BILL ANALYSIS �
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 712|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: SB 712
Author: Lara (D)
Amended: 1/17/14
Vote: 21
SENATE ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY COMMITTEE : 8-0, 1/15/14
AYES: Hill, Gaines, Corbett, Fuller, Hancock, Jackson, Leno,
Pavley
NO VOTE RECORDED: Vacancy
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 5-0, 1/21/14
AYES: De Le�n, Gaines, Hill, Padilla, Steinberg
NO VOTE RECORDED: Walters, Lara
SUBJECT : Hazardous waste facility: permitting: interim
status
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill requires the Department of Toxic Substances
Control (DTSC), on or before December 31, 2015, to take final
action on an application for a hazardous waste facilities permit
that is submitted by a facility operating under a grant of
interim status on or before January 1, 1986, by either issuing a
final permit or a final denial of the application.
ANALYSIS :
Existing law:
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1.Under the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act
(RCRA) of 1976, governs the disposal hazardous waste:
A. Through regulation, sets standards for the treatment,
storage, transport, tracking and disposal of hazardous
waste in the United States.
B. Authorizes states to carry out many of the functions of
the federal law through their own hazardous waste laws if
such programs have been approved by the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (U.S. EPA).
2.Under the California Hazardous Waste Control Act (HWCA) of
1972:
A. Establishes the Hazardous Waste Control program.
B. Regulates the appropriate handling, processing and
disposal of hazardous and extremely hazardous waste to
protect the public, livestock, and wildlife from hazards to
health and safety.
C. Implements federal tracking requirements for the
handling and transportation of hazardous waste from the
point of waste generation to the point of ultimate
disposition.
D. Establishes a system of fees to cover the costs of
operating the hazardous waste management program.
E. Authorizes DTSC to enforce federal law and regulations
under RCRA.
F. Requires DTSC to grant and review permits and enforce
HWCA requirements for hazardous waste treatment, storage
and disposal facilities.
This bill:
1.Makes various findings and declarations stating that the
Legislature intends to identify and protect overburdened
communities that suffer from asthma, cancers and other
illnesses born from heavy industrial pollution and ensure
increased public participation from affected communities in
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governmental decision making processes.
2.Requires DTSC to take final action prior to December 31, 2015
on an application for a hazardous waste facilities permit by
any facility operating under interim permit status issued
prior to January 1, 1986.
3.Provides that interim status granted for a hazardous waste
facility after January 1, 1986 but prior to January 1, 2015
shall terminate on January 1, 2020.
4.Provides that any interim status granted for a hazardous waste
facility shall terminate five years from the date on which the
status was granted.
5.Allows DTSC to temporarily suspend the operation of a facility
operating under a continued permit or an interim status grant
in order to protect public health or safety or the
environment. DTSC will have specified timelines to notify the
owner and operator of the facility, set a hearing to consider
the suspension, and to make a final determination. The
temporary suspension will be lifted if DTSC fails to meet
these time limits.
Background
Exide Technologies . Exide Technologies is an American
manufacturer of lead-acid batteries, including automotive
batteries and industrial batteries. Its four global business
groups (Transportation Americas, Transportation Europe and Rest
of World, Industrial Power Americas, and Industrial Power Europe
and Rest of World) provide stored electrical energy products and
services.
Exide's global headquarters are located in Milton, Georgia. It
has both manufacturing and recycling plants.
Equipment used in the battery recycling process includes
machines to break batteries apart and separate different
materials, furnaces and kettles to melt metals, and
miscellaneous equipment including storage tanks, conveying
equipment, and engines. Exide operates numerous pieces of
control equipment to reduce pollution including bag houses, dust
collectors, and filters for reducing dust and metals; and
scrubbers, mist eliminators, and an afterburner, which remove
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pollution from gases.
Exide has five "secondary lead" smelters or recyclers, only two
of which - Forest City, Missouri, and Muncie, Indiana - are
operating.
