BILL NUMBER: SB 990 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 9, 2007
INTRODUCED BY Senator Kuehl
( Coauthor: Assembly Member
Brownley )
FEBRUARY 23, 2007
An act relating to land use to add Article
5.5 ( commencing with Section 25359.20) to Chapter 6.8 of
Division 20, of the Health and Safety Code, relating to hazardous
waste .
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 990, as amended, Kuehl. Land use: Santa Susanna Field
Laboratory. Hazardous waste: Santa Susana Field
Laboratory.
(1) Existing law charges the Director of
Toxic Substances Control with oversight over hazardous waste control
in the state. A violation of the hazardous waste control laws is
a crime.
This bill would prohibit the authorize
the Department of Toxic Substances Control to compel a responsible
party or parties to take or pay for appropriate removal or
remediation action, as prescribed, necessary to protect public health
and safety and the environment at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory
site in Ventura County. The sale, lease, sublease
, or other transfer of any land presently or formerly
occupied by the Santa Susanna Susana
Field Laboratory would be prohibited unless the Director
of Toxic Substances Control certifies that the land has undergone
complete remediation of chemical and radioactive
contamination pursuant to specified protective
standards .
Because a violation of this bill's requirements would be a crime,
the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
(2) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse
local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this
act for a specified reason.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no yes .
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Article 5.5 (commencing with Section
25359.20) is added to Chapter 6.8 of Division 20 of the
Health and Safety Code , to read:
Article 5.5. Cleanup of Santa Susana Field Laboratory
25359.20. (a) Notwithstanding paragraph (1) of subdivision (b) of
Section 25187 of the Health and Safety Code, the department may use
any legal remedies available pursuant to Chapter 6.8 (commencing with
Section 25300) or Chapter 6.5 (commencing with Section 25100) to
compel a responsible party or parties to take or pay for appropriate
removal or remedial action necessary to protect the public health and
safety and the environment at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory site
in Ventura County.
(b) A response action taken or approved at the Santa Susana Field
Laboratory site shall be conducted in accordance with the provisions
of this chapter.
(c) A response action taken or approved pursuant to this chapter
for the Santa Susana Field Laboratory site shall be based upon, and
be no less stringent than, the provisions of Section 25356.1.5. In
calculating the risk, the cumulative risk from radiological and
chemical contaminants at the site shall be summed, and the land use
assumption shall be either suburban residential or rural residential
(agricultural), whichever produces the lower permissible residual
concentration for each contaminant. In the case of radioactive
contamination, the department shall use as its risk range point of
departure the concentrations in the Preliminary Remediation Goals
issued by the Superfund Office of the United States Environmental
Protection Agency in effect as of January 1, 2007.
(d) Notwithstanding any other provision of law regarding transfers
of land, no person or entity shall sell, lease, sublease, or
otherwise transfer land presently, or formerly occupied by the Santa
Susana Field Laboratory, except as provided in subdivision (e).
(e) As a condition for a sale, lease, sublease, or transfer of
land presently or formerly occupied by the Santa Susana Field
Laboratory, the Director of the Department of Toxic Substances
Control or his or her designee shall certify that the land has
undergone complete remediation pursuant to the most protective
standards in subdivisions (a) to (c), inclusive.
SEC. 2. The Legislature finds and declares that
due to the following unique circumstances regarding the former Santa
Susana Field Laboratory, a general statute cannot be made applicable
within the meaning of Section 16 of Article IV of the California
Constitution.
(a) Founded in late 1940's, the Santa Susana Field Laboratory
(SSFL) was a facility dedicated to the development and testing of
nuclear reactors, rockets, missiles, and munitions. The location of
SSFL was chosen for its remoteness in order to conduct work that was
considered too dangerous to be performed in more densely populated
areas. In subsequent years, however, Southern California's population
has mushroomed. Today, more than 150,000 people live within five
miles of the facility, and at least half a million people live within
10 miles.
