Legislature(1995 - 1996)
03/25/1996 08:08 AM House RES
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* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
SB 69 - REPORTING OF HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCE Number 1594 CO-CHAIR GREEN said the next item on the agenda was SB69 (RES) an act relating to hazardous chemicals, hazardous materials, and hazardous waste. MS. KREITZER said CSSB 69 (RES) deals with regulatory reform and can be a confusing bill to look at. She said this bill has been two years in the making, starting after SB 33 passed the legislature two years ago. She said CSSB 69 (RES) is an attempt to get at all these reporting requirements for businesses with regards to hazardous chemicals, materials and waste. Number 1664 MS. KREITZER read from the sponsor statement, "As we downsize government, and make it more user friendly, we have to assess the efficacy of current statues and regulations." She said that is part of what has been done with CSSB 69 (RES). She said there is nothing that can be done with the federal requirements and CSSB 69 (RES) has focused on state programs to coordinate it with the local reporting requirements that exist. She said in discussions with the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), the fire departments, the state fire marshall, the question addressed was what is nice to know as compared to what information is needed. She said, as government is downsized, information cannot be requested which is not going to be used. She said CSSB 69 (RES) tries to get at the heart of what it was, why the laws were passed to begin with and what it was that they were looking at. Number 1720 MS. KREITZER said the Senate Resources Committee changed CSSB 69 (RES) so that if this bill were passed there would be nothing that exists in the law more stringent than the federal reporting requirements. She referred to Section 1, Title 18, and said AS 18.70.90 refers to the state Fire Marshals Placarding Program. She said this program, established in 1986 or 1987, charged the state fire marshall with going out and putting a placard on every building outside the municipality of Anchorage to denote what fire hazards or hazardous chemicals were within that building. Since enactment of that program, 14 facilities outside the municipality of Anchorage, have been placarded by the state Fire Marshall. She said this is not an effective program, the state fire marshall recognizes that it is not an effective program, and CSSB 69 (RES) deletes this program. She said in Section 1, where you see AS 18.70.090, it deletes the portion on line 11 referring to the state Fire Marshall's Placarding Program. She said Section 2 does the same thing, it deletes reference to the state Fire Marshals Placarding Program. Number 1822 MS. KREITZER said there is another placarding program, the municipal placarding program, which was established in 1968. This program allowed municipalities to create their own placarding program for their fire departments. She said, currently, the municipality of Anchorage is the only municipality which has the placarding program. She said discussions were held with the municipality of Anchorage to find out what would work with them. She said one form would be developed to meet federal, state and local reporting requirements. Instead of the Division of Fire Prevention creating the program the form would be approved by the Alaska State Emergency Response Commission (SERC.) She said this commission is made up of nine state departments and seven public members and its mission, under federal law, is to receive reports of hazardous substances. She said it makes sense for the commission to receive the reporting forms and to approve it. Number 1977 Senator Leman joined the meeting, but declined to give testimony. MS. KREITZER said that Senator Leman served on the Anchorage Local Emergency Planning Committee and knows this subject very well. MS. KREITZER said, in Section 3, page two, CSSB 69 (RES) amends the municipal placarding program to "pave the way" for one form which would receive approval from SERC. Number 2029 MS. KREITZER said CSSB 69 (RES) makes changes at the state level. She said SERC, or a municipality, is allowed to remove a substance or add a substance. She said the adding of a substance is under federal law. She referred to Section 4, lines 25 through 31 and said this was added because the federal government went through a change in what it calls these substances and the language in CSSB 69 (RES) reflects these changes. She said the language includes poison gas hazard division number 2.3 and poison 6.1, explosives 1.1, 1.2, and 1.3 excluding smokeless gunpowder, blackpowder and ammunition. She said those exclusions were made because first responders are not stupid and if the sign says it is a gun shop, there is the expectation that there will be gunpowder and that it would not need to be reported. Number 2090 MS. KREITZER said the same thing occurs on page three, lines 2 and 3, where the