BILL ANALYSIS Ó
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1420|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | |
|327-4478 | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1420
Author: Salas (D)
Amended: 9/1/15 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE NATURAL RES. & WATER COMMITTEE: 9-0, 6/23/15
AYES: Pavley, Stone, Allen, Hertzberg, Hueso, Jackson,
Monning, Vidak, Wolk
SENATE ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY COMMITTEE: 7-0, 7/15/15
AYES: Wieckowski, Gaines, Bates, Hill, Jackson, Leno, Pavley
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 7-0, 8/27/15
AYES: Lara, Bates, Beall, Hill, Leyva, Mendoza, Nielsen
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 74-0, 5/22/15 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT: Oil and gas: pipelines
SOURCE: Author
DIGEST: This bill requires a local health officer to take
specified actions when there is a leak in a gas pipeline and
requires mechanical integrity tests of gas pipelines more than
10 years old in sensitive areas every two years.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
1)Establishes the Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources
(division) in the Department of Conservation as the state's
AB 1420
Page 2
oil and gas regulator.
2)Provides broad authority to the Oil and Gas Supervisor
(supervisor) who leads the division.
3)Requires the supervisor to supervise the operation,
maintenance, and removal or abandonment of tanks and
facilities (including pipelines) related to oil and gas
production within an oil and gas field, so as to prevent
damage to life, health, property, and natural resources, as
specified, among other requirements.
4)Requires the division to prescribe minimum facility
maintenance standards for oil and gas production facilities,
including pipelines attendant to oil and gas production.
These standards include standards for leak detection.
Pipelines that are located within the lease areas of oil and
gas fields, and are integrally associated with oil and gas
production, are generally under the division's jurisdiction.
5)Establishes local health departments, under the purview of the
local health officer and prescribes various duties for those
local health departments, including supervising remediation
when hazardous waste is released and enforcing statues
relating to public health.
Existing division regulation:
1)Requires a spill contingency plan for an oil/gas production
facility, as specified
2)Requires significant gas or water leaks, among other
emergencies, as specified, to be reported to the appropriate
division
3)Requires pipeline inspection and testing of pipelines meeting
certain criteria as well as pipeline management plans supplied
by the pipeline operator.
This bill requires a local health officer to take specified
actions when there is a leak in an active gas pipeline and
requires mechanical integrity tests of gas pipelines more than
10 years old in sensitive areas every two years. Specifically,
this bill:
AB 1420
Page 3
1) Requires the operator of an active gas pipeline under the
division's jurisdiction to promptly notify the division and
local health officer of a pipeline leak.
2) Requires a local health officer, in the event that an
active gas pipeline leak poses a risk to public health and
safety and the response to the leak has been inadequate to
work collaboratively with the division and the operator of
the pipeline, to:
a) Direct the responsible party to perform
environmental testing in the contaminated area and
disclose the results publicly, as specified, and
b) Use the test results to determine if a serious
threat to public health and safety of the area's
residents exists, and, if so, require the responsible
party to provide assistance to those residents.
3) Requires the health officer to direct the responsible
party to notify all residents affected by the leak if the
leak poses a serious threat to public health and safety.
4) Requires that the responsible party is liable for the
costs incurred by the local health officer, as specified.
5) Specifies that certain payments by the responsible party
do not relieve the responsible party of liability for
damages and imposes other conditions, as specified, on the
responsible party.
6) Establishes a mechanical integrity testing requirement, as
specified, every two years by the division starting January
1, 2018 of active gas pipelines that are 10 years of age or
older and located in sensitive areas.
7) Requires the division to maintain a list of active gas
pipelines in sensitive areas.
8) Requires operators of active gas pipelines in sensitive
areas to provide to the division by January 1, 2018, an
up-to-date and accurate map of these pipelines and certain
other related information, as specified.
AB 1420
Page 4
9) Requires the division to perform random spot checks of the
information provided in (8) about the active gas pipelines.
10) Defines sensitive area to be an area:
a) with a building intended for human occupancy, such
as a school, within 300 feet of an active gas pipeline,
b) where a leak from an active gas pipeline presents a
significant potential threat to life, health, property or
natural resources,
c) that contains a chronically-leaking active gas
pipeline.
11) Allows the supervisor to accept tests imposed by other
regulators that meet or exceed the division's requirements
to satisfy the mechanical integrity testing requirements of
this bill, as specified.
12) Provides that the supervisor's existing authority remains
unaltered.
