BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 1456|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: SB 1456
Author: Kuehl (D)
Amended: As introduced
Vote: 21
SENATE ENV. QUALITY COMMITTEE : 4-2, 5/3/04
AYES: Sher, Chesbro, Kuehl, Romero
NOES: Denham, McPherson
NO VOTE RECORDED: Figueroa
SUBJECT : Santa Susanna Field Laboratory: cleanup
standards
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill prohibits an owner or operator of the
Santa Susana Field Laboratory site in Ventura County from
using, selling, transferring, or leasing any part of that
site for residential use unless the United States
Environmental Protection Agency finds that radioactive
contamination at the site has been surveyed and remediated
in accordance with the federal Comprehensive Environment
Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (also
known as CERCLA or the federal "Superfund" Law). This bill
makes legislative findings and declarations that a special
law is necessary and that a general law cannot be made
applicable within the meaning of Section 16 of Article IV
of the California Constitution because of the unique legal
status and circumstances regarding radioactivity at the
Santa Susana Field Laboratory in Ventura County.
CONTINUED
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ANALYSIS :
Existing law:
1. Requires sellers and transferors of real property to
meet specified conditions and to make specified
disclosures prior to the transfer of those properties.
2. Establishes conditions under which the State Department
of Health Services (DHS) may grant licenses for the
receipt of radioactive material for disposal on land and
prohibits the burial, throwing away, or disposing of
radioactive waste except in a manner that will result in
no significant radioactive contamination of the
environment.
Comments
Purpose of the bill . According to the author's office, the
Santa Susanna Field Laboratory (SSFL), on the border
between Ventura and Los Angeles Counties was contaminated
by both radioactive and chemical releases beginning in the
1950's. The site has been used for rocket engine testing
and nuclear reactor research. The site is primarily
controlled by the Department of Energy (DOE).
Because it is a defense facility, the cleanup standards are
set by DOE, although the United States Environmental
Protection Agency (US EPA) did serve in an advisory
capacity. The DOE, however, has refused to follow US EPA
cleanup standards, and the US EPA has now ceased efforts to
work with the DOE. EPA issued a public statement last year
indicating that the proposed cleanup effort by the DOE will
leave the site unsafe for any use other than recreation day
use, or other open space preservation. This bill states
that the site may not be used for residential purposes
unless the site is cleaned up to US EPA standards for
residential use properties.
Background on Radiation Exposure and Federal Clean-up
Standards . According to the National Council on Radiation
Protection and Measurements, the United States population
receives a radiation dose of a little more than one-third
of a rem a year, mostly from background radiation.
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Although exposure to small amounts of radiation is believed
to cause fatal cancer or hereditary defects in human
beings, verification of this causal relationship is
difficult. While roughly one in five deaths that occur in
the United States are from all types of cancer, the
estimated risk of dying from natural background radiation
(principally radon) in a lifetime is roughly one in 100.
According to the International Commission on Radiological
Protection, the estimated lifetime risk of cancer death
resulting from exposure to human-generated sources of
radiation (including medical sources) is much smaller,
estimated at one in 3,000. Various federal laws and
regulations/standards have been developed and administered
by US EPA, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), and
other agencies. US EPA has a mandate to regulate
environmental contamination, including radioactive
contamination, while NRC has a responsibility to regulate
civilian uses of nuclear materials.
The NRC issues licenses, and, in some cases, maintains
agreements with signatory states by which those states
regulate possession of certain radioactive materials for
certain uses (e.g., research and medical). In California,
the DHS issues all of the licenses except for all federal
facilities and those facilities that exceed a specified
critical mass of special nuclear materials. These licenses
include those issued for diagnostic and therapeutic medical
use, biomedical applications, research, and other purposes.
Under CERCLA, "Superfund" sites are required to be
remediated by the US EPA to a level resulting in between
one in 15,000 and one in 1,500,000 additional premature
cancer deaths. According to the author's office, sites
such as the SSFL, located on the border of the author's
district, are under the jurisdiction of NRC which has
low-level waste standards allowing for a level of residual
contamination resulting in a increased theoretical risk of
cancer death of one in 1,000.
