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I. The meeting was called to order at 10:10 a.m. by coordinator
Ken Stuart.
Attending Members
Mary Creasey (Leagues of California Cities)
Gary Harris (California Association of Code Enforcement Officer)
Paul Dickinson (Keep California Beautiful)
Karen Keene (California State Association of Counties/County Engineers Association of California)
Joe Mello (State Water Resources Control Board)
Alan Abbs (Regional Council of Rural Counties)
Ben Gale (California Conference of Directors of Environmental Health)
Rebecca Moody (County Administrators Office)
John Key (Bureau of Land Management)
George Valdes (City of Fresno)
Stanton Lange (California Farm Bureau Federation)
Damian Meins (Riverside Illegal Dumping Task Force)
John Ramirez (Monterey Illegal Dumping Task Force)
Neal Fujita (East Bay Regional Park District)
Kit Cole (Waste Management, Inc.)
Steve Levine (CIWMB Legal)
Ken Stuart (CIWMB)
Guests
Denny Hoeh (Stanislaus County)
Grant Eisen (Nevada County)
Mario Leal (Fresno County)
Caroline Chavez (Lake County)
CIWMB Staff Attending
Howard Levenson
Carla Repucci
Maria Kravech
Mitch Delmage
Members Absent
Gale Filter (California Association of District Attorneys)
John Abernathy (Solid Waste Association of North America)
Scott Smithline (Californians Against Waste)
Jim Lawrence (Cal/Trans)
II. The minutes of the May 24, 2006 Illegal Dumping Enforcement Task
Force (IDETF) meeting were approved as written.
III. Comments from the Members or the Public
Damian Meins, Riverside County Illegal Dumping Task Force, commented
on the need for the CIWMB and Regional Water Quality Control Boards to
coordinate grant funding. For instance, storm water grants being used in
conjunction with disposal site cleanup grants. This issue is included in
one of the proposed Board discussion items.
John Key, Bureau of Land Management (BLM), commented that a record
amount of marijuana was being discovered and removed from federal land
by law agencies this year. The volume of marijuana is resulting in a
solid waste disposal problem (cost) for the BLM, and the hazardous
wastes found at the sites pose similar disposal problems.
IV. Update of Coordinator Activities
- Since the June meeting, the IDETF Coordinator (Ken Stuart)
has presented task force update reports to the CIWMB Enforcement
Advisory Council (EAC), the California Conference of Directors of
Environmental Health (CCDEH) Solid Waste Policy Committee, staff members
of Imperial County, San Diego County, Fresno County, the Cities of
Fresno and Madera, and the Board of Directors of the Rural Counties’
Environmental Services Joint Powers Authority. Upcoming illegal dumping
update and coordination meetings have been scheduled with staff in Lake
County, Los Angeles County, Placer County and San Joaquin County.
Meetings are pending with Stanislaus County and Sacramento County staff,
along with a presentation at the upcoming CCDEH Annual Conference.
- The IDETF Coordinator is also a member of the Multi-Agency
Anti-Litter Task Force. This task force was initiated by the CIWMB, and
now has Jim Lawrence, Cal/Trans Litter Abatement Program Manager,
serving as its Chairman. The task force is currently developing goals
and objectives for a state program.
- CIWMB training staff are currently developing a statewide
load check training program that will be provided to local enforcement
agency (LEA) staff and waste operator staff in January 2007. The actual
evaluation of any load check programs will be developed after the
training is concluded.
- The next project for the
illegal dumping website will to add linkages for local codes and
ordinances dealing with illegal dumping.
V. New Business
- Waste Tire Program Summary: Mitch Delmage, Waste
Tire Program Manager, provided the task force with an overview of the
CIWMB Waste Tire Program. The program is organized in five elements
(Enforcement/Regulations, Cleanup/Abandoned Sites, Research, Market
Development and Waste Tire/Used Tire Haulers), and the five year plan
for the elements are updated every two years. As the use and market for
used tires develops, the intent is that the tires will be a commodity
and illegal dumping of used tires will be at a minimum.