language, "consumer commodity of a hazardous material" was deleted. She said this is the "K-Mart" placard, because consumer commodity is targeted at the department stores where they have substances such as weed killer. She said the fire department should know that if you are going to a huge department store there would be various chemicals located at that location. She said this type of placard was not a federal requirement, so it was deleted. Number 2130 MS. KREITZER said hazardous chemicals or hazardous material, other than the one described in Section 1, if handled in a single day of an amount equal to or greater than 10,000 pounds, "this change was made in the Senate Resources Committee and again we are talking about the state placarding program." She said this brings the municipal placarding program, Anchorage being the only one, into alignment with the federal reporting requirement so that they are not asking for something in excess of the federal requirement. Number 2168 MS. KREITZER said "compressed gases" was deleted in the Senate Resource Committee as it is not a federal requirement. She said, currently, the municipality does require this to be reported. Her understanding, upon discussions with the drafting attorney, is that since they went through a public process to add that to their program this revision in CSSB 69 (RES) will not affect the municipality of Anchorage's program. She said anyone who would want to come and start a new program would have to go through a whole public process of adding compressed gases. Number 2206 MS. KREITZER referred to Section 5, regarding inspections and penalties, and said it is current law under the municipal placarding program. She said it allows municipalities to conduct inspections, establish and impose penalties. She said CSSB 69 (RES) just removes reference to the state Fire Marshall's Program which is being deleted under the bill. Number 2228 MS. KREITZER said, "Section 6, the same thing, current law we are just deleting the state Fire Marshall's Placarding Program under Section 6." Number 2238 MS. KREITZER referred to Section 7, and said the DEC is currently the department that sends out the Tier 2 reporting forms for hazardous substances. She said, it makes sense to have DEC hand out the new steam-lined forms, since they are handing out the current form. She said the reference to the Division of Fire Prevention is deleted. Number 2272 MS. KREITZER referred to Section 8, Section 9 and Section 10 and said all of these reporting requirements have had their definition of what a hazardous chemical is was set by various agencies. She said CSSB 69 (RES) tries to reference all of those chemicals so that on this one form, what you are reporting and the thresholds for reporting are all the same. She said if you are a business that operates within the municipality of Anchorage or outside the municipality than you must report, under federal law, hazardous chemicals, materials or waste on the one single form provided by the DEC. Number 2336 MS. KREITZER referred to Section 11, and said it repeals the state Fire Marshall's Placarding Program. She said those are definition sections under Title 29, which is the municipal placarding program. She said CSSB 69 (RES) is a complicated bill in that it has to reference so many different statutes and sections of federal law. Number 2380 MS. KREITZER said the Department of Law (DOL) has suggested an amendment, located in the committee packet, which explains the settlement of the Toksook Bay case. She said the DOL feels that CSSB 69 (RES) is an appropriate vehicle for that amendment. Number 2430 REPRESENTATIVE OGAN referred to the portion about eliminating the placards for compressed gases and asked if this was an on-sight placard that would be used by emergency responders and for people working around these gases. TAPE 96-42, SIDE A Number 0000 MS. KREITZER said, in discussions with local fire departments from Mat-Su, Kenai, Kodiak and Anchorage, this elimination was the result. She said when Title 3 was passed and the state of Alaska created SERC and the local Emergency Planning Committee, the state provided computers to many of these local Emergency Planning Committees. These computers are shared with local fire departments. She said the local level is working with businesses so that they report compressed gases, and do on-site visits. She said the fire departments say they are doing well with getting information once the businesses understand why the fire department wants the information. She said the information is forthcoming, including information that businesses are not required to report. She said the responders have this information on computer. MS. KREITZER said CSSB 69 (RES) is working towards a goal, outside of this bill, is to get fire departments to a place where police departments are at now. So that when fire departments arrive at a scene they already know what is there. She said it is not possible to update a placard on a consistent basis. She said the placard indicates the