Bill Text: CA SB395 | 2013-2014 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Hazardous waste: wells.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2014-02-06 - Died on file pursuant to Joint Rule 56. [SB395 Detail]
Download: California-2013-SB395-Amended.html
BILL NUMBER: SB 395 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 28, 2013
AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 7, 2013
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 4, 2013
INTRODUCED BY Senator Jackson
FEBRUARY 20, 2013
An act to amend Section 25159.12 of the Health and Safety Code,
and to amend Section 3205.2 of, and to add Section 3205.3 to, the
Public Resources Code, relating to hazardous waste.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 395, as amended, Jackson. Hazardous waste: wells.
(1) Existing law, part of the hazardous waste control law,
prohibits a person from discharging hazardous waste into an injection
well unless certain conditions are met with regard to the location
of the well and obtaining a hazardous waste facilities permit.
Existing law also imposes other requirements upon the operator of an
injection well and defines the term "injection well" for these
purposes as excluding wells regulated by the Division of Oil and Gas,
pursuant to specified federal regulations. A violation of the
hazardous waste control law is a crime.
This bill would delete that exclusion of those regulated wells
from the definition of "injection well," thereby subjecting those
wells to the requirements imposed upon injection wells. The bill
would also require a generator of oil and gas exploration
and production waste produced water to test the
waste produced water in order to
determine whether the waste it is
hazardous waste within the meaning of specified provisions.
Since a violation of these requirements would be a crime, the bill
would impose a state-mandated local program.
(2) Existing law requires an operator of a class II commercial
wastewater disposal well who engages in the drilling, redrilling, or
deepening of, or any operation altering the casing of, the well, or
in maintaining or abandoning the well or attendant facilities, to
file with the State Oil and Gas Supervisor an indemnity bond in a
specified amount. Existing law defines the term class II commercial
wastewater disposal well for this purpose as a well that, among other
things, is used to dispose of oilfield wastewater.
This bill would specify that, for this purpose, oilfield
wastewater does not include hazardous waste.
(3) 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: yes.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(a) Produced water is any fluid that is emitted from an oil or gas
production well. Produced water meets the definition of a
waste, pursuant to Section 25124 of the Health and Safety Code, and
under Chapter 6.5 (commencing with Section 25100) of the
Health and Safety Code, a waste that meets the criteria and
guidelines adopted by the Department of Toxic Substances Control
pursuant to Chapter 6.5 (commencing with Section 25100) of Division
20 of Division 20 of the Health and Safety
Code, would be a hazardous waste. Produced water historically
has been exempt from California hazardous waste management laws when
disposed of in class II commercial wastewater disposal wells and
therefore has been disposed of in these wells without prior testing
for hazardous content. As a result, no public agency has monitored or
collected comprehensive data on the volume or toxicity of hazardous
materials injected into class II commercial wastewater disposal wells
in California.
(b) Produced water from oil and gas wells may contain a variety of
chemicals that are hazardous. Well stimulation techniques often
inject hazardous chemicals into wells that return to the surface as
produced water. In addition, fluids emitted from wells may carry
dissolved hazardous elements from the underground rock formation.
(c) A common form of well stimulation is hydraulic fracturing, by
which tens of thousands to millions of gallons of fluid are injected
into a well under pressure. Hydraulic fracturing uses a variety of
hazardous chemicals. A 2011 survey by the United States House of
Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce minority staff found
29 chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing are (1) known or possible
human carcinogens, (2) regulated under the federal Safe Drinking
Water Act for their risks to human health, or (3) listed as hazardous
air pollutants under the federal Clean Air Act. These chemicals
contaminate produced water and are eventually disposed of, usually
into a class II commercial wastewater disposal well. Without proper
handling and monitoring of hazardous wastes from this process, the
state does not have any way to know of, or prevent, any contamination
in case of a well failure.
(d) Class II commercial wastewater disposal wells may pierce
aquifers suitable for domestic or agricultural use. If the well
casing fails, materials may potentially leak into surrounding
groundwater. Once an aquifer is contaminated, it is virtually
impossible to clean it. Groundwater is a vital resource for human
health, environmental well-being, and economic productivity.
Groundwater should be protected for beneficial uses, including human
consumption, agriculture, surface water supply, and recreation.
(e) Therefore, it is intent of the Legislature to ensure that
oilfield waste be regulated in the same manner as other forms of
waste by removing the exemption for produced water in the Health and
Safety Code. If the produced wastewater is hazardous, then well
operators should handle it in the same manner as other forms of
hazardous waste.
SEC. 2. Section 25159.12 of the Health and Safety Code is amended
to read:
25159.12. For purposes of this article, the following definitions
apply:
(a) "Annulus" means the space between the outside edge of the
injection tube and the well casing.
(b) "State board" means the State Water Resources Control Board.
(c) "Compatibility" means that waste constituents do not react
with each other, with the materials constituting the injection well,
or with fluids or solid geologic media in the injection zone or
confining zone in a manner as to cause leaching, precipitation of
solids, gas or pressure buildup, dissolution, or any other effect
that will impair the effectiveness of the confining zone or the safe
operation of the injection well.
(d) "Confining zone" means the geological formation, or part of a
formation, that is intended to be a barrier to prevent the migration
of waste constituents from the injection zone.
(e) "Constituent" means an element, chemical, compound, or mixture
of compounds that is a component of a hazardous waste or leachate
and that has the physical or chemical properties that cause the waste
to be identified as hazardous waste by the department pursuant to
this chapter.
(f) "Discharge" means to place, inject, dispose of, or store
hazardous wastes into, or in, an injection well owned or operated by
the person who is conducting the placing, disposal, or storage.
