry out many of the functions of the federal law through their own hazardous waste laws if such programs have been approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA). 2.Under the California Hazardous Waste Control Act (HWCA) of 1972: A. Establishes the Hazardous Waste Control program. B. Regulates the appropriate handling, processing and disposal of hazardous and extremely hazardous waste to protect the public, livestock, and wildlife from hazards to health and safety. C. Implements federal tracking requirements for the handling and transportation of hazardous waste from the point of waste generation to the point of ultimate disposition. D. Establishes a system of fees to cover the costs of operating the hazardous waste management program. E. Authorizes DTSC to enforce federal law and regulations under RCRA. F. Requires DTSC to grant and review permits and enforce HWCA requirements for hazardous waste treatment, storage and disposal facilities. This bill: 1.Makes various findings and declarations stating that the Legislature intends to identify and protect overburdened communities that suffer from asthma, cancers and other illnesses born from heavy industrial pollution and ensure increased public participation from affected communities in CONTINUED SB 712 Page 3 governmental decision making processes. 2.Requires DTSC to take final action prior to December 31, 2015 on an application for a hazardous waste facilities permit by any facility operating under interim permit status issued prior to January 1, 1986. 3.Provides that interim status granted for a hazardous waste facility after January 1, 1986 but prior to January 1, 2015 shall terminate on January 1, 2020. 4.Provides that any interim status granted for a hazardous waste facility shall terminate five years from the date on which the status was granted. 5.Allows DTSC to temporarily suspend the operation of a facility operating under a continued permit or an interim status grant in order to protect public health or safety or the environment. DTSC will have specified timelines to notify the owner and operator of the facility, set a hearing to consider the suspension, and to make a final determination. The temporary suspension will be lifted if DTSC fails to meet these time limits. Background Exide Technologies . Exide Technologies is an American manufacturer of lead-acid batteries, including automotive batteries and industrial batteries. Its four global business groups (Transportation Americas, Transportation Europe and Rest of World, Industrial Power Americas, and Industrial Power Europe and Rest of World) provide stored electrical energy products and services. Exide's global headquarters are located in Milton, Georgia. It has both manufacturing and recycling plants. Equipment used in the battery recycling process includes machines to break batteries apart and separate different materials, furnaces and kettles to melt metals, and miscellaneous equipment including storage tanks, conveying equipment, and engines. Exide operates numerous pieces of control equipment to reduce pollution including bag houses, dust collectors, and filters for reducing dust and metals; and scrubbers, mist eliminators, and an afterburner, which remove CONTINUED SB 712 Page 4 pollution from gases. Exide has five "secondary lead" smelters or recyclers, only two of which - Forest City, Missouri, and Muncie, Indiana - are operating. However, at the Muncie, Indiana plant, Exide settled a notice of violation and signed an agreed order with the Indiana Department of Environmental Management that calls for fines if it does not meet specified cleanup conditions involving brown-colored, lead contaminated water along a storage area and rail spur near a ditch leading to a stormwater outfall. Exide closed its smelter in Frisco, Texas, in 2012 after a lengthy battle by the city and residents over lead and arsenic pollution coming from the site. The plant ceased operations November 30, 2012, as part of an agreement with the city. The agreement calls for the City of Frisco to purchase about 170 acres of buffer land from Exide for $45 million. Exide will keep the 90 acres used for its operations. The deal is contingent on complete cleanup. Preliminary estimates peg cleanup costs at anywhere from $15 million to more than $130 million. However, over a year after the plant closed, Exide has not fully characterized the extent of the contamination or cleanup. An article by the Dallas Morning News, states that "efforts the past year have been complicated by Exide's bankruptcy filing in June." Exide, Vernon, California . The Exide facility in Vernon, California is one of two secondary lead smelting facilities in California which recovers lead from recycled automotive batteries. It has over 100 employees. It recycles 23,000 to 41,000 batteries daily and has an average production of 100,000 to 120,000 tons of lead per year. This is equivalent to recycling approximately 11 million car batteries, which is about the same number of used batteries generated in California annually. Battery recycling recycles 97% of the battery lead to be recycled. Exide also recovers lead from lead bearing plant scrap and secondary materials, primarily from lead-acid battery manufacturers. CONTINUED SB 712 Page 5 This facility is regulated by various local and state regulatory agencies. DTSC regulates companies that handle hazardous waste under federal and state hazardous waste laws. DTSC permits and inspects facilities, issues violations of hazardous waste rules, and monitors corrective action at sites. The South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) regulates Exide's air emissions, in part with what is called a Title V permit, which allows the company to release pollutants into the air up to certain levels. The Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board (LARWQCB) is responsible for protecting water quality. Exide has wastewater treatment systems, and a stormwater system that includes a retention basin. LARWQCB with the State Water Resources Control Board set and enforce standards for water that flows away from Exide's property into the sewer. The City of Vernon issues health and other permits to Exide. The history of the Exide hazardous waste permit . The facility in Vernon has been operating with an interim hazardous waste facility permit since 1981. However, it has had