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Home My WebLink AboutMINUTES - 10131987 - 2.3 THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS OF CONTRA COSTA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA Adopted this Order on October 13 , 1987 ' , by the following vote: AYES: Supervisors Powers, Fanden, Schroder, Torlakson, McPeak NOES: None ABSENT: None ABSTAIN: None ------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------ SUBJECT: Disposal of Liquid Hazardous Waste The Board on October 6, 1987 introduced a proposed ordinance regulating the disposal of hazardous liquid to landfills, and fixed this date for adoption of said ordinance. Supervisor Sunne McPeak noted that the proposed ordinance does not contain any provisions for a variance for transfer of liquid waste from one impoundment to another. She recommended adoption of the ordinance as written at this time. Supervisor Nancy Fanden advised that she supported adoption of the ordinance without the variance procedure. She stated that the Board would continue to review the requested variance procedure, and commented on the need to assure proper notification to the community. Bryant Fischback, representing Dow Chemical Company, commented on apparent discrepancies between the proposed ordinance and State law regulating surface impoundment closure dates and compliance standards for the granting of variances. He recommended that language be included in the County ordinance to provide an exception to those closing surface impoundments under a closure plan approved by another jurisdiction. After further discussion by Board members, IT IS ORDERED that the ordinance regulating the disposal ofhazardous liquid to landfills is ADOPTED. ITIS FURTHER ORDERED that County Counsel is REQUESTED to prepare language for a variance procedure, and to review concerns raised by Mr. Fischback relative to requirements of the ordinance. CC: County Counsel County Administrator CDC -i:_.;Rrs:3 the R. tsl v@ Lity \• w u ORDINANCE NO. 87- 84 (Land disposal of hazardous waste) The Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors ordains as follows: SECTION I . SUMMARY. This ordinance provides, subject to specified exceptions , for the termination of: 1) liquid hazardous waste disposal to landfills; 2 ) effective July 1, 1988, the use of any land disposal method to dispose of liquid hazardous waste or hazardous waste containing free liquids; and 3 ) effective May 8, 1990 , the use of any land diposal method to dispose of hazardous waste unless the waste has been treated. SECTION II . FINDINGS. (a) State permitted hazardous waste land disposal facilities , once considered secure, are increasingly found to have problems containing the waste deposited therein, making it impossible to guarantee long-term security. Hazardous wastes have been shown to migrate from land disposal facilities and contaminate the environment through leakage and runoff in landfills, seepage, runoff, and air emissions from ponds, percolation from improper land applications, leaks in the equipment used for injection wells, and leaks from buried drums and tanks . (b) The disposal of untreated hazardous waste in or onto land without adequate technical safeguards threatens not only the quality of the county' s land, air, and water resources, but poses a direct hazard to health and safety by exposing the public to substances that have been found to cause cancer, birth defects, miscarriages, nervous disorders, blood diseases, and damage to vital organs and genes . (c) Cleaning up contaminated sites and eliminating the threat to public health and the environment is very costly. (d) It is, therefore, in the public interest to establish a program to limit the use of land disposal practices which do not meet certain prescribed standards and promote alternatives for hazardous waste management. (e) It is the intent of the Board to supplement State legislation in guiding hazardous waste management towards more efficient and secure methods . SECTION III . DEFINITIONS. (a) For the purposes of this ordinance, the following definitions apply. ( 1) "Free liquids" mean liquids which readily separate from the solid portion of a hazardous waste under ambient temperature and pressure. (2 ) "Department" means the State Department of Health Services. ( 3) "Disposal" or "dispose" means to abandon, deposit, inter or otherwise discard waste. (4 ) "Hazardous waste landfill" means a disposal facility, or part of a facility, where hazardous waste is placed in or onto land and which is not a land treatment facility, a surface impoundment, or an injection well. ( 5) "Land disposal" means any placement of hazardous waste in or onto land at a hazardous waste facility, including, but not limited to, disposal using a landfill, a waste pile, commingling with municipal garbage, a surface impoundment, pit, liq.wste.ltf (d-1) #3 pond, lagoon, sump, a land treatment facility, land spreading, injection wells, or any other land application technique. ( 6 ) "Person" means an individual, trust, firm, joint stock company, business concern, corporation, including, but not limited to, a government corporation, partnership, and association. "Person" also includes any city, county, district, and the state or any department or agency thereof, and the federal government or any department or agency thereof to the extent permitted by law. (7 ) "Treatment" means any method, technique, or process , including incineration, occurring at authorized facilities which changes the physical, chemical, or biological character or composition of any hazardous waste and, by that change, the waste becomes nonhazardous, significantly less hazardous, or more suitable for land disposal because of removal or substantial reduction of undesirable properties, such as toxicity, mobility, persistence, reactivity, bioaccumulation, flammability, or corrosivity. "Treatment" does not include any of the following, to the extent that one or more of the following are the only methods which are used: (A) Solidification of hazardous waste by the addition of absorbent material which produces a change only in the physical character of the waste without a corresponding change in the chemical character of the waste. (B) Treatment occurring directly in or on the land, such as land treatment, except that treatment may include on site treatment necessary for site mitigation. (C) Dilution of hazardous waste by the addition of nonhazardous material. (D) Evaporation in a surface impoundment. ( 8) "Treated hazardous waste" means a hazardous waste which has been subject to treatment, as specified in subdivision ( 6 ) , and which meets treatment