The exposure limits and risks associated with federal
radiation standards and guidelines established by these two
agencies differ in part due to a lack of interagency
agreement on the technical assumptions underlying various
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standards. According to the United States General
Accounting Office, agencies' calculation methods often
differ, reflecting a major difference of philosophy and
giving different results.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 5/4/04)
Americans for a Safe Future
California League of Conservation Voters
Clean Water Action
Committee to Bridge the Gap
Concerned Citizens to Stop Outside Dumping
Environment California
Environmental Working Group
Natural Resources Defense Council
Physicians for Social Responsibility-Los Angeles
Physicians for Social Responsibility-San Francisco Bay Area
Chapter
Rocketdyne Cleanup Coalition
Sierra Club California
Southern California Federation of Scientists
Susana Knolls Homeowners Association, Inc.
Wishtoyou Foundation
Ventura Coastkeeper
OPPOSITION : (Verified 5/4/04)
BIOCOM
California Chamber of Commerce
California Manufacturers and Technology Association
California Radioactive Materials Management Forum (Cal Rad
Forum)
California Space Authority
Southern California Edison
The Boeing Company
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : Supporters of this bill state that
the bill is a long overdue improvement to the cleanup
standards for the SSFL. Supporters note that the site was
the location of a partial nuclear meltdown in the 1950's
and subsequently of other nuclear reactor incidents.
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Supporters state that the US EPA itself has issued a formal
finding that the site was cleaned up inadequately and that
further remediation should be undertaken to protect public
health and the environment.
One proponent states:
"It is baffling to us that this bill is necessary and that
Senator Kuehl is required to continue her fight to bring
some sanity to the management of the Rocketdyne site - a
former nuclear testing facility that is heavily
contaminated with radioactivity and other industrial
chemicals and that, by the U.S. EPA's own formal findings,
has not been adequately cleaned up to allow the land to be
sold or transferred for residential use or any other
unrestricted use. Notwithstanding this formal finding, it
is our understanding that Rocketdyne, the site operator,
intends to open the site to uses that could include
unrestricted residential use, without cleaning up the site
or even adequately characterizing the contamination to the
satisfaction of U.S. EPA [and that] U.S. EPA has no
authority to block such unrestricted uses.
"If the U.S. Congress will not give the EPA the authority
to prohibit residential and other unrestricted uses on a
site contaminated with nuclear radioactivity, even after
the EPA has formally declared the site to be unsafe for
such uses, we hope the California Legislature will
demonstrate the necessary wisdom, common sense, and concern
for public health to do so."
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION : Opponents state this bill
singles out one site for special, and more stringent,
cleanup requirements and imposes unreasonable requirements
on the site given the actual risks to public health and the
environment.
Opponents state:
"The U.S. Department of Energy and the California
Department of Health Services exercise regulatory
jurisdiction over portions of the Santa Susana site. These
agencies are perfectly capable of overseeing completion of
the clean up, decommissioning, and release of the site in
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a manner that will protect the public health and safety.
No portion of the Santa Susana site is a Superfund site,
therefore CERCLA is not applicable.
"CERCLA uses hypothetical risk estimates which attempt to
extrapolate
dose/response relationships observed at high doses at high
dose-rates to low doses at low dose-rates. The U.S.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and every other state
use numerical dose standards plus the As Low As Reasonably
Achievable (ALARA) standard for remediation
decommissioning, and release of facilities where
radioactive materials have been used.
"By agreement between the U.S. Department of Energy and the
Boeing Company, the numerical dose standard being used for
decommissioning and release at the Santa Susana facility is
lower than the standard required by the U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission. This decommissioning process has
been underway for many years.
"SB 1456 would disrupt and delay this process by attempting
to change regulatory jurisdiction and imposing procedures
that are not compatible with NRC requirements - all without
any benefit to the public health and safety."
CP:mel 5/4/04 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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