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State of the Program
Since the inception of CIWMB’s Waste Tire Enforcement Program in
1994, 894 illegal waste tire sites have been investigated. Of these
sites, 656 now comply with the CIWMB storage requirements or have had
the waste tires removed. Enforcement efforts by the CIWMB have resulted
in the cleanup of approximately 6.1 million waste tires since 1994, with
the operator or property owner removing these tires as a direct result
of the enforcement action.
Using historical cost data from State-funded tire cleanups, tire
program staff estimates that the CIWMB’s enforcement program has saved
$8.9 million in potential State costs to remove waste tires from illegal
sites. Since 1994, the CIWMB has issued 382 cleanup and abatement
orders, 164 administrative complaints, and 34 criminal complaints.
Additionally, the CIWMB has imposed $1,757,733 in fines against owners
and operators who have failed to comply with tire program requirements
and has to date collected approximately $85,450 of the imposed fines.
CIWMB has also placed liens against property totaling $532,201.
In fiscal year 1998/99, the scope of an interagency agreement with
the California Highway Patrol (CHP) in the Waste Tire Hauler Program was
expanded to include aerial surveillance to identify possible illegal
disposal of tires. The aerial surveillance program continued during
fiscal year 1999/2000. The aerial photos provided by CHP enabled staff
to identify 319 sites suspected of storing waste tires. Of these sites,
CIWMB staff has investigated 161 sites, resulting in various enforcement
actions, including letters of violation, cleanup and abatement orders,
and administrative complaints. It is important to note that the 161
investigated sites identified by CHP are included in the above-mentioned
656 sites brought into compliance.
CIWMB has an ongoing responsibility to develop regulations to
implement, interpret, and make specific legislation relating to the
storage, disposal, and hauling of waste tires. CIWMB has recently
completed the rulemaking process for the waste tire storage, hauler, and
monofill regulations. Rulemaking efforts for the hauler and permitting
program began in fiscal year 2001/02. CIWMB is also responsible for
taking appropriate action to remediate threats to the public health or
safety, or the environment. The levels of enforcement action include the
following hierarchal steps:
- Letter(s) of violation.
- Cleanup and abatement order (unpermitted waste tire facilities).
- Legal action (administrative hearings, local prosecutorial
referral, or an Attorney General referral).
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Direction/Recommendations From the AB 117 Report
One of the principal concerns raised during AB117 Report meetings
with stakeholders was the need for increased enforcement of the statutes
and regulations. It was pointed out that failure to enforce, or
inconsistent enforcement of, statutes and regulations creates major
problems for legitimate businesses. Law-abiding businesses have
difficulty competing with those that willfully ignore the rules and
thereby avoid costs associated with the regulatory process.
Further, failure to enforce the waste tire hauling and storage
regulations directly leads to the creation of illegal waste tire storage
piles. The creation of illegal tire piles has led to many environmental
problems, including mosquito and other vector outbreaks, and worst of
all, long-lasting, uncontrolled tire fires such as those that occurred
at Tracy in August 1998 and Westley in September 1999.
The following recommendations were suggested by the AB 117 Report
work group (Recommendation #4 of the report):
- Enhance Enforcement. Create a streamlined enforcement approach to
the unlawful storage and transportation of waste tires, including
continuing to work with CHP, and the creation of the Waste Tire Bounty
Program, etc.
- Local Agencies. Encourage local governments to more actively
participate in the Waste Tire Enforcement Grant Program.
- Ease Permit Requirements. Change definitions in statute to make
the permitting process less demanding; remove tire-derived products
from the permitting process after the products have been sold and
removed from the manufacturing facility; tiered permitting, etc.
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Direction Provided by SB 876
PRC Section 42889:
Funding for the waste tire program shall be appropriated to the board
in the annual Budget Act…for the following purposes:
(d) To pay the costs associated with the development and enforcement
of regulations relating to the storage of waste tires and used tires.
The board shall consider designating a city, county, or city and county
as the enforcement authority of regulations relating to the storage of
waste tires and used tires, as provided in subdivision (c) of Section
42850. If the board designates a local entity for that purpose, the
board shall provide sufficient, stable, and noncompetitive funding to
that entity for that purpose, based on available resources, as provided
in the five-year plan adopted and updated as provided in subdivision (a)
of Section 42855.5. The board may consider and create, as appropriate,
financial incentives for citizens who report the illegal disposal of
waste tires and used tires as a means of enhancing local and statewide
waste tire and used tire enforcement programs.
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Enforcement and regulation activities for waste and used tires
support Goals 4 and 6 of the CIWMB’s Strategic Plan (correlation of
CIWMB activities to Strategic Plan in italics).