several owners prior to Exide Technologies. The facility has been used for a variety of metal fabrication and metal recovery operations since 1922. Previous owners have included Morris P. Kirk & Sons, Inc., NL Industries, Gould Inc., and GNB Inc. Gould Inc. filed a RCRA Part A notification on November 19, 1980, as a treatment and storage facility. This Part A identified storage of spent lead-acid batteries and other lead-bearing material prior to treatment and recycling, and a wastewater treatment system. Gould Inc. was issued an Interim Status Document (ISD) by the California Department of Health Services (DHS), DTSC's predecessor agency, on December 18, 1981. The U.S. EPA rescinded the facility's Treatment and Storage Facility classification by returning Gould Inc.'s original RCRA CONTINUED SB 712 Page 6 Part A application, after Gould Inc. eliminated its waste pile, claimed that the smelters do not require a permit, and requested reclassification to generator status. The ISD was subsequently rescinded by DHS in 1982. GNB, Inc. purchased the facility and filed a revised Part A application on July 5, 1985. On September 3, 1986, DHS determined that a hazardous waste facilities permit was necessary. GNB, Inc. submitted the first RCRA Part B application on November 8, 1988. On December 13, 1999, DTSC approved a Class 2 Interim Status modification for Supplemental Environmental Projects as a result of an enforcement case settlement. On June 30, 2000, DTSC approved a Class 2 Interim Status modification, for replacement of the Waste Water Treatment Plant and to provide secondary containment. On January 5, 2001, DTSC approved a Class 1 Interim Status modification, for change of ownership and operational control to Exide Corporation. On November 16, 2001, DTSC approved a Class 1 Interim Status modification, for a name change from Exide Corporation to Exide Technologies. In 2006, Exide submitted a completed application and DTSC circulated for public hearing, a draft permit for the Vernon Exide facility. In mid-2006, DTSC received significant comments from the SCAQMD and the public in regards to three specific areas: (1) the risk assessment prepared by the contractor used proprietary software, which was not accessible by the public to verify parameters and assumptions used in the risk assessment model. The risk assessment model for the air emissions model was not an approved model by SCAQMD; (2) the environmental impact report (EIR) lacked significant alternative analysis to mitigate the environmental impacts; and (3) the Part B application had not adequately assessed the secondary containment, tank systems, and CONTINUED SB 712 Page 7 closure of former tank systems. As a result DTSC took the following actions: (1) worked closely with SCAQMD to require Exide to prepare a risk assessment (AQMD required risk assessment for air emissions); (2) prepared a revised EIR; and (3) required Exide to submit a revised Part B application addressing comments received during comment period. In 2010, the risk assessment indicated high arsenic emissions prompting Exide to petition SCAQMD to redo the source testing (data required for the risk assessment) in order to prepare a revised risk assessment. [Note: source testing is an expensive process that can cost up to $1 million]. In January 2013, Exide provided DTSC and SCAQMD with a revised risk assessment. The risk assessment showed high risks to potential receptors (workers and residents). In April 2013, DTSC issued an administrative suspension order because it was concerned about the releases of hazardous waste (leaking stormwater pipes) and air emissions into the environment. In May 2013, Exide requested a hearing with the Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH). A hearing was held in June 2013 by OAH. In June 2013, the Los Angeles Superior Court granted Exide's ex parte application and issued a temporary restraining order which stayed the Order for Temporary Suspension and prevented DTSC from enforcing it until the hearing and determination on the order to show cause regarding the preliminary injunction was concluded. In October 2013, DTSC and Exide signed a Stipulation and Order. The Stipulation and Order resolves the administrative suspension order that DTSC issued against Exide in April 2013 and resolves a legal action that Exide filed against DTSC in June 2013. The Stipulation and Order sets out conditions that Exide must meet and timelines for completing them. There are automatic penalties in place if the timelines are not met as specified in the Stipulation and Order. October 2013 - Present: Exide is in the process of implementing CONTINUED SB 712 Page 8 the requirements set forth in the Stipulation and Order. Note: For the history of the environmental impact and enforcement at the Exide facility in Vernon, refer to the Senate Environmental Quality Committee analysis of 1/6/14. FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: No According to the Senate Appropriations Committee: No costs in 2014-15 and 2015-16 for permitting one facility operating on an interim status grant. Unknown, but likely insignificant, costs from the Hazardous Waste Control Account (special), for permitting facilities on an interim status grant in the long-term future. SUPPORT : (Verified 1/22/14) City of Bell, Mayor Violeta Alvarez City of Bell, Vice Mayor Ana Maria Quintana City of Bell, Councilmember Alicia Romero City of Bell, Councilmember Nestor Enrique Valencia City of Los Angeles Coalition for Clean Air Florence Firestone Merchants Association Lynwood Mayor Aide Castro Lynwood Councilmember José Luis Solache ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : The City of Los Angeles states, "Exide Technologies has operated a facility under an interim permit since 1981, and has never been issued a final permit by the DTSC. In April of 2013, the facility was closed by the DTSC to determine if there was an imminent danger to public health after tests conducted by the SCAQMD showed unsafe levels of arsenic in air emissions and dangerous levels of lead contamination from the facility." This bill "will serve the public by requiring the DTSC to reach a final permitting decision on facilities that operate under interim permits." CONTINUED SB 712 Page 9 RM:ke 1/22/14 Senate Floor Analyses SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE **** END **** CONTINUED