(b) Throughout the years, approximately 10 nuclear reactors were
operated at SSFL, in addition to several "critical facilities" (low
power reactors); a sodium burn pit in which sodium-coated
radioactively contaminated objects were burned in an open pit; a
plutonium fuel fabrication facility; a uranium carbide fuel
fabrication facility; and a Hot Lab used for remotely cutting up
irradiated nuclear fuel.
(c) The Hot Lab suffered a number of fires involving radioactive
materials and at least four of the 10 nuclear reactors suffered
accidents, including a partial meltdown.
(d) The reactors located on the grounds of SSFL were considered
experimental, and, therefore, had no containment structures. Reactors
and highly radioactive components were housed without the large
concrete domes surrounding modern power reactors.
(e) The most famous accident occurred in July of 1959, when the
Sodium Reactor Experiment (SRE) experienced a partial core meltdown
releasing radioactive gasses and particles into the atmosphere over a
period of weeks. Recent studies have concluded that this accident
may have caused hundreds of cancer cases in the Los Angeles area.
(f) One of the disposal procedures at the site in the 1950's and
1960's would consist of workers disposing of barrels filled with
highly toxic substances by shooting the barrels at a distance with
shotguns, so that they would explode and burn, releasing some of
their contents in the form of gasses and particulates into the air.
In the mid-1990's a similar practice involving the illegal disposal
by open air burning led to the death of two workers at the facility.
(g) Additionally, large amounts of toxic chemicals were released
into the soil, air, and groundwater and surface water. For example,
the rocket test stands were routinely washed off with TCE,
approximately half a million gallons of which were allowed to
percolate into the soil and groundwater. Significant contamination
exists by perchlorate, heavy metals, PCBs, dioxins, volatile organic,
and semi-volatile organic compounds, in addition to radioactivity.
(h) In 1989, the United States Department of Energy (DOE) found
widespread chemical and radioactive contamination at the site, and a
cleanup program commenced. In 1995 the United States Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) and DOE announced that they had entered into
a Joint Policy Agreement to assure that all DOE sites would be
cleaned up to standards consistent with EPA's Comprehensive
Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA)
standards, also known as Superfund. Those standards would have
required a full characterization of the site and cleanup of the
remaining contamination to standards deemed protective by EPA. In
2003, DOE declined to follow the 1995 Joint Policy and chose to
instead rely on less protective cleanup standards. EPA declared that
under the circumstances the site would not be safe for unrestricted
release but only for day hikes with restrictions on picnicking;
however, DOE continues to insist upon unrestricted release despite
the use of site-wide cleanup standards not in keeping with the 1995
Joint Policy and EPA CERCLA guidance.
SEC. 3. No reimbursement is required by this act
pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California
Constitution because the only costs that may be incurred by a local
agency or school district will be incurred because this act creates a
new crime or infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or
changes the penalty for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of
Section 17556 of the Government Code, or changes the definition of a
crime within the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the
California Constitution.
SECTION 1. (a) Notwithstanding any other
provision of law regarding transfers of land, no person or entity
shall sell, lease, sublease, or otherwise transfer any land
presently, or formerly occupied by the Santa Susanna Field
Laboratory, except as provided in subdivision (b).
(b) As a condition for any sale, lease, sublease, or transfer of
any land presently or formerly occupied by the Santa Susanna Field
Laboratory, the Director of Toxic Substances Control shall certify
that the land has undergone complete remediation, pursuant to the
most protective cleanup standards that have been promulgated by the
United States Environmental Protection Agency for sites that contain
chemical and radioactive contamination and that are based on the most
restrictive potential land use for these sites.
SEC. 2. The Legislature finds and declares that
due to the unique circumstances regarding the former Santa Susanna
Field Laboratory, a general statute cannot be made applicable within
the meaning of Section 16 of Article IV of the California
Constitution. Those unique circumstances involve the necessity of
ensuring that the land has undergone complete remediation of any
chemical or radioactive contamination for the health, safety, and
welfare of any future occupant or occupants of the land.