BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 712
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Date of Hearing: June 17, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY AND TOXIC MATERIALS
Luis Alejo, Chair
SB 712 (Lara) - As Amended: January 17, 2014
SENATE VOTE : 33-0
SUBJECT : Hazardous waste facility: permitting: interim
status.
SUMMARY : Requires the Department of Toxic Substance Control
(DTSC) to take specific action on hazardous waste treatment
facilities operating under an interim status permit.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Requires DTSC to take final action prior to December 31, 2015,
on a permit renewal
application for a hazardous waste treatment facility operating
under an interim permit issued on or prior to January 1, 1986.
2)Provides that any interim permit status granted for a
hazardous waste facility shall terminate five years from the
date on which the status was granted.
3)Allows DTSC to temporarily suspend the operation of a facility
operating under an interim permit in order to protect public
health and safety or the environment.
EXISTING FEDERAL LAW :
1)Requires owners and operators of facilities that treat, store,
or dispose of hazardous waste to obtain an operating permit
pursuant to the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA).
2)Grants "interim status" to any facility in existence on
November 19, 1980, or on the effective date of a statutory or
regulatory change that subjected the facility to the
permitting requirement.
3)Authorizes DTSC to be the lead agency for enforcing the
provisions of RCRA. As an authorized state, RCRA requires
California's regulations must be consistent with, and at least
as strict as, the federal regulations.
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EXISTING STATE LAW :
1)Pursuant to the Hazardous Waste Control Act, Chapter 6.5 of
Health and Safety Code (HSC), requires any person who stores,
treats, or disposes of hazardous waste to obtain a hazardous
waste facility permit from DTSC.
2)Provides that a hazardous waste facility which was in
existence on November 19, 1980, or which was in existence on
the effective date of any statute or regulation which
subjected that facility to hazardous waste facilities permit
requirement, pending the review and decision of DTSC on the
permit application, may be granted interim status by DTSC if
the person has made application for a permit (HSC Section
25200.5.)
FISCAL EFFECT : Not Known
COMMENTS :
Need for the bill : According to the author of AB 712, "The
Exide Technologies battery recycling facility in Vernon, CA,
recycles lead from used automotive batteries and has a long
history of hazardous waste law violations. Exide is a Tier 1
facility requiring a Full Permit from DTSC in accordance with
RCRA? Exide is currently operating under an interim permit that
was issued in 1981, and has never been issued a final permit by
DTSC. It is the only facility, out of 117 facilities permitted
by DTSC, subject to RCRA, which still has an interim status
permit. "
Background : Existing state law requires facilities handling
hazardous waste to obtain a permit from DTSC. In addition, it
requires an owner/operator of a facility intending to renew the
facility's permit to submit a completed permit renewal
application to DTSC prior to the expiration of the permit.
Existing state law also allows a hazardous waste facility to
continue to operate under a grant of interim status pending a
DTSC review and consideration of a permit application.
United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA)
authorized states to issue permits to all hazardous waste
management facilities before the RCRA Subtitle C program became
effective in November 1980. In RCRA �3005(e), Congress
established provisions to treat certain facilities as though
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they had been issued a permit until final administrative action
was taken on their permit applications. This statutory grant of
a permit is referred to as "interim status." Interim status
regulations are found in Part 270, Subpart G, and Part 265.
Exide technologies plant : According to the DTSC, the Exide
Technologies, Vernon, California, operation, located at 2700
South Indiana Street in Vernon, is an existing secondary lead
smelting facility which recycles lead. The facility recovers and
reprocesses lead from used automotive batteries and other
sources. About 85 percent of the lead recycled at the facility
is derived from used automobile batteries, with the remaining 15
percent consisting of other batteries and scrap lead. About 22
million automotive batteries are processed annually at the
facility. As a result, Exide conducts the following major
activities on site: 1) storing lead acid batteries, lead-bearing
materials, and hazardous waste generated as a result of the
facility's operation, 2) breaking spent batteries and separating
the battery components, 3) conducting smelting to recover lead
from spent lead acid batteries, and, 4) operating wastewater
treatment to neutralize sulfuric acid and treat both process
water and stormwater.
