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HomeMy WebLinkAbout05/06/1988 Patricia Smith, Chair Pat DeMond Donald K. Ratty Staff: Mary L. Strenn AGENDA INTERGOVERNMENTAL RELATIONS COMMITTEE May 6, 1988, Friday. 12:00 Noon City Manager's Conference Room ITEM #1 MEASURE B - KERN COUNTY TOXICS INITIATIVE Kern County Toxics Coalition CITY CL2.~ ..... April 18, 1988 Carol Williams, City Clerk City of Bakersfield 1501 Truxtun Avenue Bakersfield, CA 93301 Dear Carol, Enclosed is the information that I indicated I would send to you in regard to the Kern County Toxics Coalition,s appearance before your City Council on April 27, at 8:00 p.m. If there'are any problems or changes in the schedule, please call me at (805) 328-9091. Thank you for your cooperation and assistance. Sincerely, /~ Juanita Webb Executive Assistant Enclosure 5401 Business Park South, Suite 114 Bakersfield, CA 93309 I.D. # 880057 Kern County Toxics Coalition YES ON "B" Dear Citizen, Thank you for your interest in Measure B, the Kern County Toxics Initiative. Enclosed is a copy of the initiative and a copy of the Argument in Favor of Measure B (there was no argument against!). Also enclosed is some information taken directly from the Kaman sciences Corporation, Tempo Division, Preliminary Review Draft for the Kern County Hazardous Waste Management Plan. If you have any questions or need any additional information, please be sure to contact us. Sincerely, KERN COUNTY TOXICS COALITION Tom Fallgatter TCF:jiw Enclosures 5401 Business Park South, Suite 114 Bakersfield, CA 93309 I.D. # 88005.7 ARGUMENT IN FAVOR OF MEASURE B Kern County is becoming the dumping ground for California's hazardous waste. In 1986, Kern industries generated 30,500 tons of hazardous waste, but 147,000 tons (five times as much) was dumped here. Unless the people of Kern County act n.~x~, these imported volumes and this disparity will increase in years to come. This initiative will do two things: First, it w~ll place a moratorium on the processing or approval of any new hazardous waste facilities of any kind in Kern County until final approval of Kern County's Hazardous Waste Management Plan, which is required by state law. Final approval of Kern's Plan is expected by June 1989, and the moratorium would end then. We bel. ieve that it makes no sense to continue processing, reviewing and approving new hazardous waste dumps in Kern County until the plan is finished, and provides us the guide lines we need to intelligently plan for and site hazardous waste facilities. Second, it will prohibit any new hazardous waste deep well injection facilities. Kern County is being asked to approve a massive new hazardous waste deep .well injection facility. The proposed~ TSD facility would be capable of bringing an additional three million tons (730 million gallons) of hazardous waste a year to Kern County, 100 times what we produced in 1986. There would be 400 trucks making 800 trips per day. Further, deep well injection is a failed technology, and may soon be prohibited. The hazardous waste being brought to Kern County from Los Angeles, the rest of California, Colorado and other states already threatens our quality of life. Hazardous waste doesn't just go away. It will plague us forever. We are at a crossroads, and your vote will affect the way people live in Kern County for years to come. Please vote 'yes" on Measure B. KERN COUNTY I-IAZARDOUS WASTE GENERATION ~ vs DISPOSAL I!)f16 DIIS Shipl~in~ Mi.