BILL ANALYSIS Ó
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1776|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | |
|327-4478 | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1776
Author: Obernolte (R)
Amended: 6/22/16 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY COMMITTEE: 7-0, 6/15/16
AYES: Wieckowski, Gaines, Bates, Hill, Jackson, Leno, Pavley
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS: Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 79-0, 4/21/16 (Consent) - See last page for
vote
SUBJECT: Hazardous waste: disposal: exemption
SOURCE: Author
DIGEST: This bill excludes contaminated soil from an outdoor
shooting range or military small arms range from the state's
disposal requirements for hazardous waste until such a time that
the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) adopts
regulations for the alternative management of lead containing
soil at shooting ranges.
ANALYSIS: Existing federal law:
1)Establishes the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976
(RCRA) to create the proper management of hazardous and
non-hazardous solid waste. (42 United States Code (USC) 6926)
2)States that hazardous wastes that are recycled will be known
as "recyclable materials." (40 Code of Federal Regulations
AB 1776
Page 2
(CFR) Part 261.6(a)(3)(ii))
3)Establishes the Military Munitions Rule, which created the
conditions specifying when military munitions become subject
to regulation as a solid waste or hazardous waste under RCRA.
(40 CFR Parts 260- 266, and 270)
Existing state law:
1)Requires, under the California Hazardous Waste Control Act
(HWCA) of 1972, DTSC to regulate 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. (Health & Safety Code (H&S) §
25100, et seq.)
2)Defines hazardous waste as a waste that may cause, or
significantly contribute to, an increase in mortality or an
increase in serious irreversible, or incapacitating
reversible, illness; pose a substantial present or potential
hazard to human health or the environment, due to factors
including, but not limited to, carcinogenicity, acute
toxicity, chronic toxicity, bioaccumulative properties, or
persistence in the environment, when improperly treated,
stored, transported, or disposed of, or otherwise managed.
(H&S §25141) Hazardous waste includes hazardous waste
covered under RCRA. (H&S §25117)
3)Defines "disposal" as the discharge, deposit, injection,
dumping, spilling, leaking, or placing of any waste so that
the waste or any constituent of the waste is or may be emitted
into the air or discharged into or on any land or waters,
including groundwaters, or may otherwise enter the
environment. (H&S §25113)
4)Requires DTSC to adopt and revise regulations that will allow
AB 1776
Page 3
the state to receive and maintain authorization to administer
a state hazardous waste program in lieu of RCRA. (H&S §25159)
5)Requires DTSC, in adopting or revising standards and
regulations pursuant to the state's hazardous waste control
laws, to make the standards and regulations conform with
corresponding regulations adopted by the United States
Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) pursuant to RCRA.
Allows DTSC to adopt standards and regulations that are more
stringent or more extensive than federal regulations. Requires
all regulations adopted pursuant to RCRA to be deemed to be
the regulations of DTSC, except that any state statute or
regulation which is more stringent or more extensive than a
federal regulation shall supersede the federal regulation.
(H&S §25159.5)
6)Authorizes DTSC, to the extent consistent with RCRA, to
exclude any portion of a response action conducted entirely
onsite from the hazardous waste facility permit requirements
under certain conditions. (H&S §25358.9)
7)Defines "sport shooting range" as an area designed and
operated for the use of rifles, shotguns, pistols,
silhouettes, skeet, trap, black powder, or any other similar
sport or law enforcement training purpose. (Civil Code
§3482.1)
This bill excludes contaminated soil from an outdoor shooting
range or military small arms range from the state's disposal
requirements for hazardous waste until such a time that DTSC
adopts regulations for the alternative management of lead
containing soil at shooting ranges.
Specifically, this bill:
1)Excludes from the definition of disposal the onsite movement
of soil at an active outdoor sport shooting range if this
movement is done to facilitate the removal and recycling of
AB 1776
Page 4
spent ammunition materials existing as specified.
2)Requires the removal activities to be consistent with the
United States Environmental Protect Agency's (US EPA) Best
Management Practices (BMP) for Lead at Outdoor Shooting Ranges
manual.
3)Requires the residual soil to be replaced within the area from
which it was originally removed.