Strategic Plan, Goal 4
To manage and mitigate the impacts of solid
waste on public health and safety and the environment and promote
integrated and consistent permitting, inspection, and enforcement
efforts.
Objective 1: Through consistent and effective enforcement or other
appropriate measures, ensure compliance with federal and State waste
management laws and regulations.
Objective 2: Increase efforts to identify, evaluate, and address the
impacts from waste tire and solid waste management techniques.
The Board requires that major permitted waste tire facilities be
inspected once per year; minor permitted facilities are inspected once
every 30 months. The increase in local enforcement grants to local
jurisdictions has had a positive impact on identifying and evaluating
the impacts of waste tire management throughout the state.
Objective 4: Intensify efforts to prevent illegal dumping and, where
necessary, clean up illegally disposed waste and waste tire sites.
Referrals received from the CHP as part of the CIWMB/CHP Interagency
Agreement have helped the Board to identify and clean up previously
unidentified sites throughout the state.
Strategic Plan, Goal 6
Continuously integrate environmental justice
concerns into all of the Board’s programs and activities, including
administrative and budgetary decisions.
Objective 3: Ensure greater public and community participation,
including low-income and monitory populations, in the development,
adoption, and implementation of environmental regulations, policies, and
programs.
Strategy B: Seek to overcome linguistic, cultural, institutional,
geographic, and other barriers to meaningful participation.
Waste tire facility standards, hauler registration and manifest
regulations, and waste tire permitting requirements are applied and
enforced equally and uniformly to all parties throughout the State of
California regardless of income, population density, race or ethnic
origin.
Objectives
- Bring all permitted facilities into compliance with permit
conditions by 2006.
The enforcement program proposes to enhance its efforts to bring
facilities into compliance by performing more frequent inspections of
permitted facilities and by completing enforcement actions in an
expeditious manner, inspecting a greater number of facilities each
year, and proceeding through the levels of enforcement actions in an
expeditious manner.
- Bring known illegal sites into compliance by 2006.
The enforcement program proposes to enhance its efforts to bring
illegal sites into compliance by conducting more inspections of
reported sites. The program will seek to enhance its ability to
identify illegal sites by extending the interagency agreement with the
CHP for aerial surveillance to detect sites and researching the
feasibility of establishing a bounty program to report illegal
dumping.
- Increase local government participation in the enforcement of
permit conditions.
The enforcement program proposes to expand the role of local
government in the detection, inspection, and enforcement at waste tire
sites through an increase in scope and funding of its Local Government
Enforcement Grant Program and greater delegation of authority to
qualified jurisdictions.
- Strive for 100 percent compliance with State minimum standards
at each waste tire facility/operation in the state.
The enforcement program proposes to assure that there is an integrated
approach to permitting, inspection, and enforcement that results in
consistent application of all waste management standards and
requirements.
Program Activities
Early detection and local government participation are the keys to an
effective enforcement program. The plan proposes that enforcement is
most effective when it is two-pronged, involving participation from both
State and local entities. This enforcement plan includes recommended
funding for both State and local entities. Table 1 provides the budget
relating to the storage of waste and used tires.
Table 1: Budget for Enforcement and Regulations Relating to the
Storage of Waste and Used Tires
| Program Area |
FY 01/02 |
FY 02/03 |
FY 03/04 |
FY 04/05 |
FY 05/06 |
| Enhanced Enforcement Staff |
$1,525,000 |
$1,525,000 |
$1,525,000 |
$1,525,000 |
$1,525,000 |
| CHP |
$0 |
$ 200,000 |
$0 |
$0 |
$0 |
| LEA Enforcement Jurisdiction Grants |
$6,000,000 |
$6,000,000 |
$6,000,000 |
$6,000,000 |
$6,000,000 |
| Totals |
$7,525,000 |
$7,725,000 |
$7,525,000 |
$7,525,000 |
$7,525,000 |
State Enforcement
State efforts currently include investigations and inspections of waste
tire facilities and waste tire haulers throughout the state to insure
compliance with legislation and regulations.
- Enhanced Enforcement: All participants in the AB 117 and SB
876 workshops agreed that enhanced enforcement is important to bring
all tire facility operators into compliance with legislative and
regulatory mandates. Enforcement programs are staff-intensive; thus,
hiring additional staff at the onset of the enhanced program is
critical to its success.
Currently, the CIWMB’s enforcement program
consists of the following 15 positions:
- 8½ staff.
- 1 manager.
- 2 supervisors.
- 2 legal staff.
- 1 legal assistant.
- 1 half-time office assistant.
