BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1701
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Date of Hearing: March 20, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY AND TOXIC MATERIALS
Bob Wieckowski, Chair
AB 1701 (Wieckowski and Smyth) - As Amended: March 8, 2012
SUBJECT : Underground Storage tanks (UST): local agency
certification.
SUMMARY : Provides for State certification of cities and counties
to oversee the cleanup of USTs. Specifically, this bill :
1)Requires a city or county to apply to the State Water
Resources Control Board (SWRCB) to be certified to implement
the local UST cleanup programs.
2)Provides that only a certified city or county is authorized to
implement the local UST oversight cleanup program after July
1, 2013.
3)Authorizes the SWRCB to certify a city or county that it
determines is qualified to oversee or perform the abatement
and require the SWRCB to adopt procedures and criteria for
certifying cities and counties. Requires local agency
certification by the SWRCB to include a review, at a minimum,
of all of the following factors of the city or county
capacity:
a) Adequacy of the technical expertise possessed by the
city or county,
b) Adequacy of staff resources,
c) Adequacy of budget resources and funding mechanisms,
d) Training requirements,
e) Past performance in implementing and enforcing
corrective action requirements, and
f) Record keeping and accounting systems.
4)Provides that if a local agency is not certified by the SWRCB,
after July 1, 2013, the SWRCB shall assign UST remediation
cases from that city or county to either the Regional Water
Quality control Board (RWQCB) or to a certified local program.
5)Removes obsolete provisions of the UST cleanup program,
including the authority for the Santa Clara Valley Water
Agency to operate as the local UST oversight agency and for
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the funding of these activities by the SWRCB.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Regulates, generally, the storage of hazardous substances in
USTs and requires USTs that are used to store hazardous
substances to meet certain requirements, including that the
primary containment be product tight and that the tank's
secondary containment meet specified standards.
2)Requires the Secretary of California Environmental Protection
Agency to establish a unified hazardous waste and hazardous
materials management regulatory program, known as the
Certified Unified Program Agency (CUPA), as a means of
consolidating the local rules or local ordinances relating to
the generation or handling of hazardous waste or hazardous
materials, as specified pursuant to Chapter 6.11 of the Health
and Safety Code (Sections 25404 et seq.).
3)Requires, under the existing Barry Keene Underground Storage
Tank Cleanup Trust Fund Act of 1989 (Act), owners and
operators of petroleum USTs to take corrective action on an
unauthorized release of petroleum, including requirements for
the preparation of a work plan.
4)Defines "local agency" as the local agency authorized to
implement the law (e.g., CUPA), city or county under certain
conditions. Authorizes a CUPA to enter into a written
agreement with other state or local agencies (participating
agencies) to implement or enforce one or more of the unified
program elements (including the UST element).
5)Directs the SWRCB to create and implement a local oversight
program for the abatement or releases from USTs. Directs the
SWRCB to select local agencies to participate in the oversight
program that have implemented the law and that collect and
transmit fees and surcharges from UST permit holders to cover
local agency and SWRCB costs.
6)Authorizes local agencies to, by ordinance, assume
responsibility for the implementation of the UST Act if there
is no CUPA approved before January 1, 1997.
FISCAL EFFECT : Not known.
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COMMENTS :
1)Need for the bill . According to the author, "Leaks from
underground storage tanks (UST) represent a threat to
California groundwater and land resources. Even a small
amount of petroleum released from a leaking UST can
contaminate groundwater. The multiple local agencies with
reasonability for cleanup oversight result in highly varied
local requirements and processes for the cleanup of
underground tanks. This variability has led to delays in site
cleanups and increased state and business costs."
2)On November 30, 2011 the Assembly Environmental Safety and
Toxic Materials Committee conducted an oversight hearing on
the state and local regulation and management of USTs
containing hazardous materials including petroleum. The
hearing held in San Jose reviewed policies and actions to
increase the efficiency and timeliness of UST cleanups. One
of the findings from the hearing was the need to standardize
local agency oversight of cleanups to provide timely closure
of sites.
Oversight of UST cleanup is currently carried out by a range
of State and local agencies including 9 RWQCB, 22 local
oversight programs (LOPs), and over 90 local implementing
agencies (LIAs). The multiple local agencies with
reasonability for cleanup oversight result in highly varied
local requirements and processes for the cleanup of USTs.