- Illegal Dumping Legislation: Task force members were
provided with a summary status report on the five legislative bills that
involve illegal dumping and/or cleanup. It was noted that all five bills
were approved by the Legislators and have been enrolled to the Governor
for approval. These bills are:
- AB 1668 (Niello)–Illegal dumping enforcement officers
- AB 1992 (Canciamilla)–Solid waste: dumping
- AB 2211 (Karnette)–Solid waste disposal site cleanup
- AB 2253 (Hancock)–Vehicles; illegal dumping
- AB 2449 (Levine)–Recycling; plastic bags
VI. Old Business
- Local Government Illegal Dumping Cost Survey: Karen
Keene, California State Association of Counties (CSAC), presented a
summary of the CSAC Illegal Dumping Cost Survey that was coordinated by
CSAC. A total of 33 counties have submitted data to date, with a
combined annual cost of $17,425,824. Mary Creasey, League of California
Cities, presented a summary of the League survey, and a total of 35
cities have reported a combined annual cost of $14,117,848. When these
local costs are combined with the annual Cal/Trans Litter and Illegal
Dumping Program costs of $55,000,000, the total cost of illegal dumping
and litter for local government services documented to date is over $86
million. Both surveys indicated that the most common illegally dumped
materials were large appliances, furniture, mattresses, tires and
household garbage. CSAC and League staff will post the surveys on their
respective websites, and additional data from counties and cities will
be accepted until the IDETF Board report is ready for submission to the
Board. Both surveys will appear as appendices to the Board report.
- Review of Comments from Regional Meetings: Ken
Stuart indicated that the regional meetings continued to show support
for a statewide waste hauler/service provider permit program as well as
many of the other issues the task force has identified. Additional
issues that surfaced included modification of the waste tire program to
include a tire redemption fee, utilization of an Ad Council type group
for the CIWMB to produce public service announcements (PSA) that can be
adopted and used locally, and better definition of waste ownership and
responsibility.
- Identification of Additional Recommended Issues: The
following issues were added to the discussion list by the task force:
- Modification of the waste tire program to include a tire
redemption fee;
- Include the Ad Council/State produced PSAs in the public
education issue;
- Include reference to the Kern County Code on two pieces of
addressed mail or other identifying information in dumped material
being deemed to create a rebuttable presumption of ownership in the
cradle to grave ownership responsibility issue discussion; and
- Include reference to the Butte County Code relative to the
property owner of rental properties being responsible for refuse
left on the premises beyond the term of the tenant.
- Agreement on Recommendations for Inclusion in Board
Report
- It was agreed to delete the following issues:
- A1-Block grant monies for local programs
- A1-Point of use fee for new grocery bags
- A2-Vehicle license fee for mitigation funding
- C2-Access to Department of Motor Vehicle records
(Note: C2/DMV was decided based on a September 26, 2006 email
vote)
- It was agreed to add the following issues or discussion points:
- Modification of waste tire program–The intent of
the program is to turn used tires into a commodity with value,
but illegally disposed tires continue to be a local problem. The
ideas of the consumers paying a disposal fee at the time of the
purchase of tires and consumers not being allowed to take used
tires removed from their vehicles with them when purchasing
replacements was discussed.
- Public education/outreach-There was consensus
opinion that the state needs a consistent, properly funded PSA
message on illegal dumping and should consider using experienced
non-profit organizations to implement state and local programs.
This discussion will be included in the public education issue
that was already identified by the task force.
- Issues on cradle to grave ownership responsibility
and statewide standardization of acceptable evidence and
prosecution that were proposed for inclusion in the waste hauler
permit issue (May task force meeting) should be returned to
individual issue status. Rental property owners being
responsible for refuse left on the premises beyond the term of
the tenant should be included in the cradle to grave ownership
issue.
- Establishment of Priority Issues: Based on the
actions in Section VID above, a total of 24 issues were identified for
inclusion in the board report. The task force voted the following six
top priority issues:
- Predisposal fees for high incident items
- Enhancement of public education
- Funding for enforcement staff, including rural counties
- Waste tire redemption included in waste tire haulers program
- Refuse hauler service provider permit program–statewide with
local permit issuance
- Enhancement of enforcement training–public and private
VII. Future Needs/Activities/Implementation
The task force coordinator will proceed with writing the draft task
force report, and several task force members volunteered to assist in
development of some of the issues. The draft will hopefully be completed
by early December and it will be sent to the task force members
electronically for their review and comment. If there is a need for the
task force to meet again to discuss the draft report, a meeting will be
convened. The task force members will be notified of the days and times
the report will be presented to the Permit and Enforcement Committee and
the full Board meeting, and they will be invited to attend the meeting.
VIII. Adjournment
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 2:40
p.m.
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