4)Allows this exclusion only to the extent it does not
jeopardize the administration of the state hazardous waste
program.
5)Authorizes DTSC to adopt alternative management standard
regulations for lead containing soil at shooting ranges and
provides the above exemption until such time that DTSC adopts
regulations.
Background
Federal regulations on outdoor shooting ranges: According to
the US EPA, lead shot is not considered a hazardous waste
subject to RCRA at the time it is discharged from a firearm
because it is used for its intended purpose. Therefore, a RCRA
permit is not required to operate a shooting range. However,
spent lead shot (or bullets) are subject to the broader
definition of solid waste contained in RCRA, so spent shot and
bullets are potentially subject to RCRA statutory authority
including Sections 7002 and 7003.
The US EPA developed a BMP for Lead at Outdoor Shooting Ranges
manual to provide owners and operators of outdoor rifle, pistol,
trap, skeet and sporting clay ranges with information on lead
management at their ranges. The manual explains how
AB 1776
Page 5
environmental laws are applicable to lead management and
presents successful BMPs available to the shooting range
community.
The lead, if recycled, is considered a scrap metal pursuant to
federal regulations and is therefore exempt from RCRA
regulation. After a removal contractor or reclaimer applies
standard BMPs to separate the lead from soil, the soil may be
placed back on the range without further treatment.
Military Munitions Rule (MMR): In 1997, the US EPA adopted a
rule that identifies when conventional and chemical military
munitions become a hazardous waste under RCRA, and that provides
for the safe storage and transport of such waste. The MMR policy
set forth the guidance necessary to determine when RCRA applied
to specific munitions operations. Specifically, it provided
authorization for military bases to do range clearance
activities and soil management in a way that did not trigger
having to get a hazardous waste permit or run the risk of
running afoul of federal hazardous waste (RCRA) laws. The MMR,
in regulation, is applicable to military facilities only. The US
EPA eventually extended the MMR to private, or nonmilitary,
operations, which includes outdoor shooting ranges, but adopted
the expansion by an administrative ruling, not regulation.
The US EPA authorizes states to implement the MMR for military
facilities; however, DTSC has not adopted the MMR in California.
State regulations on outdoor shooting ranges: Under RCRA, the
US EPA authorizes California to administer and enforce the RCRA
hazardous waste program. Additionally, RCRA (Section 3009)
allows California to impose regulatory standards that are more
stringent or more extensive in scope than those in the federal
program. Therefore, if a specific outdoor shooting range is
located in California, a "RCRA-approved" state, California has
the authority to impose restrictions or definitions more
stringent or broader in scope than those presented in RCRA or
related regulations.
DTSC regulates hazardous waste, which in the case of outdoor
shooting ranges could mean the regulation of any contaminated
AB 1776
Page 6
soil. Under state law, once an outdoor shooting range removes
or moves any contaminated soil, s/he would be the generator of
hazardous waste and would be responsible for the proper
management of that hazardous waste (including manifesting the
waste, transporting the hazardous waste via a registered hauler
and taking the contaminated soil to an authorized facility).
Compliance with state law would require an outdoor shooting
range operator to properly remove, transport and dispose of all
of the contaminated soil.
Additionally, under current state law, DTSC must adopt and
revise regulations to allow the state to receive and maintain
authorization to administer a state hazardous waste program in
lieu of the federal program (RCRA Section 6926), and DTSC must
make the standards and regulations conform with corresponding
regulations adopted by the US EPA.
For a federal rule, which is less stringent, to be operational,
California would have to adopt it in state rules. California,
however, is mandated through state statute to assure our
regulations are as stringent as federal regulations.
The US EPA's administrative action on the MMR expansion is in
conflict with state law. Even if DTSC adopted the MMR, it could
not apply it to non-military ranges because the US EPA expanded
the less stringent rule to non-military ranges in an
administrative ruling, not written regulation.
AB 1776 is proposing to allow DTSC to regulate soil disposal at
outdoor shooting ranges consistent with the US EPA's BMPs, which
are less stringent than state law.