However, at the Muncie, Indiana plant, Exide settled a notice of
violation and signed an agreed order with the Indiana Department
of Environmental Management that calls for fines if it does not
meet specified cleanup conditions involving brown-colored, lead
contaminated water along a storage area and rail spur near a
ditch leading to a stormwater outfall.
Exide closed its smelter in Frisco, Texas, in 2012 after a
lengthy battle by the city and residents over lead and arsenic
pollution coming from the site. The plant ceased operations
November 30, 2012, as part of an agreement with the city. The
agreement calls for the City of Frisco to purchase about 170
acres of buffer land from Exide for $45 million. Exide will
keep the 90 acres used for its operations. The deal is
contingent on complete cleanup. Preliminary estimates peg
cleanup costs at anywhere from $15 million to more than $130
million. However, over a year after the plant closed, Exide has
not fully characterized the extent of the contamination or
cleanup. An article by the Dallas Morning News, states that
"efforts the past year have been complicated by Exide's
bankruptcy filing in June."
Exide, Vernon, California . The Exide facility in Vernon,
California is one of two secondary lead smelting facilities in
California which recovers lead from recycled automotive
batteries. It has over 100 employees. It recycles 23,000 to
41,000 batteries daily and has an average production of 100,000
to 120,000 tons of lead per year. This is equivalent to
recycling approximately 11 million car batteries, which is about
the same number of used batteries generated in California
annually.
Battery recycling recycles 97% of the battery lead to be
recycled.
Exide also recovers lead from lead bearing plant scrap and
secondary materials, primarily from lead-acid battery
manufacturers.
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This facility is regulated by various local and state regulatory
agencies.
DTSC regulates companies that handle hazardous waste under
federal and state hazardous waste laws. DTSC permits and
inspects facilities, issues violations of hazardous waste rules,
and monitors corrective action at sites.
The South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD)
regulates Exide's air emissions, in part with what is called a
Title V permit, which allows the company to release pollutants
into the air up to certain levels.
The Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board (LARWQCB)
is responsible for protecting water quality. Exide has
wastewater treatment systems, and a stormwater system that
includes a retention basin. LARWQCB with the State Water
Resources Control Board set and enforce standards for water that
flows away from Exide's property into the sewer.
The City of Vernon issues health and other permits to Exide.
The history of the Exide hazardous waste permit . The facility
in Vernon has been operating with an interim hazardous waste
facility permit since 1981. However, it has had several owners
prior to Exide Technologies.
The facility has been used for a variety of metal fabrication
and metal recovery operations since 1922. Previous owners have
included Morris P. Kirk & Sons, Inc., NL Industries, Gould Inc.,
and GNB Inc.
Gould Inc. filed a RCRA Part A notification on November 19,
1980, as a treatment and storage facility. This Part A
identified storage of spent lead-acid batteries and other
lead-bearing material prior to treatment and recycling, and a
wastewater treatment system.
Gould Inc. was issued an Interim Status Document (ISD) by the
California Department of Health Services (DHS), DTSC's
predecessor agency, on December 18, 1981.
The U.S. EPA rescinded the facility's Treatment and Storage
Facility classification by returning Gould Inc.'s original RCRA
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Part A application, after Gould Inc. eliminated its waste pile,
claimed that the smelters do not require a permit, and requested
reclassification to generator status.
The ISD was subsequently rescinded by DHS in 1982.
GNB, Inc. purchased the facility and filed a revised Part A
application on July 5, 1985.
On September 3, 1986, DHS determined that a hazardous waste
facilities permit was necessary.
GNB, Inc. submitted the first RCRA Part B application on
November 8, 1988.
On December 13, 1999, DTSC approved a Class 2 Interim Status
modification for Supplemental Environmental Projects as a result
of an enforcement case settlement.
On June 30, 2000, DTSC approved a Class 2 Interim Status
modification, for replacement of the Waste Water Treatment Plant
and to provide secondary containment.
