BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
Senator Wieckowski, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: SB 47
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|Author: |Hill |
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|Version: |12/17/2014 |Hearing |3/18/2015 |
| | |Date: | |
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|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes |
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|Consultant:|Rachel Machi Wagoner |
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Subject: Environmental health: synthetic turf.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law: under the California Tire Recycling Act of 1989,
requires the Department of Resources, Recycling and Recovery
(CalRecycle) to initiate a tire recycling program that promotes
and develops alternatives to the landfill disposal of used tires.
A fee is assessed on the sale of new tires, and collected revenue
is deposited quarterly into the California Tire Recycling
Management Fund. CalRecycle allocates funds annually based on
availability and changing program needs.
This bill:
1. Requires the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment
(OEHHA), by July 1, 2017, in consultation with CalRecycle, the
State Department of Public Health (DPH), and the Department of
Toxic Substances Control (DTSC), to prepare and provide to the
Legislature and post on the office's Internet Web site a study
analyzing synthetic turf, as defined, for potential adverse
health impacts. The bill would require the study to include
certain information, including a hazard analysis of individual,
synergistic, and cumulative exposures to the chemicals that may
be found in synthetic turf, as provided.
2. Prohibits a public or private school or local government, until
January 1, 2018, from installing, or contracting for the
installation of, a new field or playground surface made from
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synthetic turf within the boundaries of a public or private
school or public recreational park, as provided.
Background
1. What is Synthetic Turf?
Synthetic turf is the next generation of artificial turf. It
more closely resembles natural turf and is much different than
the 'AstroTurf' of old. Most synthetic turf installed today is
a layered system that includes a drainage layer, a backing
system, and 'grass blades' that are in filled to resemble
natural turf. The filler is a soil-like substance created with
sand and/or granulated recycled tire rubber (crumb rubber) or
other materials that provide the necessary stability,
uniformity, and resiliency. The popularity of synthetic turf
results from the benefits of providing a consistent year-round,
all-weather playing surface built to withstand extended use
without downtime for poor weather. It is low maintenance; it
does not have to be mowed; nor does it need water for
irrigation, pesticides or fertilizers.
2. California Tire Recycling Act of 1989.
The California Tire Recycling Act was originally enacted to
provide a solution to the ever growing problem of mountains of
stockpiled waste tires. The primary objective of the act is to
provide alternatives to landfill disposal of waste tires.
According to CalRecycle, California today is faced with the
challenge of diverting or safely managing more than 42 million
reusable and waste tires generated annually in the state.
CalRecycle staff estimates that of the approximately 42 million
reusable and waste tires generated in 2013, approximately 36.7
million of the tires (87.3 percent) were diverted through
various alternatives, including reuse, retreading, and
combustion.
CalRecycle has lead responsibility to stimulate the diversion
of reusable and waste tires and to promote alternatives to
landfill disposal of this resource. CalRecycle has developed
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and funded a variety of waste tire management activities to
achieve these objectives, including:
Business development assistance to
California enterprises.
Research to expand the uses and
recyclability of tires.
Assistance to local governments to manage
waste tires.
Regulation of waste tire facilities and
waste tire haulers, to help ensure the protection of
public health, safety and the environment.
Public education.
Currently, the recycling markets in California do not consume
all of the waste tires generated. Waste tires need to be
stored safely until sufficient markets are in place to increase
the consumption of waste tires. CalRecycle provides the proper
waste tire management framework by enforcing waste tire
facility and waste tire hauler regulations. As the use of
tires as feedstock material in commercial applications
increases, illegal stockpiling and the need for permitted
storage will decrease or cease to exist.
The Waste Tire Enforcement Program's primary goal is to manage
and mitigate the impacts of tires on public health and safety,
and the environment, by ensuring that tire businesses comply
with tire permitting, storage, and movement laws, regulations,
and state minimum standards. Compliance is monitored through
integrated and consistent permitting, inspection, and
enforcement efforts. CalRecycle works closely with state and
local governments to: Inspect tire businesses for compliance
with permitting, storage, and movement laws, regulations, and
state minimum standards; educate tire businesses and property
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owners about tire laws and regulations; look for illegal
dumping, storage, and movement of tires; and, take enforcement
actions as needed to correct violations.
Comments
1. Purpose of Bill.
The author asks, "Why are so many schools and local
governments using turf fields made from waste tires when
health concerns are increasing and alternative turf field
materials are 30-40 degrees cooler than waste tire fields?
Why is California subsidizing waste tire fields and
playgrounds given the health concerns?"