The Exide facility operates under RCRA as an interim status
treatment and storage facility. A Part A Application was
originally filed on August 8, 1980, and interim status was
granted by the former California Department of Health Services
(currently the DTSC), and became effective on December 12, 1981.
In March 2013, the South Coast Air Quality Management District
(SCAQMD) found that the Exide Plant's emissions contained high
levels of arsenic, which contribute to an increased cancer risk
to those at and around the facilities in the surrounding
communities including Maywood, Huntington Park, Commerce, and
Boyle Heights. The SCAQMD announced that as a result of its
findings, Exide would be required to prepare a risk reduction
plan to reduce its harmful emissions, and to hold meetings in
the affected communities notifying them of the risks they had
been exposed to.
DTSC ordered that operations at the plant be suspended, citing
unsafe conditions related to deteriorated systems for the
handling and disposal of contaminated wastewater. As a result,
operations at the plant where temporarily suspended (April 2013)
by DTSC; however, Exide appealed the action, and the plant was
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allowed to resume operations.
DTSC then entered into an agreement with Exide that required
Exide to spend $7.7 million for a new water runoff system and
improvements to reduce arsenic emissions. In December 2013, the
DTSC released reports showing that high lead and arsenic levels
had been detected in several residential areas around the plant.
Technical amendment :
1)The current provisions of this bill provide for a temporary
suspension of an interim status permit if action is necessary
to mitigate a risk to the public health or safety or the
environment. This provision is being added as Section
25186.2.5 of the Public Resources Code. The author may wish
to place this provision in the Health and Safety Code where
the facility permitting is currently found.
Page 3, line 18: delete: "Public Resources Code", and insert:
" Health and Safety Code ".
2)The current provisions of this bill deem interim status
permits to be terminated when DTSC takes final action on the
application for a hazardous waste facilities permit within 5
years of the permit application. The "final action" is not
specially defined but the author may wish to specify that the
deadline be linked to the "final permit decision" to be
consistent with the DTSC current regulations (22 CCR �
66271.14).
Page 4, lines 5, 14, 18 and 23: strike "takes final action"
and insert: " issues a final permit decision".
3)The current provisions of SB 712 provide that an interim
status permit is revoked if DTSC fails to take action by
December 31, 2015. The bill fails to provide for the time
delay possibly caused by an appeal of the final permit
decision. The author may wish to provide that an interim
permit is allowed to continue in the event that the permit is
approved by DTSC, but an appeal delays the operative date of
the permit past the December 31, 2015 deadline.
Page 4, line 15, insert:
If any person petitions the department for review of a final
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permit decision to approve a hazardous waste facilities permit
for a facility currently operating under interim status, then
interim status shall not terminate until final administrative
disposition of the petition(s), even if such final
administrative disposition occurs after December 31, 2015.
Related Legislation :
SB 812 (De Le�n). Establishes deadlines for the submission of
applications for hazardous waste facility permits, as well as
deadlines for the processing of such applications. This bill is
scheduled to be heard in the Assembly Environmental Safety and
Toxic Materials Committee on June 17, 2014.
AB 1329 (V. Manuel P�rez, Chapter 598, Status of 2013).
Requires the DTSC to prioritize enforcement activities in
environmental justice concerns in communities as identified by
the California Environmental Protection Agency (Cal/EPA).
AB 1330 (John A. P�rez, 2013). Increases the coordination and
enforcement of environmental protection laws by DTSC and Cal/EPA
and increases funding for environmental improvements,
specifically in environmental justice communities. AB 1330 is
awaiting action on the Senate floor.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support :
California Environmental Justice Alliance
City of Bell, Councilmember Alicia Romero
City of Bell, Councilmember Nestor Enrique Valencia
City of Bell, Mayor Violeta Alvarez
City of Bell, Vice Mayor Ana Maria Quintana
City of Los Angeles
Coalition for Clean Air
Florence Firestone Merchants Association
Lynwood Councilmember Jos� Luis Solache
Lynwood Mayor Aide Castro
Sierra Club California
Opposition
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None received.
Analysis Prepared by : Bob Fredenburg / E.S. & T.M. / (916)
319-3965