This variability has led to delays in site cleanups and
increased state and business costs. According to the United
States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA), as of
February 2009, there were 10,274 leaking USTs remaining to be
cleaned up in California.
3)The US EPA completed a review of UST cleanup in California in
2011 and found, among other issues that, "Regional Water
Quality Control Boards (RWQCBs), Local Oversight Program (LOP)
agencies, and Local Implementing Agencies (LIAs) such as
county health agencies and fire departments direct the
investigation and cleanup of releases in California. The state
provides funding to RWQCBs and LOPs, but it does not fund or
have statutory authority over the LIAs. According to
GeoTracker, California's mandated electronic data collection
system, the majority of the state's backlog is within the
jurisdiction of the RWQCBs and LOPs. Differences in the
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management and administration of remedial actions might be
causing differences in cleanup outcomes."<1>
4)Role of the CUPA : CUPAs were authorized in legislation in
1993 (Calderon, SB 1082, Chapter 418, Statutes of 1993). The
goal of that legislation was to consolidate and make more
effective administrative, permitting, and enforcement
activities of state and federal environmental and emergency
management programs. The CUPAs are responsible for the
administration and enforcement of six environmental programs -
hazardous waste, above ground and underground storage tanks,
hazardous materials inventory, extremely hazardous materials
accidental release, and hazardous materials/fire code
programs.
Technical Amendments:
1)Clarifying state, local agency and CUPA authorities. This
bill limits the ability of local agencies to implement SWRCB
responsibilities. The Committee may wish to clarity the
intent that CUPAs will not be exercising SWRCB responsibility.
Page 9, line 32, Strike "local agency" and insert "Unified
program agency".
2)Local agency certification - renewal. This bill provides for
SWRCB local agency certification. The Committee may wish to
add a process to review and renew that certification.
Page 13, line 4 after "certifying" insert: " and withdrawing
certification ".
Page 13, line 18 insert:
(f) The board shall conduct a triennial review of each
certified city or county's ability to carry out the local
oversight program. The board shall consider the certification
criteria contained in paragraphs (1) through (6), inclusive,
of subdivision (c) and criteria developed pursuant to
subdivision (d). Upon the withdrawal of a certified city or
county's certification, cases shall be transferred from the
city or county and orders and directives shall remain
--------------------------
<1>. US, EPA, The National Lust Cleanup Backlog: A Study Of
Opportunities , Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response,
Office of Underground Storage Tanks, September 2011
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effective in accordance with the provisions contained in
subdivision (e). The effective date for the withdrawal of a
certified city or county's certification shall not predate the
expiration a local oversight program agreement entered into
between the board and certified city or county pursuant to
Section 25297.1, unless the certified city or county has
failed to comply with the agreement.
3)Local agency UST cleanup responsibility. This bill provides
authority to implement UST corrective actions for a series of
specific statutory requirements including Health and Safety
(H&S) Codes �� 25296.10 to 25296.40, 25296.09, 25297, 25297.2
25298 and �� 25299 to 25299.3. The Committee may wish to
broaden the new H&S Code � 25283 (b) (2) & (3) to include a
general authority for implementation of the other UST
corrective actions of the chapter.
Page 9, line 39 & page 10, line 7, insert: "and other sections
of this chapter that are related to implementation of
corrective action".
4)Local agency mandate. This bill requires that local agencies
shall seek certification by the SWRCB for the local agency
oversight responsibility. The Committee may wish to clarify
that seeking the certification is voluntary on the part of the
local agencies if they choose not to oversee the UST
corrective actions.
Page 14, line 6, strike "shall" and insert "may".
5)Reconciling dates for local agency authority. This bill
requires that local agencies take over authority for the UST
cleanup programs on July 1, 2013. The Committee may wish to
clarify that the existing oversight authority will lapse on
June 30, 2013, rather than the July 1st date, which would
create an overlapping authority.
Page 14, line 9, strike, "July 1" and insert June 30".
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Association of Environmental Health Administrators
California Independent Oil Marketers Association
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CORE Environmental Reform
Opposition
None received.
Analysis Prepared by : Bob Fredenburg / E.S. & T.M. / (916)
319-3965