BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1966
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 29, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY AND TOXIC MATERIALS
Luis Alejo, Chair
AB 1966 (Patterson) - As Amended: March 28, 2014
SUBJECT : Hazardous waste: testing.
SUMMARY : Requires the Department of Toxic Substance Control
(DTSC) to adopt federal testing requirements for hazardous waste
analysis. Specifically, this bill :
1)Requires DTSC to update federal regulations for testing and
management of hazardous waste.
2)The federal regulations specified in this section is the "Test
Methods for Evaluating Solid Waste, Physical/Chemical Methods"
(SW-846) related to how laboratories may test materials to
determine the level of contamination found and whether they
are therefore considered a hazardous waste subject to the
regulatory requirements for the management of such waste.
3)Requires DTSC to update the testing regulations to be
completed by June 1, 2015.
EXISTING LAW :
1)The Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) is the primary federal
statute regarding the identification and classification of
chemical substances and mixtures which might present an
unreasonable risk of injury or to the health of the
environment if not regulated.
2)TSCA establishes testing requirements and standards for the
identification of substances which should be subject to the
provisions of TSCA and requires the Administrator of the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in consultation with
the Secretary of Health and Human Services, to adopt
regulations relating to the use or disposal of such substances
or mixtures.
3)The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) is the
primary federal statute regulating solid waste. Subtitle (C)
of RCRA established the nation's basic hazardous waste
management program, including the identification and listing
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of hazardous waste.
4)The DTSC has been authorized by the United States (US) EPA to
be the lead agency for enforcing the provisions of RCRA. As
an authorized state, California's regulations must be
consistent with, and at least as strict as, the federal
regulations.
5)The Hazardous Waste Control Act establishes the state's
hazardous waste management program. The act, among other
things, requires the DTSC to adopt regulations that specify
the criteria that identify wastes which are hazardous wastes
and to adopt a list of wastes that have been determined to be
hazardous. Any waste which is determined to be hazardous by
the department shall be managed in accordance with permits,
orders, and regulations issued or adopted by DTCS.
FISCAL EFFECT : Not known.
COMMENTS :
Need for the bill . According to the author, "Currently, state
regulations regarding permitted testing methods to determine the
presence of toxic materials in various items only allow the use
of test methods referenced in the 1996 version of the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency's SW-486 document, which lists
analytical and sampling methods that have been evaluated and
approved for use in complying with the regulations under the
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act? This limited list of
testing methods does not allow testing companies to employ
other, potentially cheaper or less environmentally damaging
methods to detect the presence of hazardous chemicals. The
Department of Toxic Substances Control, which created these
regulations, does allow companies to apply to get other methods
approved, but that is done on a case-by-case basis, which can
take a long time."
Test Methods for Evaluating Solid Waste, Physical/Chemical
Methods (SW-846) . Under the provisions of TSCA, the US EPA is
allowing more flexibility in the use of alternative methods
outside of those listed in US EPA publications.
SW-846 was first published in 1980 to support the hazardous and
nonhazardous testing requirements. US EPA has determined that
some of the required uses of SW-846 are not necessary. In
addition, members of the regulated community requested the
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opportunity to use other reliable methods to comply with
hazardous waste regulations. On May 8, 1998 (63 FR
25430-25438), US EPA proposed to remove certain required uses of
SW-846 methods, and to allow more flexibility in test method
selection. Subsequently, on October 30, 2002, the EPA proposed
to amend the hazardous and nonhazardous solid waste regulations
for testing and monitoring activities from the RCRA regulations.
California adoption of federal testing standards . According to
the US EPA, the agency has finalized 9 updates to the SW-846
manual, and the updated and fully integrated manual contains
approximately 3,500 pages. According to the DTSC, the current
state regulations include the regulations up to 1996 and allow
the use of Third Edition Updates I, II, IIA, IIB, and III.
After the 1996 change, US EPA adopted a rulemaking called the
"methods innovation rule" (MIR). DTSC chose to adopt that rule
because it was less stringent on the test methods used by
generators and facility operators. As a result, a new SW-846
method will only be adopted when it is required under the RCRA.
All of the subsequent changes to EPA's rules since then are
not/were not mandatory under RCRA for the states to adopt, so no
new changes have been made to that section since the MIR.
Opposition arguments : A coalition of environmental
organizations have voiced opposition to AB 1966, "California
decided early on that the best way to protect public health and
consider environmental impacts is to reserve the ability to only
approve test methods that are best for California and our
diverse climate. Although we agree that DTSC should use the most
up-to-date scientific methods to test hazardous waste, we
strongly urge that the state maintain its discretion to use only
methods that DTSC's expert scientists understand to be best for
California. DTSC has a world-renowned laboratory with
scientific experts that have full capacity to make this decision
and AB 1966 sets mandates that might be scientifically
inappropriate."
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
AB 1966
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None.
Opposition
Californians Against Waste
Center for Environmental Health
Committee to Bridge the Gap
Environmental Working Group
Sierra Club California
Analysis Prepared by : Bob Fredenburg / E.S. & T.M. / (916)
319-3965