Of these positions, 4 conduct inspections and enforcement
activities, 2 are involved in the issuance of facility permits, 1 is
involved in evaluating and issuing local enforcement grants, and 1½
manage information generated from enforcement program activities. The
4 enforcement inspectors conduct inspections and investigations of the
storage, transportation, and disposal of waste tires throughout the
state, and the 2 tire permit staff process applications for waste tire
facility permits and exclusions.
Proposed Funding
FYs 2003/04-2007/08....................$1,525,000
per fiscal year
-
California Highway Patrol: As
mentioned previously, CIWMB has taken advantage of the resources of
the CHP by conducting an aerial surveillance program to identify
possible illegal disposal of tires. The aerial photos provided by
CHP enabled staff to identify 319 sites suspected of storing waste
tires. Of these sites, CIWMB staff has investigated 161 sites,
resulting in various enforcement actions, including letters of
violation, cleanup and abatement orders, and administrative
complaints. Staff proposes continued funding of the Interagency
Agreement with the CHP by conducting further aerial surveillance to
identify new sites suspected of storing waste tires.
Proposed Funding
FY 2004/05....................$200,000
-
Waste Tire Bounty Program: SB 876
states that CIWMB may consider an incentive or "bounty" program for
the general public to report unregistered haulers and illegal waste
tire facilities. A reward could be provided to pay the reporting
party when there has been a successful criminal prosecution or
administrative complaint against the offender.
If resources allow, staff will research the
feasibility of a bounty program by contacting other agencies at State
and federal levels and others that have utilized bounty programs, such
as Department of Fish and Game (CalTIP program). The purpose of this
research would be to evaluate programs similar in nature, including
the appropriate payment (reward) and program administration (whether
to diversify it to the local enforcement jurisdiction or maintain it
at the State level). Staff will present the findings of its research
to the Board so that a determination can be made as to how to proceed.
Staff has updated the
complaint form,
which is available on the Board's Web site, in addition to being
available from any waste tire enforcement program staff. The form can
be used by the public and businesses to report illegal tire disposal
as well as any suspicious activities related to tire hauler
registration and manifesting.
Regulations/Legislation: As
previously indicated, CIWMB has an ongoing responsibility to enforce
legislation and to use regulations to implement, interpret, and make
specific legislation relating to the storage, disposal, and hauling of
waste tires. Although recommended by the AB 117 Report, specific
language for (1) tiered permitting and (2) the standardization of tire
storage measurement using passenger tire equivalents (PTE) was not
included in SB 876.
The AB 117 Report work group felt these two
issues were important additions to the California Tire Recycling Act
and should be reconsidered in cleanup legislation or during the
rulemaking process. As discussed during the public meeting for SB 876,
the use of PTEs as a measurement appears to be more workable than
using individual tire weights. The formula used to determine PTEs at a
storage site would be developed during the rulemaking process. The
following activities involve recommendations to amend legislation or
implement, interpret, and make specific legislation through the
rulemaking process:
- Tiered Permitting Problem: The AB 117 Report work group
recommended the development of a tiered permitting system for waste
tire facilities and operations that takes multiple factors into
consideration and issues different levels of permits. The AB 117
Report work group also felt that tiered permitting would be
advantageous, as CIWMB has already established tiered regulations in
place for transfer stations and compost facilities to account for
the variations in health and safety risks associated with facilities
and operations in different functional areas.
Current statute allows for facilities storing fewer than 500
tires to not be regulated by the State. Permitted solid waste
landfills and transfer stations that receive fewer than 150 tires
per day (averaged annually) are not required to obtain a separate
permit for tire storage, but are required to meet the storage
standards. Tire dealers and auto dismantlers with fewer than 1,500
waste tires and tire retreaders with fewer than 3,000 waste tires on
their property may be eligible for permit exclusions.
Cement manufacturers that burn waste tires for fuel can be
exempted from waste tire facility permit requirements and are
allowed to store up to a 30-day supply of fuel (tires) on their
property, provided they meet specific criteria set forth in PRC
42823.5(a). Minor waste tire facilities (storing fewer than 5,000
waste tires) and major waste tire facilities (storing 5,000 or more
waste tires) are required to obtain a waste tire facility permit
that is issued by CIWMB.
Staff believes that the current tiered structure as described in
this section is adequate for the regulated community and beneficial
to the permitting program.
