BILL NUMBER: SB 1249 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 10, 2014
AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 27, 2014
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 22, 2014
INTRODUCED BY Senator Hill
FEBRUARY 20, 2014
An act to add Sections 25150.9, 25150.9.1, and 25150.9.2 to the
Health and Safety Code, relating to hazardous waste.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 1249, as amended, Hill. Hazardous waste: shredder waste.
(1) The California Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989
requires materials that require special handling, as defined, to be
removed from major appliances and vehicles in which they are
contained before crushing for transport or transferring to a baler or
shredder for recycling.
The hazardous waste control laws prohibit a person who is not a
certified appliance recycler from removing materials that require
special handling from major appliances and imposes specified
requirements regarding transporting, delivering, or selling discarded
major appliances to a scrap recycling facility. A violation of the
hazardous waste control laws is a crime.
This bill would authorize, until January 1, 2017, the Department
of Toxic Substances Control, in consultation with the Department of
Resources Recycling and Recovery and
Recovery, the State Water Resources Control Board, and
affected local air quality management districts, to adopt
regulations establishing alternative management standards for a metal
shredding facility , including activities conducted within
the boundaries of a metal shredding facility, and for the generation,
storage, transportation, and disposal of metal shredder residue and
treated metal shredder residue, as defined, for
hazardous waste management activities within the jurisdiction of the
Department of Toxic Substances Control, that would apply in
lieu of the hazardous waste management standards if the department
performs specified actions. The bill would include among those
department actions preparing a preliminary analysis and a final
analysis evaluating the hazardous waste management activities to
which the alternative management standards would apply.
The bill would require the department to provide notice that it
proposes to adopt alternative management standards. The bill would
prohibit the department from adopting alternative
management standards that are less stringent than applicable
standards under federal law and would require metal shredder
residue and treated metal shredder residue
waste to be disposed of in a specified manner.
The bill would require the department to complete the analysis of the
hazardous waste management activities and the subsequent regulatory
action before January 1, 2017, and would make all hazardous waste
determinations and policies, procedures, or guidance issued by the
department before January 1, 2014, relating to metal shredder
residue waste or treated metal shredder
residue waste inoperative once the
department has taken regulatory action. Because a violation of these
requirements would be a crime, this bill would impose a
state-mandated local program.
The bill would authorize the department to collect an annual fee
from metal shredding facilities at a rate sufficient to cover the
costs of the department to implement these provisions.
(2) 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.
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. The Legislature finds and declares all
of the following:
(a) Before 1984, all metal shredder waste was considered not to be
hazardous waste and was disposed of or used as alternative daily
cover in municipal solid waste landfills.
(b) In 1984, California deemed metal shredder waste as a non-RCRA
hazardous waste, or California hazardous waste, due to the presence
of lead, cadmium, copper, and zinc at levels above the state's
regulatory thresholds, as well as polychlorinated biphenyls in
concentrations that, on some occasions, exceeded either the federal
or the California regulatory thresholds, or both.
(c) Between 1986 and 1992, the Toxic Substances Control Division
of the Department of Health Services, which was the predecessor to
the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC), issued conditional
nonhazardous waste classifications, also referred to as "f letters,"
to seven shredder facilities in California that treated their metal
shredder waste to affix the hazardous components into waste. Once a
facility operator received a nonhazardous waste classification,
treated metal shredder waste was no longer regulated as a hazardous
waste at the facility.
(d) In early 2001, DTSC began an initiative to evaluate the
adequacy of the metal shredder waste policy and compliance with the
conditional nonhazardous waste classifications, which included new
sampling and analysis. The report from that initiative recommended
rescinding the conditional nonhazardous waste classifications.
However, DTSC took no further action.
(e) In 2002, DTSC conducted an auto shredder initiative that found
that both treated and untreated shredder waste exceeded state
regulatory thresholds for lead, zinc, and cadmium. The report
recommended that the DTSC policy and procedure that allowed the
exemption for this waste be rescinded and that the waste stream be
regulated as hazardous waste. No action was taken at that time.
(f) In 2002, DTSC issued an "imminent and substantial endangerment"
order against Pacific Steel Inc., because of dust that blew from
contaminated piles of waste stored by Pacific Steel Inc. out in the
open. The contaminated piles, which contained polychlorinated
biphenyls and toxic metals such as lead, zinc, and copper, polluted
and threatened to pollute the air and water near the facility. In
2011, DTSC issued a remedial action order against Pacific Steel Inc.
to clean up the site.
(g) In 2008, DTSC sent letters to operators of metal shredder
facilities expressing the department's intention to repeal the
conditional authorization that allows metal shredder waste to be
classified as a nonhazardous waste. However, DTSC has not, to date,
rescinded the conditional waste classifications.
