BILL NUMBER: AB 1363 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Alejo
FEBRUARY 18, 2011
An act to amend Section 8670.3 of the Government Code, relating to
oil spill prevention and response.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1363, as introduced, Alejo. Lempert-Keene-Seastrand Oil Spill
Prevention and Response Act: definitions.
The Lempert-Keene-Seastrand Oil Spill Prevention and Response Act
generally requires the administrator for oil spill response, acting
at the direction of the Governor, to implement activities relating to
oil spill response, preparedness, containment, and cleanup, as
prescribed. The act defines specified terms for its purposes.
This bill would make various technical, nonsubstantive changes in
those provisions defining terms for purposes of the act.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 8670.3 of the Government Code is amended to
read:
8670.3. Unless the context requires otherwise, the following
definitions shall govern the construction of this chapter:
(a) "Administrator" means the administrator for oil spill response
who is appointed by the Governor pursuant to Section
8670.4.
(b) (1) "Best achievable protection" means the highest level of
protection that can be achieved through both the use of the best
achievable technology and those manpower levels, training procedures,
and operational methods that provide the greatest degree of
protection achievable. The administrator's determination of which
measures provide the best achievable protection shall be guided by
the critical need to protect valuable coastal resources and marine
waters, while also considering all of the following:
(A) The protection provided by the measure.
(B) The technological achievability of the measure.
(C) The cost of the measure.
(2) The administrator shall not use a cost-benefit or
cost-effectiveness analysis or any particular method of analysis
in determining to determine which
measures provide the best achievable protection. The administrator
shall instead, when determining which measures provide best
achievable protection, give reasonable consideration to the
protection provided by the measures, the technological achievability
of the measures, and the cost of the measures when establishing the
requirements to provide the best achievable protection for coastal
and marine resources.
(c) (1) "Best achievable technology" means that technology that
provides the greatest degree of protection, taking into consideration
both of the following:
(A) Processes that are being developed, or could feasibly be
developed anywhere in the world, given overall reasonable
expenditures on research and development.
(B) Processes that are currently in use anywhere in the world.
(2) In determining what is the best achievable technology pursuant
to this chapter, the administrator shall consider the effectiveness
and engineering feasibility of the technology.
(d) "Dedicated response resources" means equipment and personnel
committed solely to oil spill response, containment, and cleanup that
are not used for any other activity that would adversely affect the
ability of that equipment and personnel to provide oil spill response
services in the timeframes for which the equipment and personnel are
rated.
(e) "Director" means the Director of Fish and Game.
(f) "Environmentally sensitive area" means an area that is
defined pursuant to the applicable area contingency plans, as
created and revised by the Coast Guard and the administrator.
(g) "Inland spill" means a release of at least one barrel (42
gallons) of oil into inland waters that is not authorized by any
federal, state, or local governmental entity.
(h) "Inland waters" means waters of the state other than marine
waters, but not including groundwater.
(i) "Local government" means a chartered or general law city, a
chartered or general law county, or a city and county.
(j) (1) "Marine facility" means any facility of any kind, other
than a tank ship or tank barge, that is or was used for the purposes
of exploring for, drilling for, producing, storing, handling,
transferring, processing, refining, or transporting oil and is
located in marine waters, or is located where a discharge could
impact marine waters unless the facility is either of the following:
(A) Subject to Chapter 6.67 (commencing with Section 25270) or
Chapter 6.75 (commencing with Section 25299.10) of Division 20 of the
Health and Safety Code.
(B) Placed on a farm, nursery, logging site, or construction site
and does not exceed 20,000 gallons in a single storage tank.
(2) For the purposes of this chapter, "marine facility" includes a
drill ship, semisubmersible drilling platform, jack-up type drilling
rig, or any other floating or temporary drilling platform.
(3) For the purposes of this chapter, "marine facility" does not
include a small craft refueling dock.
(k) (1) "Marine terminal" means any marine facility used for
transferring oil to or from a tank ship or tank barge.
(2) "Marine terminal" includes, for purposes of this chapter, all
piping not integrally connected to a tank facility, as defined in
subdivision (m) of Section 25270.2 of the Health and Safety Code.
(l) "Marine waters" means those waters subject to tidal influence,
and includes the waterways used for waterborne commercial vessel
traffic to the Port of Sacramento and the Port of Stockton.
(m) "Mobile transfer unit" means a small marine fueling facility
that is a vehicle, truck, or trailer, including all connecting hoses
and piping, used for the transferring of oil at a location where a
discharge could impact marine waters.
(n) "Nondedicated response resources" means those response
resources identified by an Oil Spill Response Organization for oil
spill response activities that are not dedicated response resources.
(o) "Nonpersistent oil" means a petroleum-based oil, such as
gasoline or jet fuel, that evaporates relatively quickly and is an
oil with hydrocarbon fractions, at least 50 percent of which, by
volume, distills at a temperature of 645 degrees Fahrenheit, and at
least 95 percent of which, by volume, distills at a temperature of
700 degrees Fahrenheit.
(p) "Nontank vessel" means a vessel of 300 gross tons or greater
that carries oil, but does not carry that oil as cargo.
(q) "Oil" means any kind of petroleum, liquid hydrocarbons, or
petroleum products or any fraction or residues therefrom, including,
but not limited to, crude oil, bunker fuel, gasoline, diesel fuel,
aviation fuel, oil sludge, oil refuse, oil mixed with waste, and
liquid distillates from unprocessed natural gas.