- Passenger Tire Equivalents:
The accumulation and final disposition of waste tires has been
the subject of much discussion. One group of stakeholders has
advocated the counting of individual tires as a determining factor
for permitting. Another group advocated the use of PTEs, where every
20 to 25 pounds of tire rubber counts as one tire. The AB117 work
group recommended that PTEs be used to determine permitting
requirements for waste tire storage areas. Potential cleanup costs
and environmental hazards (such as fire and vector control) are
factors of the mass of tire rubber involved, not the number of
tires. For example, a fire at a site with 1,000 giant earthmover
tires poses a much greater risk than a fire at a site with 1,000
automobile tires.
The final regulations adopted by the Board on December 10,
2002, state that PTEs will be used to count only altered waste
tires. If PTEs were used to count whole tires, numerous facilities
storing a small number of large tires would be required to obtain
a waste tire facility permit. For this reason, the Board decided
not to apply PTEs to whole tires.
Local Enforcement
CIWMB currently has a grant program
for local government entities with specified enforcement authority
to assist in identifying illegal waste tire piles. These grants allow
the local enforcement jurisdiction to conduct inspections and issue
letters of violation, which inform the violator of the laws being
violated and what needs to be done to rectify the situation.
Participation in the program has been low, with approximately 18
different agencies funded since 1997. CIWMB staff believes
participation has been low for a variety of reasons: applicants felt
there was not enough money, the tire problem was not considered a high
priority, and local enforcement entities had a shortage of staff.
Prior to SB 876, the waste tire enforcement grants have had an upper
limit of $100,000 per jurisdiction with the fiscal year 1999/2000
program budget at $500,000. To foster better working relationships
with these local agencies and provide improved, statewide enforcement,
CIWMB is providing long-term funding, training, and legal support.
In the future, local agencies will have a vital and expanded role
in enforcement because CIWMB does not have sufficient personnel
resources (1) to conduct meaningful surveillance throughout California
and (2) to ensure compliance with the manifest and waste tire facility
requirements for inspections at points of waste tire generation. CIWMB
will develop grant agreements providing for the local agencies to
identify waste tire sites, conduct inspections, review waste tire
hauler documents, and issue letters of violation. Working together,
CIWMB and local agencies can oversee the flow of tires with greater
regulatory scrutiny and greatly reduce the illegal disposal of waste
tires.
In 2002, CIWMB changed the grant program, making it noncompetitive,
with a 12-month grant term. This change will provide funding stability
for grantees and eliminate the necessity for the annual grant
application process. During the first year of the original Five-Year
Plan, fiscal year 2001/02, $2 million was allocated, but only eight
jurisdictions applied, totaling less than $900,000. During the second
year of the plan, fiscal year 2002/03, with $4 million allocated and
changes approved by CIWMB, 24 jurisdictions applied, totaling over
$3,700,000. Beginning in fiscal year 2003/04 and each year thereafter,
$6 million is projected as funding to maintain existing local
jurisdictions and set up additional ones. At the SB 876 public
meeting, stakeholders identified a need for local jurisdictions to
enhance their inspections and surveillance abilities through the use
of high-tech surveillance equipment. Staff will consider allowing the
expenditure as part of the grant award.
Proposed Funding
FYs 03/04-07/08....................$6,000,000
per fiscal year
Other Enforcement Efforts
Enforcement penalty actions will be prosecuted by the CIWMB’s Legal
Office to ensure uniformity of enforcement and expeditious processing.
These actions are held before administrative tribunals at the State
Office of Administrative Hearings. The CIWMB is referring additional
criminal cases to local district attorneys through a two-year pilot
grant program initiated in fiscal year 2001/02 with the California
District Attorney’s Association (CDAA). CDAA is providing an
investigator and circuit prosecutor to pursue criminal and unlawful
business practice actions. This activity will be evaluated during
fiscal year 2003/04 for continued funding. Any future funding for CDAA
assistance could be included in the enforcement grant allocation or
through the annual reallocation item of the unexpended tire funds.
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Performance Measures
To evaluate the program’s success in achieving its objectives, the
following measures are proposed (baseline data were collected during
fiscal year 2001/02 for those performance measures that were in effect
in the original five-year plan):
- Increase the number of inspections conducted by program staff by
30 percent over the next three years.
- Increase the proportion of successful legal actions (those
resulting in fines or penalties awarded).
- Track the number of documented violations to determine whether
they are increasing or decreasing over time.
- Track the number of illegal sites that are closed or become
permitted.
- Track the number of newly discovered illegal sites
to determine if occurrence is decreasing (through CHP surveillance or local enforcement) on an annual basis.
- Increase the number of applications submitted in local
government enforcement grant program.
- Before the next biennial update of the Five-Year Plan, conduct a
performance review of enforcement efforts to determine whether
adjustments should be made to enhance project selection and
dissemination of results.
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