~ilesl 'l)ala- GENEliALIZE() WASI[ IYP£S Breakdown of 19116 Kern County generation and disposal of hazardous wasl.e in seventeen.. c. aLegories which have similar treal, ment arid waste reduction categm'ies. In 191~6. disposal exceeded proaucLion for all but three categories;' Kaman Science Corporation - Tempo Division Kern County Hazardous Waste Management Plan Preliminary Review Draft Deep w~!! Injection of Hazardous Waste. Present federal law which regulates the discharge of hazardous waste to land in injection wells in INADEQUATE to fully protect California's water supplies from contamination. Underground injection of hazardous waste presents a serious short-term and long-term THREAT to the quality of waters in the State .... injection wells cannot guarantee that the migration of hazardous wastes into underground sources of drinking water will not occur. NOTICE OF I_NTE/',q' TO CIRCULATE INITIATIVE PETITION Notice i.,, ben, by given of ti'.- imcnm-,n of thc per~on~ who~. names appear hereon of their inkmti~m ~o circulat~ the peti6on within tN. C'ounl', of Kern. State of C"lth,rnla. for the purp~, of ad(,p~irig an interim moratorium on d~. permitting of any r~.-w ha~.a~dous wa.ste faci!itms ill Kern Count~. and banning under~',mnd injectior, of hazardous wa*tes. A xtaten)ent of IJ~' fea.',[)rtR of IJle ~t~o~c~d actiofl IL'~ co.U:mplated in the p~:tillon i~ ,e~t i*orth in Part I ~low. The text of the initiative is set forth in Part Il heh~w. Date of Ftr~t Publication: December 14. 1987. Dennis A. Pa~la Otis T. Page Lamont Skibbey PARTI: STATEMENT OF I'URI'OSE Our Kern County Board of Supervin~vt* is currenlly eon,,idering v..bether tt~ allow a Cia.tn I Ilaza/dous Wa..~te Dump to he located in ~mr cmnmunity. '/he project is caUed the TSD Lqn~p Well Injection Facilit.v and would bc located in Norlhwest Kern Cuunl]". TSD Systems Corporation is a c.mpany for,~d solely for the purpose o! u,ealing, ntoring and d~srnming of Clans I I{a. za~doun Waste by deep well injection. If built, the TSD Dump will bare the potential capacity to dispose of up tn TWO MILLION GALI.ONS of Clans I Ilazardous Waste per da],' from an]"~bere in IN. We.stern United Stales. Cia,tn I Ilazardous Waste is tl~e mu~t tosic and dangerous of ull hazardous ~1 the sarne lime, out Kern C~,unLv Board of Supervisors is in tN' process of adop6ng a countywkle hazardous wa.nrc management plan. The ndopfion pi this haz. a/dous wa.nrc plan is required by state lag'. The puqm.~ of the Plan is to give Kern Coumy thc fourdation 1*om which it can pro'.'ide for the safe and . We believe it is the height of folly to continue to attempt tn evaluate the TSD Facility ne any otN., ne'.,,' hazardnus waste facility prior to the time the Cornty has finished and the state has approved ou~ hazardous wa. nm manal~ement plash 'It} do so del'eat~ the purIn~se of the Plan. There i~ no rea.non for thc haste. Kern Count>' do~, sol ne~d a new hazardous wa-nrc facility for our induauies. We already are California's toxic ,n,&,~te dumping ground, disposing of many times au,~ much poisonous waste as we genera,'. If we, as a community see r. erious about our cornmimrent to adopting a well Ih~mghl-out and carefully c~nsidered county-wide hazard~ms wa.sm managenrem plan. th~n we should put a moratorium on the processing of any new hazardous waste facilities until the Plan has born completed by the County. There have been numerous government indusu'3, and environmental studies conducted that conclude that the deep well injection of hazardous waste is sol a preferred raetho<l of technology for dealing with hazardous and toxic comp, rands. We in Kern County am nog' b~ing asked to permit such a facilily to be built hem. Deep well injection is not an acceptable method for disposing of bazm'dous wa.,~te and no new tacilities should be allowed to