BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 1249
Page 1
SENATE THIRD READING
SB 1249 (Hill)
As Amended August 4, 2014
Majority vote
SENATE VOTE :23-12
ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY 6-0 APPROPRIATIONS 12-1
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|Ayes:|Alejo, Dahle, Bloom, |Ayes:|Gatto, Bocanegra, |
| |Gomez, Lowenthal, Ting | |Bradford, |
| | | |Ian Calderon, Campos, |
| | | |Eggman, Gomez, Holden, |
| | | |Pan, Quirk, |
| | | |Ridley-Thomas, Weber |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
| | |Nays:|Bigelow |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Authorizes the Department of Toxic Substances Control
(DTSC) to adopt regulations establishing management standards
for hazardous waste management activities at metal shredding
facilities until January 1, 2017. Specifically, this bill :
1)Defines "metal shredding facility" as an operation that uses a
shredding technique to process end-of-life vehicles,
appliances, and other forms of scrap metal to facilitate the
separation and sorting of ferrous metals, nonferrous metals,
and other recyclable materials from nonrecyclable materials.
2)Authorizes DTSC, in consultation with the Department of
Resources Recycling and Recovery, the State Water Resources
Control Board and affected local air quality management
districts, until January 1, 2017, to adopt regulations
establishing management standards for metal shredding
facilities for hazardous waste management activities as an
alternative to current statutory hazardous waste management
requirements and regulations.
3)Requires DTSC, before adopting regulations to establish
alternative management standards, to first prepare an analysis
evaluating the hazardous waste management activities to which
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alternative management standards would apply.
4)Prohibits DTSC from adopting management standards that are
less stringent than applicable standards under federal law.
5)Authorizes the alternative management standards, to the extent
it is consistent with the standards that would otherwise apply
under the federal act, to allow for treated metal shredder
waste to be classified and managed as nonhazardous waste.
6)Allows treated metal shredder waste being classified as
nonhazardous waste pursuant to the alternative management
standards to be managed as either alternative daily cover, or
for beneficial reuse, or placed in a unit that meet specified
state waste discharge requirements.
7)Determines all hazardous waste determinations and policies,
procedures or guidance issued by DTSC before January 1, 2014,
governing treated metal shredder waste to be inoperative if or
when DTSC completes its analysis and either adopts new
regulations establishing alternative management standards or
rescinds the existing conditional nonhazardous waste
classifications.
8)Sunsets DTSC's authority to complete the analysis and adopt
regulations relating to metal shredder waste on January 1,
2017.
9)Authorizes DTSC to collect an annual fee from all metal
shredding facilities that are subject to the regulation to
cover DTSC's costs for implementation.
10)Allows treated metal shredder waste to be deemed a solid
waste if managed pursuant to the alternative management
standards adopted by DTSC and is accepted by a solid waste
landfill or other authorized location for disposal or for use
as alternative daily cover or other beneficial reuses.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Governs the disposal of hazardous waste pursuant to the
federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) of 1976;
2)Authorizes DTSC to enforce federal law and regulations under
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RCRA;
3)Regulates, pursuant to the California Hazardous Waste Control
Act (HWCA) of 1972, 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; and
4)Requires DTSC to grant and review permits and enforce HWCA
requirements for hazardous waste treatment, storage, and
disposal facilities.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, enactment of this bill would likely result in
increased one-time costs to DTSC of approximately $200,000
(Hazardous Waste Control Account) to perform fee rulemaking, and
the treatability study, and increased ongoing costs to DTSC of
approximately $450,000 (Hazardous Waste Control Account) for
rulemaking, compliance, and ongoing administration. This bill
provides fee authority to cover costs.
COMMENTS :
Need for the bill: According to the author, "Shredder
facilities are operating under hazardous waste exemptions from
the Department of Health Services dating back to the 1980s.
Over the last decade DTSC has concluded that shredder waste
exceeded state regulatory thresholds for lead, zinc and cadmium
- they also found that the exemptions were 'outdated and legally
incorrect.' But DTSC hasn't followed through with the proper
action - this bill requires them to take action."
What is shredder waste? According to DTSC's Draft Report:
California's Automobile Waste Initiative, November 2002, the
shredding of automobiles and major household appliances produces
a waste consisting primarily of non-metallic materials, such as
glass, fiber, rubber, automobile fluids, dirt, and plastics,
that remain after the recyclable metals have been removed. The
waste produced at metal shredding facilities large enough to
shred an automobile is referred to as "automobile shredder
waste," "automobile shredder residue," "shredder waste" (these
facilities shred a variety of recyclable metals) or simply as
"fluff." In California, shredder waste has been found to
contain lead, cadmium, copper, zinc, and polychlorinated
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biphenyls (PCBs) at levels above the state's regulatory
thresholds. According to DTSC's draft report, shredder waste is
both a hazardous waste and a recyclable material subject to
California's Hazardous Waste Control Law and the regulations
that apply to hazardous wastes.
Current DTSC action on shredder waste: DTSC is currently
reviewing technical data about current and potential chemical
treatments of metal shredder residue in order to reevaluate its
prior waste classification decisions. DTSC states that its
goals in this effort are to ensure that waste treatment,
disposal practices, and management practices at metal shredding
facilities are fully protective of public health and the
environment; have environmental standards and regulatory
requirements that can be fairly applied to all metal shredders;
and, can be effectively enforced.
As part of the reevaluation, DTSC asked the seven active and
primary metal-shredding facilities in California to provide a
study plan that includes updated information about the
composition and characteristics of metal shredder residue
currently being generated. DTSC states that it also will
require the facilities to evaluate the long-term effectiveness
of current chemical treatments; it ordered facilities to explore
whether better treatment options are available; and, it plans to
assess the operations of the metal shredders, including
processes related to actual shredding, materials separation, and
waste treatment, to identify risks associated with those
processes, and to identify whether control technologies or
additional regulatory controls are necessary. DTSC asserts that
it will develop a work plan and timeline to implement
recommendations by November 2014.
While the analysis being conducted by DTSC will shed light on
the shredder industry, it appears that DTSC currently only has
two regulatory options for shredder waste, either to continue to
grant conditional nonhazardous waste classifications to shredder
facilities or to regulate shredder facilities as a hazardous
waste facility. This bill will give DTSC a third regulatory
option by authorizing them, after conducting an analysis of
shredder practices, to adopt regulations establishing management
standards for shredder waste.
SB 1249
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Analysis Prepared By : Paige Brokaw / E.S. & T.M. / (916)
319-3965
FN: 0004816