BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 2205
Author: V. Manuel Pérez (D), et al.
Amended: 8/6/12 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY COMMITTEE : 7-0, 6/18/12
AYES: Simitian, Strickland, Blakeslee, Hancock, Kehoe,
Lowenthal, Pavley
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : Not relevant
SUBJECT : Hazardous waste: ores and minerals
SOURCE : Simbol Materials
DIGEST : This bill clarifies that wastes from the
extraction, beneficiation, and processing of ores and
minerals includes spent brine solutions that are used to
produce geothermal energy and that are transferred, via a
closed piping system, to an adjacent facility for
reclamation, beneficiation, or processing to recover
minerals or other commercial substances, if the spent brine
solutions, and any liquid residuals derived from the
solutions are (1) managed in accordance with specified
provisions of the Code of Federal Regulations, (2) returned
after processing, via closed piping, and subsequently
managed in accordance with the exemption under existing
law, and (3) not solid or semisolid
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hazardous residuals.
Senate Floor Amendments of 8/6/12 make technical amendments
and add a coauthor.
ANALYSIS :
Existing law:
1. Authorizes the State Water Resources Control Board
(SWRCB) and Regional Water Quality Control Boards
(RWQCBs) to regulate geothermal waste. (Water Code
Section 13000 et seq.)
2. Authorizes the Department of Toxic Substances Control
(DTSC) to regulate waste generated during geothermal
energy production, and requires DTSC to establish
standards and regulations for the management of
hazardous wastes to protect against the hazards to
public health, domestic livestock, wildlife and the
environment. (Health and Safety Code Section (HSC)
25100 et seq.)
3. Exempts from regulation by DTSC, geothermal wastes from
the exploration, development, and production of
geothermal energy, if such wastes are contained within
the operating system of that same facility. (HSC
Section 25143.1)
4. Requires the wastes to be "contained" on site at an
operating geothermal production facility and requires
the removal of geothermal waste that is relocated for
drying within 30 days. (HSC Section 25143.1)
5. Exempts wastes from the extraction, beneficiation, and
processing of ores and minerals that are not subject to
regulation under the federal Resource Conservation and
Recovery Act from regulation by DTSC, except the
Carpenter-Presley-Tanner Hazardous Substance Account Act
(HSC Section 25300 et seq.) and the Toxic Pits Cleanup
Act of 1984 (HSC Section 25208 et seq.)
6. Defines "wastes from the extraction, beneficiation, and
processing of ores and minerals" as soil, waste rock,
overburden, and other solid, semisolid, or liquid
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natural materials that are removed, unearthed, or
otherwise displaced as a result of excavating or
recovering an ore or a mineral, or the residuals of
those ores after treatment or processing. (HSC Section
25143.1)
Comments
Purpose . According to the author, this bill "seeks to
clarify that existing regulations and exemptions that apply
to geothermal plants also apply to new processes that
extract materials from geothermal waste in connection with
that plant in a closed-loop system. The proposed amendment
is intended to provide certainty to both geothermal
developers and extraction companies, ensuring that neither
party's geothermal exemption will be imperiled due to the
extraction of beneficial commercial substances."
Geothermal power plant operations . Geothermal powerplants
use super-heated geothermal brine pumped from below the
earth's surface to heat boilers that drive steam turbines,
generating renewable electricity. After being used to heat
the boilers, the cooled brine is injected back underground
to recharge the geothermal resource, creating a closed-loop
system. Geothermal plants, particularly those near the
Salton Sea, often filter materials out of the brine to
avoid fouling their equipment and to enable the brine to be
pumped back into the resource more easily.
Flash geothermal steam plants, the kind found in the
Imperial Valley, bring up hot water brines with levels of
toxic and radioactive substances that are often
sufficiently high to be considered hazardous. When the
resulting steam is then condensed to brine, it may contain
up to 30% of its weight as dissolved solids. This hot
brine is then treated to separate out the solids, known as
filter cake. At a temperature of about 200 degrees
Fahrenheit, the resulting brine is then sent to outdoor
pools where still more solids precipitate out. Finally,
the remaining fluids are re-injected into the underground
reservoir. The solid residues are tested on site and any
hazardous filter cake is managed as solid or hazardous
waste.
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Regulation of geothermal brine . According to documents
filed by the SWRCB relative to geothermal permits, the
United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA)
proposed hazardous waste management standards that included
reduced requirements for several types of large volume
wastes including geothermal waste. Subsequently, Congress
exempted these wastes from the Resource Conservation and
Recovery Act, Subtitle C hazardous waste regulations.
Among the wastes covered by the 1978 proposal were "gas and
oil drilling muds and oil production brines." The oil and
gas exemption was expanded in 1980 to include drilling
fluids and produced water, from crude oil, natural gas and
geothermal wells. The extended list of exempt wastes
includes "hydrogen sulfide abatement wastes from geothermal
energy production" and "well completion, treatment and
stimulation fluids."
In California, DTSC has been granted primary enforcement
authority for hazardous waste regulation by US EPA.
Geothermal wastes, however, are exempt from regulation as
hazardous waste by the California Code of Regulations Title
22, and the HSC including Section 25143.1(a) which
provides: "Any geothermal waste resulting from drilling
for geothermal resources is exempt from the requirements of
this chapter because the disposal of these geothermal
wastes is regulated by the California Regional Water
Quality Control Boards."
In 2006, questions raised about DTSC's jurisdiction over
geothermal plants led to the current language for the
exemption. To avoid duplicative regulation by RWQCBs and
DTSC, AB 1294 (Ducheny), Chapter 143, Statutes of 2006,
clarified that any waste from the operation of a geothermal
energy plant was also exempt from DTSC regulation, in
addition to the existing exemption for waste from drilling.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/6/12)
Simbol Materials (source)
Brawley Chamber of Commerce
CleanTECH San Diego
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EnergySource
Geothermal Energy Association
Imperial County Board of Supervisors
Imperial Irrigation District
Imperial Valley Economic Development Corporation
Marine Group Boat Works
DLW:k 8/6/12 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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