Hazardous substances: storage tanks.

(1) Existing law generally regulates the storage of hazardous substances in underground storage tanks, including imposing certain requirements on those underground storage tanks installed on or after July 1, 2003, and before July 1, 2004, or on or after July 1, 2004. Existing law exempts from the underground storage tank requirements an underground storage tank that meets all of the specified criteria, one of which is that the applicable local agency determines, without objection from the State Water Resources Control Board, that the underground storage tank meets or exceeds the requirements generally imposed on underground storage tanks under existing law. This bill, with respect to the criteria that an underground storage tank is required to meet for an exemption, would delete the requirement that the board not object to the local agency's determination. To qualify for the exemption, the bill also would provide that if the underground storage tank is installed on or after July 1, 2003, the local agency would be required to determine that the tank meets or exceeds the requirements for underground storage tanks installed after January 1, 1984, except for certain in lieu conditions for motor vehicle fuel tanks, and that any portion of a vent line, vapor recovery line, or fill pipe that is beneath the surface of the ground is subject to regulation as a pipe. This bill would additionally exempt a tank if it is located in a below-grade structure and connected to an emergency generator tank system and meets specified conditions, from the requirements imposed upon underground storage tanks. (2) The Aboveground Petroleum Storage Act defines terms for its purposes, including defining "tank facility" as one or more aboveground storage tanks, including any piping that is integral to the tanks, that contain petroleum and that are used by a single business entity at a single location or site. This bill, instead, would define "tank facility" for those purposes as one of those tanks that is used by an owner or operator, rather than a single business entity, at a single location or site. (3) The Aboveground Petroleum Storage Act authorizes the Unified Program Agency (UPA) to waive a specified fee, that pays the necessary and reasonable costs incurred by the UPA in administering the act, when a state or local government agency submits a tank facility statement, the submission of which triggers payment of the fee. This bill would delete the authorization for the UPA to waive that fee for a state or local government agency that submits the tank facility statement. (4) Since existing law requires local agencies to enforce the underground and aboveground storage tanks provisions, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program by imposing new duties upon local agencies. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.