(r) "Oil spill cleanup agent" means a chemical, or any other
substance, used for removing, dispersing, or otherwise cleaning up
oil or any residual products of petroleum in, or on, any of the
waters of the state.
(s) "Oil spill contingency plan" or "contingency plan" means the
oil spill contingency plan required pursuant to Article 5 (commencing
with Section 8670.28).
(t) (1) "Oil Spill Response Organization" or "OSRO" means an
individual, organization, association, cooperative, or other entity
that provides, or intends to provide, equipment, personnel, supplies,
or other services directly related to oil spill containment,
cleanup, or removal activities.
(2) A "rated OSRO" means an OSRO that has received a satisfactory
rating from the administrator for a particular rating level
established pursuant to Section 8670.30.
(3) "OSRO" does not include an owner or operator with an oil spill
contingency plan approved by the administrator or an entity that
only provides spill management services, or who provides services or
equipment that are only ancillary to containment, cleanup, or removal
activities.
(u) "Onshore facility" means a facility of any kind that is
located entirely on lands not covered by marine waters.
(v) (1) "Owner" or "operator" means any of the following:
(A) In the case of a vessel, a person who owns, has an ownership
interest in, operates, charters by demise, or leases, the vessel.
(B) In the case of a marine facility, a person who owns, has an
ownership interest in, or operates the marine facility.
(C) Except as provided in subparagraph (D), in the case of a
vessel or marine facility, where title or control was conveyed due to
bankruptcy, foreclosure, tax delinquency, abandonment, or similar
means to an entity of state or local government, a person who owned,
held an ownership interest in, operated, or otherwise controlled
activities concerning the vessel or marine facility immediately
beforehand.
(D) An entity of the state or local government that acquired
ownership or control of a vessel or marine facility, when the entity
of the state or local government has caused or contributed to a spill
or discharge of oil into marine waters.
(2) "Owner" or "operator" does not include a person who, without
participating in the management of a vessel or marine facility, holds
indicia of ownership primarily to protect the person's security
interest in the vessel or marine facility.
(3) "Operator" does not include a person who owns the land
underlying a marine facility or the facility itself if the person is
not involved in the operations of the facility.
(w) "Person" means an individual, trust, firm, joint stock
company, or corporation, including, but not limited to, a government
corporation, partnership, and association. "Person" also includes a
city, county, city and county, district, and the state or any
department or agency thereof, and the federal government, or any
department or agency thereof, to the extent permitted by law.
(x) "Pipeline" means a pipeline used at any time to transport oil.
(y) "Reasonable worst case spill" means, for the purposes of
preparing contingency plans for a nontank vessel, the total volume of
the largest fuel tank on the nontank vessel.
(z) "Responsible party" or "party responsible" means any of the
following:
(1) The owner or transporter of oil or a person or entity
accepting responsibility for the oil.
(2) The owner, operator, or lessee of, or a person that charters
by demise, a vessel or marine facility, or a person or entity
accepting responsibility for the vessel or marine facility.
(aa) "Small craft" means a vessel, other than a tank ship or tank
barge, that is less than 20 meters in length.
(ab) "Small craft refueling dock" means a waterside operation that
dispenses only nonpersistent oil in bulk and small amounts of
persistent lubrication oil in containers primarily to small craft and
meets both of the following criteria:
(1) Has tank storage capacity not exceeding 20,000 gallons in any
single storage tank or tank compartment.
(2) Has total usable tank storage capacity not exceeding 75,000
gallons.
(ac) "Small marine fueling facility" means either of the
following:
(1) A mobile transfer unit.
(2) A fixed facility that is not a marine terminal, that dispenses
primarily nonpersistent oil, that may dispense small amounts of
persistent oil, primarily to small craft, and that meets all of the
following criteria:
(A) Has tank storage capacity greater than 20,000 gallons but not
more than 40,000 gallons in any single storage tank or storage tank
compartment.
(B) Has total usable tank storage capacity not exceeding 75,000
gallons.
(C) Had an annual throughput volume of over-the-water transfers of
oil that did not exceed 3,000,000 gallons during the most recent
preceding 12-month period.
(ad) "Spill" or "discharge" means a release of at least one barrel
(42 gallons) of oil into marine waters that is not authorized by a
federal, state, or local government entity.
(ae) "State Interagency Oil Spill Committee" means the committee
established pursuant to Article 3.5 (commencing with Section 8574.1)
of Chapter 7.
(af) "California oil spill contingency plan" means the California
oil spill contingency plan prepared pursuant to Article 3.5
(commencing with Section 8574.1) of Chapter 7.
(ag) "Tank barge" means a vessel that carries oil in commercial
quantities as cargo but is not equipped with a means of
self-propulsion.
(ah) "Tank ship" means a self-propelled vessel that is constructed
or adapted for the carriage of oil in bulk or in commercial
quantities as cargo.
(ai) "Tank vessel" means a tank ship or tank barge.
(aj) "Vessel" means a watercraft or ship of any kind, including
every structure adapted to be navigated from place to place for the
transportation of merchandise or persons.
(ak) "Vessel carrying oil as secondary cargo" means a vessel that
does not carry oil as a primary cargo, but does carry oil in bulk as
cargo or cargo residue.