The author believes that we have a responsibility to ensure
that our children are not being harmed by materials used to
make their fields and playground surfaces. SB 47 requires
OEHHA, in consultation with CalRecycle, DPH, and DTSC, to
submit a report to the Legislature by July 1, 2017, analyzing
turf containing waste tires for potential adverse health
impacts.
2. Concerns raised over the use of crumb rubber.
With significant water savings and low maintenance
requirements, artificial turf is increasingly promoted as a
replacement for natural grass.
However, questions remain as to whether it is an
environmentally friendly alternative to natural grass. The
major concerns stem from the infill material that is
typically derived from scrap tires. Tire rubber crumb
contains a range of organic contaminants and heavy metals
that can volatilize into the air and/or leach into the
percolating rainwater, thereby posing a risk to and in the
environment. Questions also arise as to the direct exposure
risks associated with contact with the crumb rubber and
whether ingestion, inhalation, eye or skin/abrasion contact
with the rubber present health risks.
In 2010, then-Attorney General Jerry Brown settled a case
with the nation's largest makers and installers of turf
fields requiring them to reduce levels of lead in their
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products. The settlement required companies to reformulate
their products to reduce lead levels to negligible amounts
and established the nation's first enforceable standards
applicable to lead in artificial turf. Brown brought the case
in 2008 against these companies for excessive lead levels
after testing by the Center for Environmental Health found
high concentrations of lead in their products. Brown's
office confirmed these findings in independent tests.
In recent years there has been an increased concern about the
health impacts on frequent users of turf fields made from
waste tires.
In 2014, NBC's story, "How Safe Is the Artificial Turf Your
Child Plays On?" reported on a soccer coach who had noticed
an influx of young soccer players (goalies) who had been
playing more extensively on synthetic turf fields and had
been diagnosed with cancer. The report goes on to state that
no research has linked cancer to artificial turf but
questions whether the product had been sufficiently tested to
determine if there was a link.
Over the last decade there have been upward of 50 studies
conducted nationally and internationally by academic
institutions and federal and state governments examining the
potential adverse health impacts associated with synthetic
turf, synthetic turf using crumb rubber, and recycled rubber
playground materials. These studies range in scope from
inhalation risks to bacterial infections associated with
exposure to staphylococcus aureus on synthetic fields. Some
of the studies ask broad questions about health impacts,
however examine a small sample size of fields, examine only
one chemical, look at a limited number of exposure pathways,
or do not look at the specific risks to children.
SB 1277 (Maldonado), Chapter 398, Statutes of 2008, required
the California Integrated Waste Management Board (now
CalRecycle), in consultation with the OEHHA and DPH, to
prepare and make available a study comparing the effects of
synthetic turf and natural turf on the environment and public
health with respect to four subjects: skin abrasions,
bacteria harbored by the turf, inhalable particulate matter,
and volatile organic compounds. Based on OEHHA's analysis of
the data collected for this study, OEHHA "concluded these
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fields do not pose a serious public health concern, with the
possible exception of an increased skin abrasion rate on
artificial turf relative to natural turf."
In 2009, the United States Environmental Protection Agency
(US EPA) released results of a limited fields-monitoring
study of artificial turf playing fields and playgrounds
constructed with recycled tire material or crumb rubber. The
study was intended to gain experience conducting field
monitoring of recreational surfaces that contain crumb
rubber. US EPA states, "The limited data [US] EPA collected
during this study, which do not point to a concern, represent
an important addition to the information gathered by various
government agencies." However, given the limited nature of
the study (limited number of constituents monitored, sample
sites, and samples taken at each site) and wide diversity of
tire crumb material, it is not possible without additional
data, to extend the results beyond the four study sites to
reach more comprehensive conclusions.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states
that information provided by the New Jersey Department of
Health and Senior Services (NJDHSS) to CDC and the Agency for
Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) indicates that
some of the fields tested by NJDHSS were found to have
elevated lead in either dust and/or turf fiber samples that
were weathered and visibly dusty. Fields that are old, that
are used frequently, and that are exposed to the weather
break down into dust as the turf fibers are worn or
demonstrate progressive signs of weathering, including fibers
that are abraded, faded or broken.
Both CDC and the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC)
advise that children always wash their hands after playing on
this material.
While, to date, there have been an extensive number of
studies done, both the US EPA and CPSC have advised that the
studies are not extensive enough to provide adequate data to
be conclusive on the potential adverse health impacts and
conclude that further study is necessary.
3. Should California Subsidize the Development of Recycled
Markets Without Requiring Safety Testing?