Background
In March 2014 after numerous delays, a gas leak from an
underground waste gas flare pipeline a few blocks from the Arvin
High School in Arvin was identified. The pipeline's location
was misidentified in existing maps. By the time the leak was
identified, the leaking gas had saturated the soil and
contaminated eight homes. Mandatory evacuations were ordered
and approximately three dozen people were displaced. Explosive
levels of flammable gases were measured inside the homes tested.
The evacuated families and neighbors are reported to have
expressed considerable concern about the lack of information
about the leak, the responsibilities of local and state
government to address it, potential health problems and delays
in notification. The mandatory evacuation was lifted in October
2014, and the evacuees moved back in December 2014. The owner
of the leaking pipeline paid for the residents to stay elsewhere
during spill remediation and paid for the remediation services.
AB 1420
Page 5
The leaky pipeline was reported to be on the order of 40 years
old, and after the leak was removed from service. This pipeline
was apparently last inspected on August 8, 2011. There are
reported to be thousands of feet of similarly aging pipelines in
Kern County whose location may, in some instances, be uncertain
and that may also be inspected infrequently. Kern County, where
Arvin is located, is the location of most of the state's oil and
gas production.
Comments
This bill responds to the Arvin gas leak. The type of pipeline
responsible for the leak in Arvin is not required to be
inspected on any regular specific schedule under current law or
regulation.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:YesLocal: Yes
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, the fiscal
impact is:
Ongoing costs of less than $1 million to the Oil, Gas, and
Geothermal Administrative Fund (special) for personnel and
equipment necessary to identify all pipelines in sensitive areas
and to perform required mechanical integrity tests as required.
SUPPORT: (Verified8/28/15)
City of Arvin
Center on Race, Poverty & the Environment
Jose Gurrola, Mayor Pro Tem, City of Arvin
Sierra Club California
OPPOSITION: (Verified8/28/15)
None received
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: According to the author, "[a]s the [oil]
AB 1420
Page 6
industry continues to be a fixture in California, the safety of
workers, communities and the environment should remain a top
priority. Despite precautions taken, incidents occur in which
immediate action is needed to protect the health, safety, and
environment of nearby communities."
"In early 2014, a gas leak was detected beneath the community of
Arvin, California. A total of 8 families were evacuated from
their homes and unable to return for several months. Affected
residents claimed to have smelled gas, and complained of
nosebleeds, headaches, coughing and dizziness. Once the leak
was detected, affected residents were unclear where to get
resources and information. This incident demonstrated a lack of
clarity in the law regarding the role of all involved entities."
"Assembly Bill 1420 would require operators of a leak[ing]
pipeline to notify local health officials. If it is determined
that the leak poses a risk to public health and safety then the
local health official will be required to work collaboratively
with [the division] and the owner and/or operator the pipeline.
[?] The bill will also require [the division] to prioritize the
identification and testing of pipelines in their jurisdiction
that are near sensitive areas, such as residential neighborhoods
and schools."
The Center on Race, Poverty & the Environment wrote, "[t]hough
residents took their own air samples, the results of the
"official" air testing were never disclosed to residents. The
evacuated residents are now back home, but the leak and the
subsequent eight-month forced relocation has taken a heavy
financial, emotional, and health toll on the families."
The Center continues, "AB 1420 will provide local agencies with
the authority they need to quickly respond to leaks in order to
protect residents' health, ensures that residents are informed
about the risks they face if a leak occurs nearby, and provides
for reimbursements to residents for costs associated with a
pipeline leak, including relocation costs."
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 74-0, 5/22/15
AYES: Achadjian, Travis Allen, Baker, Bigelow, Bloom, Bonilla,
Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke, Calderon, Campos, Chang, Chau,
Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh, Dahle, Daly,
AB 1420
Page 7
Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Beth Gaines, Gallagher, Cristina
Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez,
Gordon, Gray, Grove, Hadley, Harper, Roger Hernández, Holden,
Irwin, Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey, Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low,
Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, McCarty, Medina, Melendez, Mullin,
Nazarian, Obernolte, Patterson, Perea, Quirk, Rendon,
Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago, Steinorth, Mark
Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Wagner, Wilk, Williams, Wood, Atkins
NO VOTE RECORDED: Alejo, Jones, O'Donnell, Olsen, Waldron,
Weber
Prepared by:Katharine Moore / N.R. & W. / (916) 651-4116
9/1/15 20:25:14
**** END ****