BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 209|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | |
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THIRD READING
Bill No: SB 209
Author: Pavley (D)
Amended: 5/12/15
Vote: 21
SENATE NATURAL RES. & WATER COMMITTEE: 7-2, 3/24/15
AYES: Pavley, Allen, Hertzberg, Hueso, Jackson, Monning, Wolk
NOES: Stone, Fuller
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 5-2, 5/26/15
AYES: Lara, Beall, Hill, Leyva, Mendoza
NOES: Bates, Nielsen
SUBJECT: Surface mining: inspections and financial assurances
SOURCE: Sierra Fund
DIGEST: This bill establishes the Division of Mines within the
Department of Conservation (Department) under the direction of
the State Mine Inspector, and establishes new criteria for mine
inspections.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
1)Enacts the Surface Mining and Reclamation Act (SMARA) which
prohibits a person from conducting surface mining operations
unless the lead agency for the operation issues a surface
mining permit and approves a reclamation plan and financial
assurances for reclamation. Most often, the lead agency is a
local city or county government, but there are instances in
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which the Bay Conservation and Development Commission is the
lead agency for mines in the Bay Area. Also, in cases in which
the California State Mining and Geology Board (Board) has
stripped a local agency of its lead agency status for its
failure to implement state law, the Board serves as the lead
agency.
2)Requires, under SMARA, annual inspections by the lead agency
to ascertain that the mine is in compliance with state law.
Adjustments may then be made, if necessary, to the amount of
financial assurances needed for reclamation, or an amendment
to a reclamation plan may be pursued by the operator where
appropriate in the light of changed physical circumstances of
the mine.
3)Provides SMARA is meant to be a comprehensive surface mining
and reclamation policy that ensures an adequate supply of
mineral resources while protecting the environment from the
adverse effects of mining. The Office of Mine Reclamation,
which is within the Department, ensures that lead agencies
fulfill their SMARA responsibilities, often taking its own
enforcement actions. In addition, the Board promulgates SMARA
regulations and serves as an appeals body.
This bill:
1)Prohibits the financial assurance mechanism from being reduced
or released without mutual written consent of the local lead
agency and the Department.
2)Clarifies that the financial assurance mechanism together with
the financial assurance cost estimate, combined, will be known
as the financial assurances for a mining operation. Financial
assurances, under existing law, may be updated annually as
determined by the annual inspection.
3)Elevates the Office of Mine Reclamation into a new division at
the Department and establishes the head of that office as the
State Mine Inspector.
4)Requires that those parts of annual inspections that
constitute areas of professional practice will be conducted by
a state licensed geologist, state licensed civil engineer, or
state licensed geophysicist.
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5)Requires the Department to offer mine inspection training to
local lead agencies.
6)Establishes a requirement for a uniform reclamation plan form
to include a schedule with time limits for completing
reclamation, to be reviewed and confirmed by the lead agency
during the annual inspections.
7)States legislative intent on several of the issues identified
by the administration as part of the ongoing stakeholder
process, including allowing counties to inspect their own
borrow pits and the training necessary to inspect their own
mines.
Comments
This year the Administration has convened a stakeholder process
to consider legislative recommendations for reforms to SMARA.
This bill currently contains a handful of minor amendments to
SMARA, but is intended to be a vehicle for the recommendations
of the stakeholder process. The list of questions that the
Administration has proposed includes, but is not limited to:
1)Centralized location of all the documents pertaining to
reclamation;
2)Updating reclamation plans to reflect 1993 standards;
3)Possible sign-off on reclamation plans by a licensed
professional in which slope stability or other issues within
the scope of professional practice is an issue;
4)Approval by local governments of inadequate financial
assurances; expedite the process to claim financial
assurances; avoid early release of financial assurances prior
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to reclamation;
5)How to improve compliance with the requirement for annual
inspections and how to increase training for lead agency mine
inspectors;
6)More clarity on enforcement and the initiation of enforcement;
role of state as back-stop;
7)Assess other options than Board take-over of counties; and
8)Consider adjustments to fees, which are set in statute but
inadequate to fund needs. Additionally, there is about
$300,000 in unpaid reporting fees.
In Senate Appropriations Committee, the author deleted the
provision that would have allowed counties to opt-out of their
lead agency status to implement SMARA, and she agreed to amend
the bill in the Assembly to re-phrase the continuing education
provisions that would be provided to counties by not using the
word "certified" to describe county employees who receive the
training.
Aspects of SB 1270 (Pavley, 2014) which failed in the
Legislature last year are present in this bill as well. In 2013,
Governor Brown signed SB 447 (Lara, Chapter 417, Statutes of
2013) which provided temporary leniency to mine operators who,
despite a SMARA violation that was addressed by an order to
comply, were allowed to continue selling materials to the state.
Governor Brown said in his signing message for SB 447 that such
interim leniency was acceptable "as we take time to reform the
Surface Mining and Reclamation Act-from top to bottom."
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:YesLocal: No
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
Minor and absorbable costs to the Mine Reclamation Account
(special) for the Board to develop a standard for reclamation
plans.
Minor and absorbable costs to the Mine Reclamation Account
(special) for the Department to offer inspection training
opportunities.
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SUPPORT: (Verified 5/26/15)
Sierra Fund (source)
California League of Conservation Voters
Claim-GV
Clean Water Action
Endangered Habitats League
San Juan Ridge Taxpayers Association
Wolf Creek Community Association
OPPOSITION: (Verified5/26/15)
Rural County Representatives of California
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: According to the coalition headed by
the sponsor, The Sierra Fund, the state has a strong interest in
ensuring the mine operations in the state are operated in
compliance with its locally issued permit which protects the
state's water and air from contamination, and to ensure that
when the mine ceases operation that it is remediated to be ready
for a beneficial end use. The coalition is participating in the
ongoing stakeholder process and recognizes Governor Brown's call
to reform SMARA "top to bottom."
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION: Rural County Representatives of
California considers the restrictions on those who may inspect
mines to be overly restrictive and it would like counties to be
able to inspect the mines it owns, both of which are ongoing
topics of the stakeholder process.
Prepared by:William Craven / N.R. & W. / (916) 651-4116
5/27/15 14:37:29
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