BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1190
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 30, 2013
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY AND TOXIC MATERIALS
Luis Alejo, Chair
AB 1190 (Bloom) - As Introduced: February 22, 2013
SUBJECT : Hazardous waste: transportation.
SUMMARY : Increases the maximum amount of specified hazardous
wastes that public utilities are authorized to transport in a
single shipment from a remote site to a consolidation site
without using a hazardous waste manifest. Specifically, this
bill :
1)Exempts a public utility, local publicly owned utility, or
municipal utility district from statutory manifest
requirements with regard to hazardous waste that meets all of
the following conditions:
a) The hazardous waste is collected in the specified
amounts and types (below) at a remote site.
b) The hazardous waste is transported pursuant to specified
conditions (below) to a consolidation site operated by the
public utility, local publicly owned utility, or municipal
utility district.
c) A notification with regard to that hazardous waste is
submitted, as specified.
2)Authorizes the following amounts of hazardous waste to be
transported without a manifest in a single shipment in a
vehicle that meets all applicable vehicle safety requirements:
a) Between 1,600 and 5,000 gallons of hazardous wastewater
from the dewatering of one or more utility vaults (an
increase from the current maximum of 1,600), or between 500
and 5,000 gallons of any other liquid hazardous waste (an
increase from a current maximum of 500).
b) Between 2,500 and 10,000 pounds of the following
hazardous wastes (and increase from the current maximum of
2,500):
i) Asbestos-contaminated waste;
ii) Oil-contaminated waste;
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iii) Soil and water contaminated with gasoline or diesel
fuel;
iv) Solvents used for cleaning electrical and mechanical
equipment, including hydrocarbon and chlorinated
solvents;
v) Soil and rags contaminated with hydrocarbon or
chlorinated solvents;
vi) Corrosive liquids, including sulfuric acid, sodium
hydroxide, and other corrosive liquids;
vii) Sandblast grit contaminated with metals; and,
viii) Soil contaminated with metals.
3)Requires a public utility, local publicly owned utility, or
municipal utility district transporting a hazardous waste
without a manifest to meet all of the following conditions:
a) The hazardous waste is a non-Resource Conservation and
Recovery Act (RCRA) hazardous waste, or the hazardous waste
or its transportation is otherwise exempt from, or is not
otherwise regulated pursuant to, RCRA.
b) The utility or district complies with the conditions and
requirements for remote sites.
c) The utility or district complies with the regulations
adopted by Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC)
that pertain to personnel training requirements for
generators, with regard to all personnel handling the
hazardous waste during transportation from the remote site
to the consolidation site.
d) The hazardous waste is transported by a transporter that
is registered.
e) The hazardous waste is not held at any interim location,
other than another remote site operated by the same
generator, for more than eight hours, unless that holding
is required by other provisions of law.
f) A shipping paper containing specified information
accompanies the hazardous waste while in transport;
however, a shipping paper is not required if the total
quantity of the shipment does not exceed 10 pounds of
hazardous waste, except that a shipping paper is required
to transport any quantity of extremely hazardous waste or
acutely hazardous waste.
g) All shipments comply with all applicable requirements of
the United States Department of Transportation for
hazardous materials shipments.
4)Requires a public utility, local publicly owned utility, or
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municipal utility conducting operations without a manifest to
submit a notification to DTSC and the certified unified
program agency in the same manner as a generator is required
to submit a notification pursuant to consolidation site
provisions.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Authorizes the DTSC to regulate hazardous waste generation,
transportation, treatment, storage, and disposal pursuant to
both the federal RCRA rules and to additional state
requirements.
2)Requires shipments of hazardous waste to be accompanied by a
hazardous waste manifest and be transported by a hazardous
waste hauler registered by DTSC (Health and Safety Code (HSC)
� 25160 and 25163).
3)Exempts shipments of hazardous waste from the manifest and
registered hauler requirements if the waste is transported
from a "remote site" to a "consolidation site," as defined,
operated by the generator; the transport of the waste is not
federally regulated; and, the generator meets specified
requirements relating to personnel, training, transport
vehicles, liability, shipping papers, and packaging (HSC �
25163.3).
4)Provides that an exempted shipment may not exceed 275 gallons
or 2,500 pounds, whichever is greater, except that public
utilities, local publicly owned utilities and municipal
utility districts may transport up to 1,600 gallons of
hazardous wastewater pumped from utility vaults and up to 500
gallons of other liquid hazardous wastes (HSC � 25163.3).
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown.
COMMENTS :
Need for the bill : According to the author, this bill, "adjusts
the capacity requirements for non-RCRA hazardous waste
transportation by public utilities and local publicly owned
utilities to reflect the existing transport capacity.
Currently, the utility fleets travel with partial loads due to
requirements in statute. This results in unnecessary trips to
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clear right-of-ways, vaults, or to perform regular maintenance,
increasing not just the amount of time that these trucks spend
on the road but also increasing road congestion, diesel
emissions and fuel consumption. It also slows down the process
of restoring service to ratepayers."
Hazardous waste transportation : According to DTSC, a hazardous
waste manifest must accompany most hazardous waste that is
shipped off site. The Uniform Hazardous Waste Manifest is the
shipping document that travels with hazardous waste from the
point of generation, through transportation, to the final
treatment, storage, and disposal facility. Each party in the
chain of shipping, including the generator, signs and keeps one
of the manifest copies, creating a "cradle-to-grave" tracking of
the hazardous waste. Hazardous waste that is transported
off-site on public highways must be moved to an authorized
treatment, storage, or disposal facility by a registered
hazardous waste transporter in an inspected and certified
vehicle, using a Uniform Hazardous Waste Manifest.