(h) In 2009, the California Integrated Waste Management Board, now
known as the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, or
CalRecycle, issued the "Alternative Daily Cover White Paper." The
paper states that, " s]taff with DTSC have indicated that metal
shredder waste] treatment is not effective, the material should be
considered hazardous, and metal shredder waste] should be required to
be disposed of] in Class I landfills. DTSC staff also indicates that
metal shredder waste] feedstocks are variable and have changed in
the last 20 years (more electronic components, white goods,
chlorinated plastics). Sampling is costly, and it is difficult to
obtain representative samples of metal shredder waste]."
(i) In 2011, DTSC settled an enforcement action against SA
Recycling, LLC, which is jointly owned by Sims Metal Management Ltd.
and Adams Steel LLC, for $2.9 million. The action alleged that SA
Recycling, LLC violated air pollution laws when an explosion at its
Port of Los Angeles metal shredding facility at Terminal Island
destroyed its air pollution control system in May of 2007, and the
company continued operating for weeks without proper equipment. As a
result, approximately 4.4 tons of toxic particulate matter were
released into the air, and migrated to bay waters and the community
of Wilmington, putting local residents and the environment at risk.
(j) In January 2012, the Redwood City, California, metal shredding
location of Sims Metal Management was cited by the United States
Environmental Protection Agency for polluting the San Francisco Bay.
Inspectors found the company had unlawfully discharged
polychlorinated biphenyls, lead, copper, mercury, and zinc into
Redwood Creek, a tributary of San Francisco Bay. The United States
Environmental Protection Agency found polychlorinated biphenyl at
levels of 195 times of the accepted levels and lead at levels of more
than 10 times of the accepted levels in sediment near where the
shredding yard meets Redwood Creek. This enforcement action was
resolved in 2013.
(k) Additionally, there have been several fires in the last
several years at the Sims Metal Management Redwood City facility that
have caused the Bay Area Air Quality Management District to ask
residents to stay inside. Two fires occurred in November and December
of 2013, raising concerns about the proximity of this facility to
residents. In the fire in December of 2013, no one was reported
injured by the smoke or fire, which was limited to a debris pile
about 900 square feet in area and 30 feet tall, but the noxious odor
produced by the blaze was detected as far south as South San Jose and
across the San Francisco Bay in Oakland and Berkeley.
(l) Sims Metal Management's recycling
facilities in Hayward and San Francisco experienced fires in 2009 and
2010, respectively, according to records from the Bay Area Air
Quality Management District.
(m) In 2011, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service
investigated Sims Metal Management for allowing fibrous automobile
shredder residue to blow or drift into wetlands around Bair Island,
800 feet downwind from the Redwood City facility.
(n) DTSC has failed to revoke the nonhazardous waste
classifications for treated shredder waste granted decades ago to the
metal shredding industry despite a 2001 legal opinion by DTSC
attorneys, which called the exemption "outdated and legally
incorrect," and warnings from the department's scientists that this
waste could become hazardous during the shredding process.
(o) It is the intent of the Legislature that the conditional
nonhazardous waste classifications be revoked and that metal
shredding facilities be thoroughly regulated to ensure adequate
protection of the human health and the environment.
SECTION 1. SEC. 2. Section 25150.9 is
added to the Health and Safety Code, to read:
25150.9. (a) The Legislature finds and declares that this section
is intended to address the unique circumstances associated with the
operation of metal shredding facilities, and the generation and
management of wastes generated by metal shredding facilities. The
Legislature further declares that this section does not set a
precedent applicable to the management, including disposal, of other
hazardous wastes.
(b) For purposes of this section, the following
definitions shall apply:
(1) "Metal shredder aggregate" means the combination of ferrous
metal, nonferrous metal, other recyclable materials, and
nonrecyclable materials that exits from a metal shredding facility.
(2) "Metal shredder residue" means the predominantly nonmetallic
material that remains after conducting physical separation methods to
separate any ferrous or nonferrous metals, or any other recyclable
materials, from the materials created by a metal shredding facility.
Metal shredder residue does not include the ferrous and nonferrous
metals and other recyclable materials that have been removed from the
metal shredder aggregate.
(3) "Metal
"metal shredding facility" means an operation
that uses a shredding technique to process end-of-life vehicles,
waste appliances, and other forms of scrap metal to facilitate the
separation and sorting of ferrous metals, nonferrous metals, and
other recyclable materials from nonrecyclable materials that are
components of the end-of-life vehicles, waste appliances, and other
forms of scrap metal objects containing
material to be discarded . "Metal shredding facility" does not
include a feeder yard, a metal crusher, or a metal baler.
(4) "Scrap metal" includes ferrous metals, nonferrous metals,
aluminum scrap, other metals, and auto bodies, but does not include
aluminum cans, steel cans, or bimetal cans.