whole essence of what is in the building, but don't really tell detailed information about substances in the building. She said moving to a computerized process is probably the best thing for the fire departments to do as well as focusing on the pre-fire planning efforts which would note the compressed gases and other types of things. Number 070 REPRESENTATIVE OGAN said his background included fire protection in a small, non-profit fire department and said the less organized, volunteer fire departments might not have the resources to do pre- fire planning such as going in and surveying the buildings to record things. He expressed concern, regarding the system referred to by Ms. Kreitzer, for these smaller fire departments who don't have the resources to do this system and who might need these on- site placards. Number 0250 MS. KREITZER said that if these smaller departments do not have the time to go and do pre-fire planning surveys, they don't have time to go out and do placards. She said the State Fire Marshall has only placarded 15 buildings and has no intention of expanding the program and said there will be no additional money from the state to do so. She said local fire departments should do local training and use those resources to do pre-fire surveys. She related her experience of living in a small community and said that if she was going to be the first response she would want to know what was in that building before she responded to the emergency. Number 0328 REPRESENTATIVE BARNES made a motion to adopt Amendment 1 as proposed by the DOL. CO-CHAIR GREEN requested that the DOL speak to the amendment first. Number 0390 MARIE SANSONE, Assistant Attorney General, Natural Resources Section, Civil Division, Department of Law, requested that Mr. Kennedy comment on this proposed amendment. Number 0424 CHRISTOPHER KENNEDY, Assistant Attorney General, Civil Division, Department of Law, was next to testify. He said the proposed Amendment 1 is part of the Administration's response to the lessons learned in the Toksook Bay lawsuit. He said this was a case in which the state received a school from the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) in 1989. He said, in 1990, an old fuel pipe gave way which caused a large spill affecting the village water system. He said the state and the lower TSUK school district were both strictly and jointly liable for damages from that spill. He said the case has now been settled and there is a contempt judgement against the state for just under $1.3 million, currently being sought in appropriations by the legislature this session. MR. KENNEDY said, in response to this experience, both the Administration and some members of the legislature feel this is an inappropriate arena for strict liability and so the proposed amendment states that the state would be immune from strict and joint liability for environmental releases at Rural Education Attendance Area (REAA) school sites. He said the amendment has a very narrow scope, both the state and school districts remain liable if they are at fault (indiscernible due to coughing) "at fault and it only applies to damages." The state and school district would maintain their responsibilities to clean up any spills that occur. CO-CHAIR GREEN referred to the motion to adopt Amendment 1. Hearing no objection Amendment 1 was adopted to CSSB 69 (RES) by the House Standing Committee on Resources. Number 0620 RITA VENTA, Anchorage Fire Department, testified via teleconference from Anchorage. She said the Anchorage Fire Department has worked with Ms. Kreitzer for two years trying to put CSSB 69 (RES) together. She said Anchorage has its own program of placarding since 1986. She said CSSB 69 (RES) affects some of those reporting requirements. Number 0660 MS. VENTA referred to Section 4, and said that the Anchorage Fire Department requires the reporting of compressed gases within 250 feet or more. She said she believes this language is important to keep in the bill and requested that this language not be deleted. She then referred to Section 9 and Section 10 and asked that the language, "or by a municipality for purposes of its own reporting program", be retained to allow the current program to be maintained. Number 0727 MS. VENTA said that when Section 4 was being explained, she thought existing programs will stay the way they are and new programs will comply with CSSB 69 (RES). She asked if this was true. Number 0743 MS. KREITZER referred to Section 4, and said after checking with the drafting attorney the current program as it exists in Anchorage, because of the public process which it has undergone, will not change or be altered by CSSB 69 (RES). She said, as a result of this, on page three, lines 10 through 12, the delineation of the language "and compressed gases equal to or more than 200 cubic feet" would not impact Anchorage. She said this language was getting at the difference between federal and state law. The feeling of the Senate Resources Committee was that the legislature should