standards established by the department pursuant to Health and Safety Code Section 25179 .6. "Treated hazardous waste" also includes a hazardous waste which meets the treatment standards established by the department pursuant to Health and Safety Code Section 25179 .6 without prior treatment. If a treatment standard has not been established for a hazardous waste, the hazardous waste shall be considered a treated hazardous waste if the waste complies with one of the following: (A) The waste complies with the criteria and requirements established in Section 66742 of Title 22 of the California Administrative Code and has been classified as a special waste pursuant to Section 66744 of Title 22 of the California Administrative Code. (B) The waste does not contain any persistent or bioaccumulative toxic substances in excess of the soluble threshold limit concentration for the substance, as established in regulations adopted by the department. (b) Every other term used in this ordinance shall have the meaning ascribed to it in Health and Safety Code. § 25179 . 3, if it . is defined in that section. If a term is not defined in Health and Safety Code § 25179. 3, but is defined elsewhere in Health and Safety Code Chapter 6. 5 (commencing with § 25100 ) , then said term shall have the meaning ascribed to it in such provision in Chapter 6. 5. -2- ORDINANCE NO. 87-84 liq.wste.ltf(d-1) #3 SECTION IV. HAZARDOUS WASTE LANDFILL DISPOSAL. (a ) Disposal prohibited. No person shall dispose of liquid waste, liquid hazardous waste, or hazardous waste containing free liquids in a hazardous waste landfill. (b) Exception. Subdivision (a) does not apply to small containers of hazardous waste in lab packs if they are disposed of in accordance' with the requirements of Section 66910 of Title 22 of the California Administrative Code. SECTION V. LAND DISPOSAL OF LIQUID HAZARDOUS WASTES. (a) Disposal Prohibited. Effective July 1, 1988, no person shall use any land disposal method to dispose of liquid hazardous waste or hazardous waste containing free liquids. (b) Exceptions. Subdivision (a) does not apply to the following: ( 1 ) Variance. A person to whom a variance has been granted by the department pursuant to Health and Safety Code § 25179 . 8, to the extent and only for so long as said variance is in effect. ( 2 ) Surface impoundment. A person discharging a hazardous waste into a surface impoundment in accordance with Health and Safety Code § 25179 .11. ( 3) Land treatment facility. A person operating a land treatment facility who is' exempted from the requirements of Health and Safety Code § 25179.6 pursuant to Health and Safety Code § 25179 .12 . SECTION VI . LAND DISPOSAL OF HAZARDOUS WASTES. (a) Disposal Prohibited. Effective May 8, 1990, no person shall use any land disposal method to dispose of any hazardous waste unless the waste is a treated hazardous waste. (b) Exceptions. Subdivision (a) does not apply to the following: ( 1) Lab packs . Small containers of hazardous waste in lab packs if they are disposed in accordance with the requirements of Section 66910 of Title 22 of the California Administrative Code ( 2 ) Hazardous waste from site cleanup. Solid hazardous waste generated in the cleanup or decontamination of any site contaminated by hazardous waste which does not meet treatment standards established by the department, if the disposal of the waste has been approved by the department or other agency authorized to approve the cleanup or decontamination after considering those factors specified in subdivision (c) of Health and Safety Code Section 25356.1, regardless of whether a remedial action plan has been, or will be, prepared for the cleanup or decontamination. ( 3 ) Extension for specific hazardous waste. A specific hazardous waste if pursuant to Health and Safety Code § 25179.7, the department extends the implementation date after which the land disposal of said hazardous waste is prohibited, pursuant to Health and Safety Code § 25179 .6, for said specific hazardous waste, for so long as said extension is in effect. (4 ) Variance. A person to whom a variance has been granted by the department pursuant to -Health and Safety Code § 25179.8, to the extent of and only for so long as said variance is in effect. -3- ORDINANCE NO. 87-84 liq.wste.ltf(d-1) #3 ( 5 ) Special Waste. A person to whom the department has granted an exemption, pursuant -to Health and Safety Code § 25179 .10, from the requirements of Health and Safety Code § 25179 .6, to the extent and for the duration of such exemption. ( 6) Surface impoundment. . A person discharging a hazardous waste into a surface impoundment in accordance with Health and . Safety Code § 25179 .11. (7 ) Land treatment facility. A person operating a land treatment facility, who is exempted from the requirements of Health and Safety Code § 25179 .6 pursuant to Health and Safety Code § 25179 .12 . SECTION VII . ENFORCEMENT. (a) Criminal. Every act or condition prohibited by this ordinance is a violation of this ordinance and punishable as a misdemeanor pursuant to Government Code § 25132. Acts or conditions in violation of this ordinance which continue, exist, or occur on more than one day constitute separate violations and offenses on each such day. (b) Civil. In addition to the penalties provided by this ordinance, this ordinance may be enforced by any civil action, including injunctive action, directly against the act or condition, or for damages therefor . Any condition existing in violation of this ordinance is a public nuisance and may be abated summarily or otherwise by the County. SECTION VIII . SEVERABILITY. If any provision or clause of this ordinance or the application thereof to any person or circumstances is held to be unconstitutional or to be otherwise invalid by any court of competent jurisdiction, such invalidity shall not affect other ordinance provisions or clauses or applications thereof which can be implemented without the invalid provision or clause or application, and to this end the provisions and clauses of this ordinance are declared to be severable. SECTION IX. EFFECTIVE DATE. This ordinance becomes effective thirty days after the passage, and within fifteen days of passage, shall be published once with the names of the supervisors voting for and against it in the Contra Costa times, a newspaper published in this County. PASSED ON October 13 , 1987 , 1987 by the following vote: AYES: Supervisors Powers, Fanden, Schroder, Torlakson and McPeak NOES: None ABSENT: None ABSTAIN: None ATTEST: PHIL BATCHELOR, Clerk of the Board of Supervisors and County Administrator By: qDeu t y Board Chair [SEAL] -4- LTF:df ( 6-11-87) liq.wste.ltf(d-1) #3