BILL ANALYSIS
SB 466
SENATE COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
Senator S. Joseph Simitian, Chairman
2009-2010 Regular Session
BILL NO: SB 466
AUTHOR: Oropeza
AMENDED: As Introduced
FISCAL: No HEARING DATE: May 4, 2009
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT: Bruce Jennings
SUBJECT : HAZARDOUS WASTE: TRANSPORTATION
SUMMARY :
Existing law :
1) Authorizes the Department of Toxic Substances Control
(DTSC) to regulate hazardous waste using both the federal
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) rules as well
as additional state requirements. California-specific
requirements include rules for generators, transporters,
hazardous waste treatment storage and disposal facilities,
used oil handlers, and universal waste.
2) Requires shipments of hazardous waste to be accompanied by
a hazardous waste manifest and be transported by a
hazardous waste hauler registered with DTSC.
3) Exempts shipments of hazardous waste from the manifest and
registered hauler requirements if the waste is transported
from a "remote site" to a "consolidation site," both of
which are owned by the generator, the transport of the
waste is not federally regulated and the generator meets
specified requirements relating to personnel, training,
transport vehicles, liability, shipping papers, and
packaging. An exempted shipment may not exceed 275 gallons
in volume or 2,500 pounds in weight, except that public
utilities, local publicly owned utilities and municipal
utility districts may transport up to 1,600 gallons of
hazardous wastewater pumped from utility vaults and up to
500 gallons of other liquid hazardous wastes.
4) Authorizes up to 5,000 gallons of waste mineral oil
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(dielectric fluid) to be taken from electrical equipment
that utilities may transport from remote sites to a
consolidation site without meeting the hazardous waste
manifest/registered hauler requirements. This
authorization does not apply to mineral oil that contains
levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) that would cause
the mineral oil to be otherwise classified as a hazardous
waste.
This bill revises the condition for exempting manifest and
transporter requirements pertaining to hazardous waste to an
increased maximum weight of 10,000 pounds and increases the
maximum 1,600 gallon hazardous wastewater exception for
certain generators to a maximum of 5,000 gallons, as
specified.
COMMENTS :
1) Purpose of Bill . SB 466 would change from 1,600 gallons to
5,000 gallons the amount that a utility tanker truck can
transport of hazardous waste water; it will also increase
from 2,500 pounds to 10,000 pounds the amount of hazardous
solid waste that a utility dump truck can transport.
2) Background . In 2002, SB 1922 (Romero) allowed utilities to
transport up to 1,600 gallons of hazardous wastewater
pumped from electric vaults, or 2,500 pounds of hazardous
waste in a single shipment.
Since 2002, according to the author, many utilities have
invested in larger capacity vacuum trucks and dump trucks.
Currently, utilities frequently need to make multiple trips
with only a partial load in their vehicles. This results
in delays and other issues.
An increase in the allowable volume of contaminated water, as
in the amount of solid hazardous waste would benefit the
public in the following ways:
a) Decrease in the amount of time in which streets near
an electrical vault have to be closed while the vault is
having the water removed.
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b) Decrease the number of trucks on the road which will
reduce the greenhouse emissions produced by these
vehicles.
c) Decrease in the amount of time it will take the
utility to restore a service interruption caused by a
flooded vault.
3) Background: Classifying and Regulating Hazardous Wastes .
California has broader and more specific definitions for
waste than do the federal requirements. In addition to the
listed and characteristic wastes under the federal rules
and California's non-RCRA hazardous wastes, the state also
adds extremely hazardous wastes and special wastes.
California has not adopted all of the federal waste and
hazardous waste exclusions, which makes its waste
determination rules stricter than the federal. Wastes can
be hazardous if they are either listed or if they are a
mixture of a listed hazardous waste and other wastes.
Despite California's stricter regulation of hazardous waste,
there remain potentially significant gaps in regulation,
primarily due to the fact that so little is known about
toxicity of so many waste streams. Moreover, since the
determination of toxicity is left to vague criteria (e.g.,
the hazardous waste "exhibits" a characteristic of
toxicity), the state is operating within a context of
considerable uncertainty. While SB 466 does nothing to
alter the existing architecture to regulate hazardous
waste, the integrity of public health and environmental
protections afforded by these waste laws deserve further
scrutiny.
SOURCE : California Municipal Utilities Association and
Los Angeles Department of Water and Power
SUPPORT : California Council for Environmental and
Economic Balance
California Municipal Utilities Association
OPPOSITION : None on file