BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 358
SENATE COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
Senator S. Joseph Simitian, Chairman
2011-2012 Regular Session
BILL NO: AB 358
AUTHOR: Smyth
AMENDED: June 21, 2011
FISCAL: Yes HEARING DATE: June 27, 2011
URGENCY: Yes CONSULTANT: Caroll
Mortensen
SUBJECT : UNDERGROUND STORAGE TANKS
SUMMARY :
Existing law ,
1)Requires the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) to
post and update at least annually, information on all
unauthorized releases from an underground storage tank (UST)
(Health and Safety Code �25295).
2)Requires SWRCB to develop and maintain a system for the
management of data for petroleum releases to allow
regulatory agencies and the public to use historic data in
various decisionmaking processes (�25296.35).
3)Establishes a procedure to petition the SWRCB to review
cases where a corrective action plan for a UST case has been
implemented but has not been closed, except for those cases
where the site is under a jurisdiction of a local agency
that is not implementing a local oversight program. In those
cases, SWRCB can only recommend that the case be closed.
(�25296.40).
4)Requires SWRCB staff to notify UST owners and operators that
have active cleanups ongoing for more than five years to
review cases and recommend closure of cases to the SWRCB,
except in the cases where the case is not implementing a
local oversight program. In those cases, SWRCB can only
recommend that the case be closed. (�25299.39.2).
5)Authorizes SWRCB, in consultation with the Department of
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Toxic Substances Control, to develop and implement a program
to establish local oversight programs to oversee the
management and cleanup of UST sites (�25297.1).
6)Under the Barry Keene Underground Storage Tank Cleanup Act
(Act) of 1989:
a) Establishes the Underground Storage Tank Cleanup Fund
(Fund) for the deposit of fees collected pursuant to the
Act (�25299.50).
b) Establishes a base storage fee of $0.014 (14 mils) for
each gallon of petroleum placed in an underground storage
tank (�25299.41).
c) Establishes, until January 1, 2012, an additional
storage fee of $0.006 (6 mils) for each gallon of
petroleum placed in an underground storage tank for a
total of $0.02 per gallon (�25299.43).
d) Authorizes SWRCB to expend the moneys in the Fund,
upon appropriation by the Legislature, for various
purposes, including the payment of claims to aid owners
and operators of petroleum underground storage tanks who
take corrective action to clean up unauthorized releases
from those tanks, corrective actions undertaken by
specified agencies, the cleanup and oversight of
unauthorized releases at abandoned tank sites, and grants
to small businesses to retrofit certain hazardous
substance underground storage tanks.
7)Under federal law, Title XV, Subtitle B, the Underground
Storage Tank Compliance Act of 2005, updated the
requirements for federal and state underground storage tank
programs and requires conforming changes to state programs.
This bill :
1) Requires regional water quality control boards and local
agencies to submit information to SWRCB related to the
oversight and management of USTs in a manner consistent
with existing electronic reporting requirements. Provides
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SWRCB with emergency regulation authority to establish the
reporting system.
2) Establishes authority of an owner or operator of an UST,
overseen by local implementing agencies (LIAs), that has
implemented a corrective action plan but has not been
closed, to petition SWRCB to close the site.
3) Establishes authority for the SWCRB to close sites overseen
by LIAs under its existing five year review process.
COMMENTS :
1)Purpose of Bill . According to the author, the goal of AB
358 is to ensure that all local agencies that perform UST
project oversight and remediation have the same lines of
responsibility and review in following state policies on
closure of UST sites. This stems from the fact that there
are two variations of local agency oversight obligation
which is a remnant of the Legislature creating Certified
Unified Permitting Agencies (CUPA's) in the late 1990's. The
author contends that the Local Implementing Agencies (LIAs)
have substandard closure rates and AB 358 significantly
improve those rates.
2)UST reforms ongoing . SWRCB is working with stakeholders to
make improvements in administration of the fund. The 2010
Budget contained Supplemental Report language that directed
SWRCB to provided updates on its progress in implementation
of findings from a February 2010 audit of the Fund. That
audit contained many findings, including that there is a
lack of incentive to get cases cleaned up quickly and
efficiently. The lack of closure incentive applied to all
three major parties: the responsible party or claimant,
whose site cleanup bills are paid by the Fund; the
consultant, who can continue to bill hours as long as the
case is active; and the regulator, who generally prefers to
close only cases that have minimal or no risk associated
with the site closure. Due, in part, to these disincentives,
over 43 percent of the active claims have been open for ten
years or more. The SWRCB directed staff to undertake
specific steps to get cases to closure more quickly and
efficiently.
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As part of the solution, SWRCB established two stakeholder
task forces to review both the regulatory side and the
payment side of the UST Program, and make suggestions for
improvements or changes. They are also working on a "low
risk" closure policy that is likely to expedite the closure
process as well. The changes in AB 358 are consistent with
the audit recommendations and do not appear to conflict with
the proposed low-risk closure policy currently under review.
1) Related Legislation .
a) AB 291 (Wieckowski) set for hearing in the
Environmental Quality Committee on June 27, 2011,
proposes a two-year extension on the Fund fee increase.
b) AB 1188 (Ruskin) Chapter 649, Statutes of 2009,
increased the specified petroleum storage fee by $0.006
per gallon of petroleum stored, between January 1, 2010,
and December 31, 2011.
c) SB 1161 (Lowenthal) Chapter 616, Statutes of 2008,
extended the sunset date for the UST fund to January 1,
2016, changed the definition of "tank" to include
components attached to the tank, and allocated funding
to brownfield cleanups.
d) AB 2729 (Ruskin) Chapter 644, Statutes of 2008, as it
relates to USTs, allocated $10 million to schools and
revises the priority ranking used by the SWRCB by
prioritizing large school districts, above otherwise
un-ranked tank owners and operators to receive financial
awards for claims submitted to the SWRCB for UST
remediation costs.
2) Amendments Needed . To ensure that the reforms needed to
get maximum benefit are implemented, AB 358 should be
amended to included contingent enactment language with AB
291 (Wieckowski) that provides for the fee extension.
Also, it may be necessary to make changes in reporting
requirements pursuant to AB 358 to ensure they conform to
federal requirements.
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SOURCE : California Independent Oil Marketers
Association
SUPPORT : CORE Environmental Reform, Inc.
OPPOSITION : None on file