More recently and more relevantly, on March 1, 2016, the East
Bay Regional Park District Board voted to close the gun range at
Anthony Chabot Regional Park because of extensive lead
contamination. The closure follows years of concern over the
range's contributions to extensive lead contamination in soil
and water on public park land. Park officials estimate it could
cost $200,000 a year to contain tainted runoff, and $2 million
to $20 million over the long term to clean it up.
In Sacramento, the James G. Mangan Rifle and Pistol Range was
AB 1776
Page 7
closed December 24, 2014, after years of tests showed lead
contamination at readings well above state Department of Public
Health hazard levels. While this is an indoor range, high
levels of lead contamination was found in the soil immediately
surrounding the range. The cleanup and repair of the sight is
estimated at nearly $2 million.
According to DTSC's EnviroStor database, there are 44 outdoor
shooting range cleanup sites (active and inactive) in
California.
Comments
1) Purpose of Bill. According to the author, under the current
definition of "disposal", "? if a shooting range operator
wants to remove spent ammunition from the soil for the
purpose of recycling it, the soil that remains must then be
treated as hazardous waste and disposed of. This is in direct
conflict with [US] EPA best practices and places unreasonable
burdens and costs on outdoor shooting ranges. It also
discourages the regular recycling of lead from the soil and
leads to the creation of excessive amounts of hazardous
waste. If this contradiction between state and federal law is
not rectified, it could negatively impact public, private,
and law enforcement shooting ranges across the state. AB 1776
seeks to address this problem by simply clarifying that
"disposal" of hazardous waste does not include the onsite
movement of soil at an active outdoor shooting range if this
movement is done to facilitate the removal and recycling of
spent ammunition materials existing on the site as a result
of the normal use of the shooting range and the residual soil
is replaced within the area from which it was originally
removed."
2) Administrative options: Under current law, certain
AB 1776
Page 8
activities may be exempt from a hazardous waste permit if the
activity is within a remedial action plan (RAP) or removal
action work plan (RAW).
To the extent it is consistent with RCRA, DTSC may exclude
any portion of a response action conducted entirely onsite
from the hazardous waste facility permit requirements if the
removal or remedial action is carried out pursuant to an RAP
or RAW, or if the RAP or RAW requires that the response
action complies with all laws, rules, regulations, standards,
requirements, criteria, or limitations applicable to the
construction, operation, closure of the type of facility at
the hazardous substance release site and with any other
condition imposed by DTSC as necessary to protect public
health and safety and the environment.
In other words, an owner or operator of an outdoor shooting
range can comply with state law without having to obtain a
hazardous waste permit for soil management if the soil
disposal is part of an RAP or RAW. While this may be a more
cumbersome, bureaucratic approach for the owner or operator,
it is an option that is consistent with state law and that
obviates the need for legislatively codifying federal BMPs.
Related/Prior Legislation
SB 1362 (Correa, 2014) contained identical language to this
bill. SB 1362 was referred to the Senate Rules Committee, but
was never heard in policy committee.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:YesLocal: Yes
SUPPORT: (Verified7/27/16)
California Rifle & Pistol Association
AB 1776
Page 9
California Sportsman's Lobby
California State Sheriffs' Association
Crossroads of the West
National Rifle Association
National Shooting Sports Foundation
Outdoor Sportsmen's Coalition of California
Safari Club International
San Bernardino County Sheriff
OPPOSITION: (Verified7/27/16)
None received
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 79-0, 4/21/16
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Arambula, Atkins, Baker,
Bigelow, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke,
Calderon, Campos, Chang, Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley,
Cooper, Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Beth
Gaines, Gallagher, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto,
Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Grove, Hadley, Harper,
Roger Hernández, Holden, Irwin, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Kim,
Lackey, Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low, Maienschein, Mathis,
Mayes, McCarty, Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Nazarian, Obernolte,
O'Donnell, Olsen, Patterson, Quirk, Rodriguez, Salas,
Santiago, Steinorth, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Wagner,
Waldron, Weber, Wilk, Williams, Wood, Rendon
NO VOTE RECORDED: Ridley-Thomas
Prepared by:Rachel Machi Wagoner / E.Q. / (916) 651-4108
8/3/16 18:40:25
**** END ****