(g) "Drinking water" has the same meaning as "potential source of
drinking water," as defined in subdivision (t) of Section 25208.2.
(h) "Facility" means the structures, appurtenances, and
improvements on the land, and all contiguous land, that are
associated with an injection well and are used for treating, storing,
or disposing of hazardous waste. A facility may consist of several
waste management units, including, but not limited to, surface
impoundments, landfills, underground or aboveground tanks, sumps,
pits, ponds, and lagoons that are associated with an injection well.
(i) "Groundwater" means water, including, but not limited to,
drinking water, below the land surface in a zone of saturation.
(j) "Hazardous waste" means hazardous waste or extremely hazardous
waste, as defined in this chapter. A waste mixture formed by mixing
a waste or substance with a hazardous waste shall be considered
hazardous waste for the purposes of this article.
(k) "Hazardous waste facilities permit" means a permit issued for
an injection well pursuant to Sections 25200 and 25200.6.
( l ) "Injection well" or "well" means any bored,
drilled, or driven shaft, dug pit, or hole in the ground the depth of
which is greater than the circumference of the bored hole and any
associated subsurface appurtenances, including, but not limited to,
the casing. For the purposes of this article, injection well does not
include a well exempted pursuant to Section 25159.24.
(m) "Injection zone" means that portion of the receiving formation
that has received, is receiving, or is expected to receive, over the
lifetime of the well, waste fluid from the injection well.
"Injection zone" does not include that portion of the receiving
formation that exceeds the horizontal and vertical extent specified
pursuant to Section 25159.20.
(n) "Owner" means a person who owns a facility or part of a
facility.
(o) "Perched water" means a localized body of groundwater that
overlies, and is hydraulically separated from, an underlying body of
groundwater.
(p) "pH" means a measure of a sample's acidity expressed as a
negative logarithm of the hydrogen ion concentration.
(q) "Qualified person" means a person who has at least five years
of full-time experience in hydrogeology and who is a professional
geologist registered pursuant to Section 7850 of the Business and
Professions Code, or a registered petroleum engineer registered
pursuant to Section 6762 of the Business and Professions Code.
"Full-time experience" in hydrogeology may include a combination of
postgraduate studies in hydrogeology and work experience, with each
year of postgraduate work counted as one year of full-time work
experience, except that not more than three years of postgraduate
studies may be counted as full-time experience.
(r) "Receiving formation" means the geologic strata that are
hydraulically connected to the injection well.
(s) "Regional board" means the California regional water quality
control board for the region in which the injection well is located.
(t) "Report" means the hydrogeological assessment report specified
in Section 25159.18.
(u) "Safe Drinking Water Act" means Subchapter XII (commencing
with Section 300f) of Chapter 6A of Title 42 of the United States
Code.
(v) "Strata" means a distinctive layer or series of layers of
earth materials.
(w) "Waste management unit" means that portion of a facility used
for the discharge of hazardous waste into or onto land, including all
containment and monitoring equipment associated with that portion of
the facility.
SEC. 3. Section 3205.2 of the Public Resources Code is amended to
read:
3205.2. (a) Notwithstanding Section 3204, a person who engages in
the operation of a class II commercial wastewater disposal well, as
defined in subdivision (d), shall file an indemnity bond with the
supervisor for fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) for each well so
used. The bond shall cover all operations of drilling, redrilling,
deepening, altering casing, maintaining, or abandoning the well and
attendant facilities. The bond shall be executed by the person as the
principal, and by an authorized surety company as the surety, and,
except for differences in the amount, shall be in substantially the
same language and upon the same conditions as provided in Section
3204.
(b) A blanket bond submitted under subdivision (a) or (c) of
Section 3205 may be used in lieu of the bond required in subdivision
(a), except that the termination and cancellation shall be in
accordance with subdivision (c) of this section.
(c) Notwithstanding Section 3207, a bond issued in compliance with
this section may be terminated and canceled and the surety relieved
of all obligations under the bond when the well is properly abandoned
or another valid bond has been substituted for the bond.
(d) (1) A class II commercial wastewater disposal well is a well
that is used to dispose of oilfield wastewater, as specified in
paragraph (2), for a fee and that is regulated by the division
pursuant to this chapter and Subpart F (commencing with Section
147.250) of Part 147 of Title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations.
(2) For purposes of paragraph (1), oilfield wastewater does not
include hazardous waste, as defined in Chapter 6.5 (commencing with
Section 25100) of Division 20 of the Health and Safety Code.
SEC. 4. Section 3205.3 is added to the Public Resources Code, to
read:
3205.3. (a) Notwithstanding paragraph (2)
of subdivision (b) of Section 66262.11 of Title 22 of the California
Code of Regulations, and except as provided in subdivision (b)
, a generator of oil and gas exploration
and production waste produced water is
responsible for testing the waste as described in
paragraph (1) of subdivision (b) of Section 66262.11 of Title 22 of
the California Code of Regulations, for determining whether the
waste produced water is hazardous waste
within the meaning of Chapter 6.5 (commencing with Section 25100) of
Division 20 of the Health and Safety Code.
(b) For systems that meet the following requirements, the
generator of the produced water may apply knowledge pursuant to
paragraph (2) of subdivision (b) of Section 66262.11 of Title 22 of
the California Code of Regulations in testing to determine whether
produced water is hazardous waste if there has been sufficient prior
testing pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (b) of Section
66262.11 of Title 22 of the California Code of Regulations that
illustrates that the produced water is not hazardous and there is a
reasonable expectation that the produced water will continue to have
the same characteristics it had at the time of that prior testing.
(1) The produced water is produced by a system in which no
materials are added before being disposed or reused.
(2) The produced water is immediately reinjected back into a well
after oil and gas is removed.
SEC. 5. 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.
