BILL NUMBER: AB 358 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 4, 2011
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Smyth
FEBRUARY 10, 2011
An act to amend Section 25296.30 25296.25
of the Health and Safety Code, relating to hazardous
substances.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 358, as amended, Smyth. Hazardous substances: underground
storage tanks. tanks: corrective action
suspension.
Existing law generally regulates the storage of hazardous
substances in underground storage tanks, including requiring
underground storage tanks that are used to store hazardous substances
to meet certain requirements. Existing law requires the
State Water Resources Control, in consultation with the former State
Department of Health Services, to develop guidelines for the
investigation and cleanup of methyl tertiary-butyl ether (MTBE) and
other ether-based oxygenates in groundwater, with regard to these
tanks.
Existing law requires owners and operators of underground storage
tanks to take corrective action to an unauthorized release. The State
Water Resources Control Board is authorized to suspend corrective
action at a site, unless the board, in consultation with local
agencies and the California regional water quality control board
(regional board), determines that a site is an emergency site, as
defined. The board is prohibited from suspending certain activities
pursuant to that authority and is required to continue the suspension
under certain conditions. The board is required to adopt regulations
to specify the conditions under which a site is an emergency site,
in that it poses either an imminent threat to public health or safety
or to the environment or a substantial probability of causing a
condition of contamination, nuisance, or pollution.
Under the existing Barry Keene Underground Storage Tank Cleanup
Trust Fund Act of 1989, the board is authorized to expend moneys from
the Underground Storage Tank Cleanup Fund to pay claims to aid
eligible owners and operators of petroleum underground storage tanks
who take corrective action to clean up unauthorized releases from
those tanks.
This bill would update an obsolete reference and instead
require consultation with the State Department of Public Health
instead authorize the board to suspend corrective
action if reimbursement of a claim has been suspended pursuant to the
act, unless the board determines, without the requirement to consult
with local agencies and the regional board, that the site presents
an imminent threat to public health or safety or to the environment.
The bill would delete the prohibition on the board from suspending
those activities, would revise the conditions under which suspension
is required to be continued, and would delete the requirement that
the board adopt regulations to specify the conditions under which a
site is an emergency site .
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no
yes . State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 25296.25 of the
Health and Safety Code is amended to read:
25296.25. (a) (1)
Unless the board, in consultation with local agencies and the
regional board, determines that a site is an emergency site, the
board, The board may suspend additional corrective
action or investigation work at a site, at the request of a
responsible party who is eligible for reimbursement of corrective
action costs under Chapter 6.75 (commencing with Section 25299.10),
may suspend additional corrective action or investigation
work at a site, based on a preliminary site assessment conducted in
accordance with the corrective action regulations adopted by the
board, but the board shall not suspend any of the following
activities pursuant to this section: if reimbursement
of a claim has been suspended pursuant to Chapter 6.75 (commencing
with Section 25299.10), unless the board determines that the site
presents an imminent threat to public health or safety or to the
environment, based on a p reliminary site assessment
conducted in accordance with the corrective action regulations
adopted by the board pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 25296.10.
(A) Removal of, or approved modifications of, existing tanks.
(B) Excavation of petroleum saturated soil or removal of excess
petroleum from saturated soil.
(C) Removal of free product from the saturated and unsaturated
zones.
(D) Periodic monitoring to ensure that released petroleum is not
migrating in an uncontrolled manner that will cause the site to
become an emergency site.
(2) For purposes of this subdivision, "emergency site" means a
site that, because of an unauthorized release of petroleum, meets one
of the following conditions:
(A) The site presents an imminent threat to public health or
safety or the environment.
(B) The site poses a substantial probability of causing a
condition of contamination or nuisance, as defined in Section 13050
of the Water Code, or of causing pollution of a source of drinking
water at a level that is a violation of a primary or secondary
drinking water standard adopted by the State Department of Health
Services pursuant to Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 116270) of
Part 12 of Division 104.
(b) The suspension shall continue until one of the following
occurs:
(1) The board provides the eligible responsible party with
notice that the suspension of funding is lifted and that
reimbursement payments are available pursuant to a letter of
commitment issued pursuant to Chapter 6.75 (commencing with
Section 25299.10) that the party will receive reimbursement
for the corrective action .
(2) The responsible party requests in writing that the suspension
be terminated and that the work continue.
(3) The fund established pursuant to Article 6 (commencing with
Section 25299.50) of Chapter 6.75 is no longer in existence.
(c) The board shall adopt regulations pursuant to Section 25299.3
that specify the conditions under which a site is an imminent threat
to public health or safety or to the environment or poses a
substantial probability of causing a condition of contamination,
nuisance, or pollution as specified in paragraph (2) of subdivision
(a). The board shall not suspend corrective action or investigation
work at any site pursuant to this section until the effective date of
the regulations adopted by the board pursuant to this subdivision.
SECTION 1. Section 25296.30 of the Health and
Safety Code is amended to read:
25296.30. (a) The board, in consultation with the State
Department of Public Health, shall develop guidelines for the
investigation and cleanup of methyl tertiary-butyl ether (MTBE) and
other ether-based oxygenates in groundwater. The guidelines shall
include procedures for determining, to the extent practicable,
whether the contamination associated with an unauthorized release of
MTBE is from the tank system prior to the system's most recent
upgrade or replacement or if the contamination is from an
unauthorized release from the current tank system.
(b) The board, in consultation with the State Department of Public
Health, shall develop appropriate cleanup standards for
contamination associated with a release of methyl tertiary-butyl
ether.