be built in Kern County. PART Ii: TEXT ()F INITIATIVE SECTION l; Adopllon of Moralorium. ]'he citizen.,~ of Kern Count,,. in order to eremre the orderly development of hazardous waste facilities in Kern Count)., consist~n! v..ith the health, safety and general welfas'~ of the publlc.'do hereby adopl a moramriu~ on and do hereby prohibit the processing, permlning. evalumlng, n:viewlng or approving in any ma. nner whae,~oever, of any ~.' Hazardr~us W*.,~te Facility Pn~jectq in Kern Count]" during the' period of ttme p,prided herein. As to an.v }laT. atdous Wa.,~te Facility Project's. from and after the enactmenl of this Measure and during the time il shall remain in effect a_s provided herein, no department, division, agency, officer or employee of Kern C~,unty shall allow the filing of. processing of. review of. evaluation of. response to comment on. permitting of or approval of any filing, document, report, applicalion or penlnit for such facility required to he filed, approved, n:viewecL obuained or otherwi~ acu:d upon by the Count]'. of Kern by the laws. ordinances, rules or regulations of the State of California or Kern Count)'. SECTION 2: Definilionn. A'~ u~:l herein, fl~ tern~ HAZARDOUS WASTE FActo. prY PROJEC~ shall have the same meaning a.,. pmvidod in California ltealth and Safely Code Section ~,199..I (b}. SECTION 3: Antendmen~ to General Plan. The f~,llowing provisions shall be added to Appendix "H" (l'lazardous Wa,re Facilities, Guidelines and Location} of the Land Use, Open Space and Conservation Element of Ibc Kern County General Plan: There is hereby imposed a rnoratoriurn on and no department, agency or employee of Kern County shall hereafter allow the filing of. processing of, or continued proce, n'~ing of. review of, evaluation of. response to. pertaining of, or upproval of. an]" application for a general plan amendmenl to change any existing map code designation to a map code de.'~ignation of 3.5 or 3.6. As used herein, the lerm "uppliea0on for general plan amendmenl" includes all ~upponing documents. reports, studies, cone.spondenc¢ and filings, including, but no,, limited Io. Environmental Impact Rcp0n.,~ and Deaf! En','i~'onmcnta} hnpacl Reports. SECTION 4: ,~.,,,am,,, ,,, Zoning Ovdlnance. 'D,e applicable provlsiom; of the Zoning O~din.,r,ces of tbe County of Kern ~,~ amended a'~ follows: There is hereby imposed a moratorium on and no depannrenk agency or employee of Kern Count)' shall hereafter allow the filing of. lwoce~ning of. or continued processing of. review of, evalua6on of. reSlrmn~ to, Permiuing of, or ap~oval of: a) an.,,' aFplication for any zone cha. r/ges thai would change an existing zone that do~s not Allow by [*ermined use or conditional u.~ Perntit if such zone change is for the purpo'~ of allowing the development of a Ha.zardous Waste FaciliD, Project: b} an],' conditional use Permit for a Hazardous Waste Facility Project SECTION 5: Inconslntencle.s in Olher Ordinaries. To the extent nece,~.;.arx, to 'adopt. implement and enforce the provlsinn,, of this ordinance and tN. inu:mion of the citizens ~et h~rth in Section I hereof, all ordinances, rules and ~egi~lations of fl~e County of Kern ineonsistem with the provisions of Secliottq .I and 3 hereof ate, tn the e:~mnl of rile inconsistency, hereby amet,ded or superseded by tl~: provisions ul' .