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One of the primary directives of the California Used Tire Act is
to assist in developing new markets for recycled used tires.
To date, CalRecycle has successfully built a program that is
diverting nearly 90% of California's waste tires. This provides
an important service to the state. Without this program millions
of waste tires would be stockpiled or filling California
landfills.
However, not every product made from recycled waste may be
appropriate.
The harmful constituents that are found in tires are a known and
accepted environmental risk associated with the tire for that
tire's original purpose -- on a vehicle. The potential health
risks associated with potential uses of that tire once it is
recycled (such as for playgrounds and fields) were not considered
or examined in the design and approved original use of the tire.
When CalRecycle is developing new markets and subsidizing the use
of recycled products, should the department require health and
safety analysis be done prior to using state funds to subsidize
those markets?
Tire recycling and use of crumb rubber in synthetic fields has
been encouraged by the State of California for many years. A
moratorium on use in California would negatively impact the sale
and manufacturer of synthetic turf in California and may place an
unfair burden on the businesses that were specifically built for
this purpose and encouraged by the state to do so.
For SB 47, since this product is already a developed market in
California, removing the moratorium from the bill would prevent
California businesses from having to cease operations until the
study is complete.
However, because the state does not have the comprehensive data to
assert that this product is safe for use by children, the state
should not be encouraging the use of the product through subsidies
until that study is complete. The bill should be amended to
discontinue state subsidies of the product until that
comprehensive study is completed and shows that the product is
safe for use by children.
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4. Clarifying Amendments.
The bill needs several clarifying amendments to the study to make
it clear to OEHHA what type of analysis will be done and under
what conditions.
Related/Prior Legislation
SB 1277 (Maldonado), Chapter 398, Statutes of 2008, required the
California Integrated Waste Management Board (now CalRecycle), in
consultation with OEHHA and DPH, to prepare and make available a
study comparing the effects of synthetic turn and natural turf on
the environment and public health.
SOURCE: Senator Hill
SUPPORT:
Action for Nature
Brock International, LLC
California Native Plant Society
California Safe Schools
Center for Environmental Health
Clean Water Action
Coalition for San Francisco Neighborhoods
Coalition to Save Ocean Beach / Friends of Sutro Heights Park
D5 Action
Environment and Human Health, Inc.
Environment California
GeoTurf/Limonta Sport USA
Golden Gate Audubon Society
Golden Gate Park Preservation Alliance
Haight Ashbury Neighborhood Council
Healthy Soccer SF
Hellas Sports Construction
Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility
San Francisco Tomorrow
Senator Quentin L. Kopp
Sierra Club California
SF Ocean Edge
SFPARKS
SPEAK Sunset Parkside Education and Action Committee
SynTurf.org
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The Turf Authority
Turf Grass Forum
77 individuals
OPPOSITION:
American Sports Builders Association (ASBA)
California Association of School Business Officials
Californians Against Waste
CRM Company, Inc.
Liberty Tire Recycling
Los Angeles County Solid Waste Management Committee/Integrated
Waste
Management Task Force
Synthetic Turf Council
West Coast Rubber Recycling, Inc.
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: Public Employees for Environmental
Responsibility (PEER) state that "every year millions of pounds of
tires are recycled into ground rubber, sometimes called "tire
crumb) and placed onto playgrounds and sports fields. PEER
represents public health professionals who are concerned that
there has been no adequate risk assessment on the potential
toxicity to children from direct contact with tire ingredients,
such as arsenic, cadmium, chromium, mercury and a number of
dangerous hydrocarbons.
Neither the US EPA nor the CPSC has ever fully investigated its
public health and environmental risks. In fact, US EPA scientific
reviews or available literature have concluded that the agency
lacks the information required to adequately assess the extent of
childhood exposure from ingestion or inhalation of an array of
toxic chemicals found within tires."
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION: Californians Against Waste (CAW)
strongly opposes SB 47, stating that while CAW "often urges the
application of the Precautionary Principal in response to
conflicting data," "in this instance, [CAW] is not aware of any
conflicting data that indicates a health risk from the use of
recycled crumb rubber. In fact, the use of this product has been
studied more extensively than almost any other recycled product
that is sold. There have been more than 50 technical studies and
several extensive literature reviews analyzing the health concerns
of crumb rubber use (including cancer risk). To the best of our
[CAW's] knowledge, none have found an elevated cancer risk."
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Rubber recycling and synthetic turf manufacturers in opposition
state that they fear that the moratorium in SB 47 puts at risk
dozens of California businesses and jobs that have invested in
building a tire recycling infrastructure.
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