On January 5, 2001, DTSC approved a Class 1 Interim Status
modification, for change of ownership and operational control to
Exide Corporation.
On November 16, 2001, DTSC approved a Class 1 Interim Status
modification, for a name change from Exide Corporation to Exide
Technologies.
In 2006, Exide submitted a completed application and DTSC
circulated for public hearing, a draft permit for the Vernon
Exide facility.
In mid-2006, DTSC received significant comments from the SCAQMD
and the public in regards to three specific areas: (1) the risk
assessment prepared by the contractor used proprietary software,
which was not accessible by the public to verify parameters and
assumptions used in the risk assessment model. The risk
assessment model for the air emissions model was not an approved
model by SCAQMD; (2) the environmental impact report (EIR)
lacked significant alternative analysis to mitigate the
environmental impacts; and (3) the Part B application had not
adequately assessed the secondary containment, tank systems, and
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closure of former tank systems.
As a result DTSC took the following actions: (1) worked closely
with SCAQMD to require Exide to prepare a risk assessment (AQMD
required risk assessment for air emissions); (2) prepared a
revised EIR; and (3) required Exide to submit a revised Part B
application addressing comments received during comment period.
In 2010, the risk assessment indicated high arsenic emissions
prompting Exide to petition SCAQMD to redo the source testing
(data required for the risk assessment) in order to prepare a
revised risk assessment. [Note: source testing is an expensive
process that can cost up to $1 million].
In January 2013, Exide provided DTSC and SCAQMD with a revised
risk assessment. The risk assessment showed high risks to
potential receptors (workers and residents).
In April 2013, DTSC issued an administrative suspension order
because it was concerned about the releases of hazardous waste
(leaking stormwater pipes) and air emissions into the
environment.
In May 2013, Exide requested a hearing with the Office of
Administrative Hearings (OAH). A hearing was held in June 2013
by OAH.
In June 2013, the Los Angeles Superior Court granted Exide's ex
parte application and issued a temporary restraining order which
stayed the Order for Temporary Suspension and prevented DTSC
from enforcing it until the hearing and determination on the
order to show cause regarding the preliminary injunction was
concluded.
In October 2013, DTSC and Exide signed a Stipulation and Order.
The Stipulation and Order resolves the administrative suspension
order that DTSC issued against Exide in April 2013 and resolves
a legal action that Exide filed against DTSC in June 2013. The
Stipulation and Order sets out conditions that Exide must meet
and timelines for completing them. There are automatic
penalties in place if the timelines are not met as specified in
the Stipulation and Order.
October 2013 - Present: Exide is in the process of implementing
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the requirements set forth in the Stipulation and Order.
Note: For the history of the environmental impact and
enforcement at the Exide facility in Vernon, refer to the
Senate Environmental Quality Committee analysis of 1/6/14.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
No costs in 2014-15 and 2015-16 for permitting one facility
operating on an interim status grant.
Unknown, but likely insignificant, costs from the Hazardous
Waste Control Account (special), for permitting facilities on
an interim status grant in the long-term future.
SUPPORT : (Verified 1/22/14)
City of Bell, Mayor Violeta Alvarez
City of Bell, Vice Mayor Ana Maria Quintana
City of Bell, Councilmember Alicia Romero
City of Bell, Councilmember Nestor Enrique Valencia
City of Los Angeles
Coalition for Clean Air
Florence Firestone Merchants Association
Lynwood Mayor Aide Castro
Lynwood Councilmember Jos� Luis Solache
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : The City of Los Angeles states, "Exide
Technologies has operated a facility under an interim permit
since 1981, and has never been issued a final permit by the
DTSC. In April of 2013, the facility was closed by the DTSC to
determine if there was an imminent danger to public health after
tests conducted by the SCAQMD showed unsafe levels of arsenic in
air emissions and dangerous levels of lead contamination from
the facility."
This bill "will serve the public by requiring the DTSC to reach
a final permitting decision on facilities that operate under
interim permits."
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RM:ke 1/22/14 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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