(5) "Treated metal shredder residue" means metal shredder residue
that has been chemically treated to alter its chemical
characteristics for purposes of rendering the metal shredder residue
less hazardous or nonhazardous for purposes of classifying the waste
in accordance with the criteria and guidelines adopted by the
department pursuant to Section 25141.
(c) The department, in consultation with the Department of
Resources Recycling and Recovery and
Recovery, the State Water Resources Control Board, and
affected local air quality management districts, may adopt
regulations establishing management standards for metal shredding
facilities and for the generation, storage, transportation,
and disposal of metal shredder residue or treated metal shredder
residue for hazardous waste management
activities within the department's jurisdiction as an
alternative to the requirements specified in this chapter and the
regulations adopted pursuant to this chapter, if the department does
all of the following:
(1) Prepares an analysis of the activities to which the
alternative management standards will apply pursuant to
subdivision (d). The department shall first prepare the analysis as a
preliminary analysis and make it available to the public at the same
time that the department gives notice, pursuant to Section 11346.4
of the Government Code, that it proposes to adopt the alternative
management standards. The department shall include in the notice a
statement that the department has prepared a preliminary analysis and
a statement concerning where a copy of the preliminary analysis can
be obtained. The information in the preliminary analysis shall be
updated and the department shall make the analysis available to the
public as a final analysis not less than 10 working days before the
date that the regulation is adopted.
(2) Demonstrates at least one of the conclusions set forth in
paragraphs (1) to (4), inclusive, of subdivision (e).
(3) Imposes, as may be necessary, conditions and limitations as
part of the alternative management standards that ensure
that the hazardous waste management activity to which the
alternative management standards will apply will not pose a
significant potential hazard to human health or safety or to the
environment.
(d) Before the department gives notice of a proposal to adopt the
alternative management standards pursuant to subdivision
(c), and before the department adopts the regulation, the department
shall evaluate the operative environmental and public health
regulatory oversight of metal shredding facilities, identifying
activities that need to be addressed by the alternative management
standards, or other advisable regulatory or statutory changes, and
shall evaluate the hazardous waste management activities and
prepare, as required by paragraph (1) of subdivision (c), an analysis
that addresses all of the following aspects of the activity, to the
extent that the alternative management standards can
affect these aspects of the activity:
(1) The types of hazardous waste and the estimated amounts of each
hazardous waste that are managed as part of the activity and the
hazards to human health or safety or to the environment posed by
reasonably foreseeable mismanagement of those hazardous wastes and
their hazardous constituents. The estimate of the amounts of each
hazardous waste that are managed as part of the activity shall be
based upon information reasonably available to the department.
(2) The complexity of the activity, and the amount and complexity
of operator training, equipment installation and maintenance, and
monitoring that are required to ensure that the activity is conducted
in a manner that safely and effectively manages each hazardous
waste.
(3) The chemical or physical hazards that are associated with the
activity and the degree to which those hazards are similar to, or
different from, the chemical or physical hazards that are associated
with the production processes that are carried out in the facilities
that produce the hazardous waste that is managed as part of the
activity.
(4) The types of accidents that might reasonably be foreseen to
occur during the management of particular types of hazardous waste
streams as part of the activity, the likely consequences of those
accidents, and the reasonably available actual accident history
associated with the activity.
(5) The types of locations where the activity may be carried out,
an estimate of the number of these locations, and the types of
hazards that may be posed by proximity to the land uses described in
Section 25227. The estimate of the number of locations where the
activity may be carried out shall be based upon information
reasonably available to the department.
(e) The department shall not give notice proposing the adoption
of, and the department shall not adopt, a regulation pursuant to
subdivision (c) unless it first demonstrates at least one of the
following, for each requirement that the alternative management
standards are intended to replace, using the information
developed in the analysis prepared pursuant to subdivision (d):
(1) The requirements that the alternative management
standards replace are not significant or important in either of the
following situations:
(A) Preventing or mitigating potential hazards to human health or
safety or to the environment posed by the activity.
(B) Ensuring that the activity is conducted in compliance with
other applicable requirements of this chapter and the regulations
adopted pursuant to this chapter.
(2) A requirement is imposed and enforced by another public agency
that provides protection of human health and safety and the
environment that is as effective as, and equivalent to, the
protection provided by the requirement, or requirements, that the
alternative management standards replace.
(3) Conditions or limitations imposed as part of the
alternative management standards will provide protection of
human health and safety and the environment equivalent to the
requirement, or requirements, that the alternative
management standards replace.
(4) Conditions or limitations imposed as part of the
alternative management standards accomplish the same regulatory
purpose as the requirement, or requirements, that the
alternative management standards replace, but at less cost or
with greater administrative convenience, and without increasing
potential risks to human health or safety or to the environment.
