BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 628
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB
628 (Bloom)
As Introduced February 24, 2015
Majority vote
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|Committee |Votes |Ayes |Noes |
|----------------+------+---------------------+---------------------|
|Environmental |6-1 |Alejo, Dahle, |Gallagher |
|Safety | |Gonzalez, Gray, | |
| | |McCarty, Ting | |
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SUMMARY: Includes all synthetic oil within the state definition
of used oil.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Establishes management standards for used oil including:
a) Defines "used oil" and "recycled oil" as oils that meet
specified characteristics including flashpoint and
contaminant levels;
b) Establishes transportation, testing and storage
requirements for used oil; and,
c) Requires testing of each truckload of used oil before it
is shipped to a transfer facility, recycling facility or a
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facility located out-of-state. Requires that the used oil
not have a flashpoint of more than 100 degrees Fahrenheit, a
concentration of polychlorinated biphenyls of more than five
parts per million (ppm), and a concentration of under 1000
ppm of halogens.
2)Pursuant to the California Oil Recycling Enhancement Act,
rerefined oil must currently meet the following criteria:
a) Have a lubricant base stock or oil base that has been
derived from used oil;
b) Be capable of meeting the Physical and Compositional
Properties, in addition to the Contaminants and Toxicological
Properties, as defined under the American Society for Testing
and Materials standard; and,
c) Have had its producer provide a purchaser of that base
stock with information that certifies that the rerefined base
stock is rerefined oil.
FISCAL EFFECT: None
COMMENTS:
Need for the bill: According to the author, "Varying
interpretations of state and federal law related to the treatment
of used oil are creating unintended barriers to expanding the
market for recycling of high quality biosynthetic motor oils. Many
companies have spent years developing bio-based, biosynthetic
motor oils for use in automobiles. Independent testing not only
shows biosynthetic motor oils to be among the highest rated
products for protecting engines and machinery, they also are
bio-based, biodegradable, nontoxic, and do not bio-accumulate in
marine organisms? AB 628 seeks to update and clarify existing law
surrounding the regulation of these blended used oils."
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According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency
(U.S. EPA), "Used oil is any oil that has been refined from crude
oil or any synthetic oil that has been used and as a result of
such use is contaminated by physical or chemical impurities.
Simply put, used oil is exactly what its name implies-any
petroleum-based or synthetic oil that has been used."
There are two rerefineries in the U.S. that produce the base oil
by Safety-Kleen in California and Illinois. Unocal, Chevron,
Safety-Kleen, Coast Oil, Rosemead Oil, and Lyondell are the major
oil blenders. Typically, an oil blender will purchase base stock
from the rerefinery and combine it with an additive package to
meet specific performance requirements. Rerefined oil comes in a
variety of blends, suitable for different types of gas and diesel
engines.
Disagreement over the U.S. EPA definition of used oil: In
response to a request for clarification by the sponsors of this
bill, the U.S. EPA Office of Resource Conservation and Recovery
reported that, "While our 1997 policy regarding vegetable and
animals oil addressed only those oils derived solely from plant or
animal sources, that policy did not envision those situation where
such oil would be mixed with conventional motor oils prior to use.
We believe that such formulations, once used, could be regulated
as used oil under part 279, because the resulting used oil still
fits within the used oil definition. We do not believe the
definition of used oil precluded third use of additives in oil
formulations."
Prior legislation:
SB 916 (Correa) of 2014 would have provided definitions similar to
this bill for biosynthetic oil. AB 916 was subsequently amended
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to deal with firearms and was held in the Assembly Public Safety
Committee.
Analysis Prepared by:
Bob Fredenburg / E.S. & T.M. / (916) 319-3965 FN:
0000221