When the remote site hazardous waste manifest and transport
exemption was originally enacted, it was intended to facilitate
the safe collection and transportation of small amounts of
hazardous waste generated in remote locations to a consolidation
site. Allowing the expedited transport of smaller amounts of
hazardous waste facilitates the practice of moving the hazardous
waste into a more secure location as quickly as possible.
Under the existing statutory exemptions, most generators can
transport no more than 275 gallons or 2,500 pounds of hazardous
waste in a single shipment from a remote site to a consolidation
site. At the time the original exemption was being considered,
it was determined that these amounts of wastes were safe to
store in a remote location. Statute was later revised to allow
public utilities to transport in a single shipment of up to
1,600 gallons of hazardous wastewater generated from utility
vaults and up to 500 gallons of any other liquid hazardous
waste. While all of these loads are exempted from the formal
manifest requirements, the transporter must still carry a
shipping paper containing relevant information about the
particular load.
This bill proposes to increase the amount of hazardous waste
that can be transported at one time, without a manifest.
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Issues :
1)This bill proposes the following increases of hazardous waste
to be allowed to be transported without adhering to manifest
requirements: from 1,600 to 5,000 gallons of hazardous
wastewater from the dewatering of one or more utility vaults;
from 500 to 5,000 gallons of any other liquid hazardous waste;
and, from 2,500 to 10,000 pounds of a list of specified
hazardous wastes (which appear to be both RCRA and non-RCRA
hazardous waste). The sponsors assert that these increases
correspond to the maximum capacity of their tank and dump
trucks, so that these trucks can be filled to capacity when
transporting hazardous waste. It is unclear what, if any,
increased risk to public health and safety could occur when
these hazardous wastes are transported at these levels. In
addition, it is unclear if by increasing these allowable
amounts, statute is inferring that additional hazardous waste
could be encouraged or even authorized to be accumulated at
remote locations before transport to a consolidation site.
Should the amounts of hazardous waste allowed to be
transported in a single shipment without adhering to manifest
requirements be increased without an analysis of the potential
risk to public health and safety?
2)This bill proposes to increase the amount of hazardous waste
that can be transported at one time, and exempts those
shipments from having to comply with manifesting requirements;
however, the types of wastes it proposes to allow are either
not clearly defined in the bill (i.e. "other liquid hazardous
waste") or are not advisable (i.e. the specified hazardous
wastes delineated in 25163.4(b) (2) appear to be both RCRA and
non-RCRA hazardous waste). The Committee may wish to amend
the bill to more clearly define the types of hazardous wastes
that are authorized for transport at one time without a
manifest.
Suggested Committee amendments : The Committee may wish to amend
the bill to, instead of increasing the allowable amounts of
three categories of hazardous waste, two of which are not
clearly defined, to instead only increase the allowable amount
of hazardous wastewater from the dewatering of one or more
utilities.
Arguments in support : According to the California Fire Chiefs
Association, "An increase in the allowable volume of
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contaminated water from underground substructures from 1,600 to
5,000 gallons per load would benefit the public in the following
ways: Shorten restoration times for emergency utility
operations; Prevent further contamination or potential release
of contaminants in flooded vaults during a storm event; Decrease
in fuel consumption, reduce vehicle miles traveled and diesel
emissions from hauling multiple loads with smaller rank trucks
or partial loads; Decrease in response time to evacuate water
from vaults reducing lane closure times and decreases street
traffic during routine work and emergencies. The current limit
for non-RCRA hazardous waste solids is 2,500 pounds. An
increase to 10,000 pounds would benefit public safety in the
following ways: Reduce time required removing potential hazards
from the public domain; decrease fuel consumption, diesel
emissions, and traffic on surface streets by reducing the
necessary trips from remote location to consolidation site."
Arguments in opposition : According to the Sierra Club
California, "This bill would allow hazardous waste that would
normally be required to be documented and followed through a
standardized manifest system to escape compliance with that
system. This exemption from the manifest system risks
encouraging mishandling and illegal dumping of hazardous waste.
The purpose of this tracking, including the federal mandate that
manifests be uniform across the country, is to protect public
health and the environment. Clear tracking ensures proper
disposal. It also ensures that, should there be an accidental
spill; critical information is available to help identify the
quantity and quality of the waste, and the responsible parties.
A trained generator or transporter can fill out a manifest
within a matter of minutes. It is not a burden. AB 1190 would
expand the amount of waste that could be hauled by a public
utility without benefit of a manifest. The proponents argue
that a shipping list will be as good as a manifest. In fact,
this is not true. A shipping list does not bring with it the
same level or expectation of training, responsibility and
accountability that a manifest does."
Recent related legislation :
AB 868 (Davis, 2011) . Would have revised the condition for
exempting manifest and transporter requirements pertaining to
hazardous waste to an increased maximum weight of 10,000 pounds
(an increase from the currently allowable 2,500 pounds or 275
gallons) and increased the maximum 1,600 gallon hazardous
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wastewater exception for utility generators to a maximum of
5,000 gallons. This bill was held in the Environmental Safety
and Toxic Materials Committee.
SB 466 (Oropeza, 2010) . Would have revised the condition for
exempting manifest and transporter requirements pertaining to
hazardous waste to an increased maximum weight of 10,000 pounds
and increases the maximum 1,600 gallon hazardous wastewater
exception for certain generators to a maximum of 5,000 gallons.
This bill was held in the Senate Environmental Quality
Committee.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Council for Economic and Environmental Balance
(sponsor)
California Fire Chief's Association
California Municipal Utilities Association
Opposition
Sierra Club California
Analysis Prepared by : Shannon McKinney / E.S. & T.M. / (916)
319-3965