(f) The department shall not adopt alternative
management standards pursuant to this section if those standards are
less stringent than the standards that would otherwise apply under
the federal act.
(g) The management standards adopted by the department
pursuant to this section shall establish requirements that apply not
only to the generation, management, and disposal of metal shredder
residue or treated metal shredder residue, but shall apply to all
activities being conducted within the boundaries of any metal
shredding facility. Nothing in this subdivision
the alternative management standards authorized by
this section is intended to duplicate or conflict with other
laws, rules, or regulations adopted by other state agencies or
affected local air quality management districts . The
department shall, as much as possible, align the alternative
management standards with the laws, rules, and regulations of
other state agencies or affected local air quality
management districts .
(h) The owner or operator of a metal shredding facility that may
be subject to the alternative management standards shall provide to
the department all information and data determined by the department
to be relevant to the evaluation and preparation of the analysis
required by paragraphs (1) to (5), inclusive, of subdivision (d).
(h)
(i) The alternative management standards
adopted by the department pursuant to this section may, to the extent
it is consistent with the standards that would otherwise apply under
the federal act, allow for metal shredder residue or
treated metal shredder residue
waste to be classified and managed as nonhazardous waste,
provided that the analysis prepared pursuant to subdivision (d)
demonstrates that classification and management as hazardous waste is
not necessary to prevent or mitigate potential hazards to human
health or safety or to the environment posed by the metal
shredder residue or treated metal shredder residue
waste .
(i)
(j) (1) Notwithstanding Sections 25189.5 and 25201,
metal shredder residue or treated metal shredder
residue waste shall be disposed of in
either a class I hazardous waste landfill or, if the management
standards adopted by the department pursuant to this section result
in it being classified as a nonhazardous waste, in a
composite-lined portion of a solid waste landfill unit that meets all
requirements applicable to the disposal of municipal solid waste in
California after October 9, 1993, and that is regulated by waste
discharge requirements issued pursuant to Division 7 (commencing with
Section 13000) of the Water Code for discharges of designated waste,
as defined in Section 13173 of the Water Code, or metal shredder
residue or treated metal shredder residue as specified
by the alternative management standards .
(2) If the alternative management standards adopted by
the department pursuant to this section result in metal
shredder residue or treated metal shredder residue
waste being classified as nonhazardous waste
and deem it appropriate , the material may be used as
alternative daily cover or for beneficial reuse pursuant to Section
41781.3 of the Public Resources Code and its implementing
regulations.
(3) Upon the department's final regulatory action required in
regard to the consideration of alternative management standards
pursuant to this section, the current disposal and beneficial use
practices determinations allowed pursuant to the hazardous waste
determinations issued by the department before January 1, 2014, shall
cease to apply.
(j)
(k) The department shall complete the analysis
described in paragraph (1) of subdivision (c) and subsequent
regulatory action before January 1, 2017. All hazardous waste
determinations and policies, procedures, or guidance issued by the
department before January 1, 2014, governing or related to the
generation, treatment, and management of metal shredder
residue waste or treated metal shredder
residue waste shall be inoperative and have no
further effect once the department has taken the required
regulatory action.
(k)
(l) The authority of the department to adopt original
regulations pursuant to this section shall remain in effect only
until January 1, 2017, unless a later enacted statute, which is
enacted before January 1, 2017, deletes or extends that date. This
subdivision does not invalidate any regulation adopted pursuant to
this section before the expiration of the department's authority.
(l)
(m) A regulation adopted pursuant to this section on or
before January 1, 2017, shall continue in force and effect after
that date, until repealed or revised by the department.
SEC. 2. SEC. 3. Section 25150.9.1 is
added to the Health and Safety Code, to read:
25150.9.1. The department is authorized to collect an annual fee
from all metal shredding facilities that are subject to the
requirements of this chapter or to the alternative
management standards adopted pursuant to Section 25150.9. The
department shall establish and adopt by regulation a fee schedule
that is set at a rate sufficient to reimburse the department's costs
to implement this chapter as applicable to metal shredder
facilities . The fee schedule established by the department may
be updated periodically as necessary and shall provide for the
assessment of no more than the reasonable costs of the department to
implement this chapter.
SEC. 3. SEC. 4. Section 25150.9.2 is
added to the Health and Safety Code, to read:
25150.9.2. If metal shredder residue or
treated metal shredder residue waste is
accepted by a solid waste landfill that manages and disposes of the
metal shredder residue or treated metal shredder
residue waste in accordance with the
alternative management standards adopted by the department
pursuant to Section 25150.9, the metal shredder residue or
treated metal shredder residue
waste , upon acceptance by the solid waste landfill, shall
thereafter be deemed to be a solid waste, and not a hazardous waste,
for purposes of this chapter and Section 40191 of the Public
Resources Code.
SEC. 4. SEC. 5. 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.