not require anything more stringent than the federal law and this is the reason why this language was deleted. She said this deleted language has no affect on the municipality of Anchorage's program. Number 0836 REPRESENTATIVE WILLIAMS clarified that Ms. Kreitzer would like to leave the language as it is in CSSB 69 (RES). MS. KREITZER said "and compressed gases equal to or more than 200 cubic feet at standard temperature and pressure" language remain as a deleted phrase on lines 10 through 12, because this is an addition to the current federal reporting requirements. She said the state should not be stringent than the federal requirements and that the definition does not affect the Anchorage program. A new placarding program would have to go through a public process if they want to include anything greater than the federal requirements. CO-CHAIR GREEN clarified that the committee should not correct the deletion. Number 0902 MS. KREITZER referred to Sections 9 and 10, the deletion of the phrase, "or by a municipality for purposes of its own reporting program", and said there is some give and take when you try to do stream-lining for regulatory reform and she said this is one of those situations where depending on which side of the fence you are on, it is a give or a take. She said, if the state allows municipalities to continue to make changes for the purposes of their own reporting program then the single form cannot be used. She said CSSB 69 (RES) would require that municipalities make changes within the way that it is set out in the bill, through a public process and in concert with SERC to keep businesses reporting on only one form. She said the addition of this phrase runs the risk of CSSB 69 (RES) not being effective. Number 0956 CO-CHAIR GREEN expressed concern that Anchorage would be different from other areas of the state. Number 0973 MS. KREITZER said the EPA recognizes that Anchorage is different and are currently relooking the threshold levels and substances under the Emergency Planning Community Right To Know Act. She said the laws under the EPA apply to cities such as Los Angeles and Anchorage. She said the federal requirements are stringent enough for the municipality of Anchorage and said that the municipality of Anchorage is not currently seeking to change or add substances to their program. She said CSSB 69 (RES) will not change their program according to how the municipality of Anchorage is operating their program now, but would change any new program. Number 1025 CO-CHAIR GREEN referred to page three, line six, regarding going from 500 pounds to 10,000 pounds of hazardous chemicals, materials or waste and asked if this was an EPA requirement. Number 1038 MS. KREITZER said the 10,000 pounds was a federal requirement. She referred to page two, beginning at line 23, and said this referred to the other substances listed such as flammable solids, gas hazard division number 2.3, and said these are the substances that are extremely hazardous and have their own reporting thresholds. She said the 10,000 pounds is what the federal government has realized as a safe requirement level. She referred to two handouts titled, "ARCO SARA Title III, Section III Reporting, February 23, 1995" and "Anchorage Fire Department, Tier 2 Hazardous Material Inventory." DENISE L. NEWBOULD, UNOCAL, testified via teleconference from Kenai. She said UNOCAL is a primary operator of oil and gas extraction in Cook Inlet and operates an ammonia fertilizer plant in Nikiski. She said in UNOCAL uses a variety of hazardous chemicals and materials. She said her company participated in the working committee with Ms. Kreitzer during the past two years working to reform the reporting requirements for hazardous chemicals and substances. She said her company fully supports regulations which protect life and property against fire and other emergency situations. She said her company recognizes that this need has produced a variety of state, federal and local reporting requirements in a variety of formats and frequencies, assessable chemicals, threshold quantities, storage use and transportation information is required to meet this need. She said it is difficult for any company which uses hazardous substances or produces a hazardous waste to track these various requirements and to comply with them. She said CSSB 69 (RES) clarifies, standardizes and stream-lines these recording requirements. She said this simplifies her company's task to comply with the regulations and facilitates information exchange and analysis amongst the regulating entities and the emergency responders. She said, for this reason, UNOCAL supports CSSB 69 (RES). Number 1206 REPRESENTATIVE KOTT clarified that no one from the environmental community wished to testify. Number 1215 REPRESENTATIVE BARNES made a motion to move CSSB 69 (RES) as amended, with individual recommendations. Hearing no objection HCS CSSB 69 (RES) was moved from the House Standing Committee on Resources.
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