2004 Annual Report: Permitting and Enforcement

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• Enforcement Agency
• LEA Evaluations
• Solid Waste Facility Permits
• Post-Closure Maintenance/Financial Assurances Workshop
• Completed Rulemakings

Enforcement Agency

Board staff serves as the enforcement agency in five local government jurisdictions: the counties of Santa Cruz, Stanislaus, and San Luis Obispo; and the cities of Berkeley and Stockton. The Board became enforcement agency for San Luis Obispo County on July 1, 2004, because the county withdrew its designation of a local enforcement agency and did not designate another local agency.

As a result, the Board’s Enforcement Agency program, including three counties and two incorporated cites, now ranks with the top five local enforcement agency programs in the state. In 2004, staff conducted 436 inspections at 44 permitted facilities and 34 closed sites in these five jurisdictions. A full discussion of the Board's role as enforcement agency was held at the Board’s November 2003 meeting.

LEA Evaluations

As part of the third cycle of LEA evaluations that began in May 2003 (see Local Enforcement Agency Evaluation Home Page), the Board completed 33 LEA evaluations. Below is a summary of the 33 completed LEA evaluations and their outcomes as of December 31, 2004:

• 21 LEAs were found to be fulfilling their duties and responsibilities.
• 5 LEAs were found to be fulfilling most of their duties and responsibilities.
• 7 LEAs were found to be not fulfilling all their duties and responsibilities; all 7 required a work plan in order to address their evaluation findings.
• 11 additional evaluations commenced during 2004 (including the Board as EA).
• 12 LEA evaluations remain to be scheduled over the course of this third 3-year cycle.
• In addition to program performance, one LEA has certification issues involving conflict of interest that may require future Board action.

The status of current LEA evaluation work plans is as follows:

• Completed Work plans—three LEAs completed their work plans in 2004 (City of San Jose, second cycle, February 2004; Siskiyou County, current cycle, November 2004; Merced County, out-of-cycle, November 2004).
• In-Progress Work plans—six LEAs are working towards meeting the task compliance dates established in their work plans (Fresno County, Lake County, Mono/Alpine Counties, Placer County, Riverside County, and San Bernardino County).
• Under Development—two LEAs are developing their work plans as a result of the current evaluation cycle (Madera County and Nevada County).

The Bureau of State Audits conducted a review of the Board and local agencies’ oversight of solid waste facilities and issued its report on December 10, 2003. Although the report found that the established scope of the evaluations and their outcomes were appropriate, it identified that the Board did not evaluate all LEAs within the three years of statutory mandate.

The Board discussed the audit findings in February 2004, and staff implemented ways to address them. These included improved internal practices, including both data input and special reports. The audit recommended streamlining the evaluation process, establishing firmer deadlines for internal discussions, fact-finding, and conducting reviews before issuing the evaluation report. As a result of these enhancements the Board should remain ahead of schedule for the third cycle. The Board is confident that all LEA evaluations in this cycle will be completed within the three-year timeframe.

Solid Waste Facility Permits

The Board concurred in the issuance of the following major permit revisions:

• Inland Regional Material Recovery Facility and Transfer Station, (San Bernardino County) February 18, 2004.
• South Kern Industrial Center Composting Facility (Kern County) June 15, 2004.
• Premier Recycling Facility (Santa Clara County) June 15, 2004.
• Grand Central Recycling and Transfer Station (Los Angeles County) July 13, 2004.
• Madison Materials, Inc. (Orange County) September 21, 2004.
• Del Norte County Transfer Station (Del Norte County) September, 21, 2004.
• Yreka Landfill (Siskiyou County) October 13, 2004.
• West Contra Costa Sanitary Landfill (Contra Costa County) December 14, 2004.
• Gregory Canyon Landfill (San Diego County) December 14, 2004.

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Post-Closure Maintenance/Financial Assurances Workshop

The Board also has begun to examine a set of landfill issues that have significant generational implications:

1. How might regulators determine when a landfill no longer requires post-closure maintenance (that is, can analytical tools and information be used to decide that a closed landfill no longer poses a potential long-term threat to the environment?).
2. Who will pay for corrective action at landfills if something goes wrong after the currently-required 30-year post-closure maintenance period?

The Board held initial workshops in November 2003 and December 2004 and plans additional work in 2005 with the solid waste management industry, environmental organization, and insurance industry stakeholders. The workshops have explored interpretations about the length of the post-closure maintenance period for solid waste landfills and how funds are currently made available for post-closure maintenance during that period. The workshops also covered financial assurances for environmental liabilities at sites after current financial assurances for post-closure care are no longer in effect.

Completed Rulemakings

Landfill Closure Loan Program: New regulations for the administration of a landfill closure loan program as authorized by the enactment of Chapter 587, Statutes of 2002 (AB 467, Strom-Martin). The purpose of the program is to provide funding for costs associated with the early closure of older-technology, unlined landfills that pose potential environmental problems.

Alternative Daily Cover: Revision of existing regulations that control the use of alternative daily cover materials at solid waste landfills and the reporting of that use.

LEA Staffing Adequacy: Revision of existing regulations to include an allowance for existing local enforcement agencies whose jurisdictional population slowly increases past 50,000 persons, but does not exceed 80,000 persons, to meet staff adequacy certification requirements.

Application for Solid Waste Facility Permit/Waste Discharge Requirements: Revision of joint application form CIWMB E-1-77 and accompanying instructions used for Solid Waste Facility Permits and Waste Discharge Requirements.

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