~.ctions I. 2 and 3 hereof. SECTION 6: Duration pi Mnra~oriurn. Tbe nmratoriun,provided for in Secti~,n I shall remain in effect un61 such ,ime a~ 90 da,.,r~ sball ha'.'e ex0ired loUt, win[, the adoption b',' Kern Counl', ~,f a County ltazaed,ms 9,'a~u: Managcmem Plan and final appro'..zl thereof b~. the Slate of C2alil'ornia ts p~ovid~-d in Sectiortx 25135 through ~'il35.7 of the blealth attd Safety Code of tim State of California. SECT]ON 7; Amendment In C,t:neral Plan. Appendix "H" (Ha:t.a~d~,us Wasue Facilities, Guidelines and Location of the Land Use. Ol~:n Spac~ and Con~rvafion Element of the Kern County General Plan} is hereby amended as follows: (a) Tbe following Policy statemem shall he added to Appendix "H." "It is the Policy of Kern County. to not allow the siting of an]" neg. ha2ardous wa.,~te facility in Kern County that exclusively or particularly relies on any underground injection of hazardous waste whether treamd or unln:ated, and no such new facility v. ill be permitted." {b) Section 3.6 is deleted in it,~ entirety. lc} An]'. reference in Appendix "Il" to m,dcrground injection aher the deletion of Section 3.6 in hereby deteted with the exception of the policy statement provided for in ia) above, which policy stalemenl shall remain a parl of Appendix SECTION 8 .~ .... ~,., fanyprovi .... fthi,~M ........ theapplieatlo, lheee, ftoanvr~e ....... i ......la,~eslsbeldim'alld the ...... Mca. un:. to the extent ti can he g~'en ellen':t, or Ibc apphcatmn of th.~t, pr~*vlstoP,$ to p¢:rsonn or c,curnslance.q other than tbo~ a.q to which tt wax held mvahd, shall not he affeeu~i tbereb],., and to this end. the provisions of this Mea-'~ure are severable. SECTION 9.' Construe,in,. ~i ........ ban be ~ihe~ully .... t.,¢d t ....... pUsh it, SECTION 10: Effec,i*e/)ate. Th, pro¥isions of this Mea.,;ure shall go into effect immediately upon adoption b.v the electorate. INI'FIATIVE MEASURE 1'O BE SL!BMII'I'EI) I)IRE£~[LY TO TIlE This initiative, ff passed by the voters of Kem County, would do two things. First, it would ban any new hazardous waste facilities in Kern County dml use deep well injechon Io dispose of the hazardous waste. Second. it would put a moralorium on any new hazardous waste facihties in Kern County (olher than deep well injection which would be banned) until 90 days after Kem County adopts a county wide hazardous waste mana[2ement plan. The county wide hazardous wasle management plan is required by state law and is intended to give the county information and guidelines for handling hazardous waste. That plan is expected to be adopted after October 1988. BAN (IN NI:~YF IIAZARI}t}[!S WA.'q'I'I.~ I)1.:1.:1' V~'EI,I, IN'.IE(71'It~N I:'A(~Ii,ITII,~S AND Mf)RAT()I,llLIM (IN NI';Y~ IIAZAI,HHIt)S W,\S'I'I:, I"AUII,I'I'II':S TO THE HONORABLE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS OF THE COUNTY OF KERN: We, the undersigned, re?is~e~ed, qualified volers of California, residents ct Kern County, hereby piopose amendments to the ordinances of Kern County relating to the development of hazardous waste lacilities and we petition the Kern County Board of Supervisors to submit the same to the voters of Kern County for their adoption ct re~..-'tion at a regular elec~idn as provided by law. The proposed amendments (lull title and text) can be read on the reverse side. Ail signers of this petition must be regislered in Kern County. SIGN AS RESIDENCE REGISTERED ADDRESS PRINT NAME CITY ZIP SIGN AS RESIDENCE REGISTERED ADDRESS 2 PRINT NAME CITY ZIP f SIGN AS RESIDENCE REGISTERED ADDRESS 3 PRINT NAME CITY ZIP SIGN AS RESIDENCE REGISTERED ADDRESS 4 PRINT NAME CITY ZIP SIGN AS RESIDENCE REGISTERED ADDRESS 5 PRINT NAME CITY ZIP SIGN AS , RESIDENCE REGISTERED , ADDRESS 6 PRINT NAME CITY ZIP SIGN AS RESIDENCE REGISTERED ADDRESS 7 PRINT NAME CITY ZIP SIGN AS RESIDENCE REGISTERED ADDRESS 8 PRINT NAME CrTY ZIP SIGN AS RESIDENCE REGISTERED ADDRESS 9 PRINT NAME CITY ZIP SIGN AS RESIDENCE REGISTERED ADDRESS 0 PRINT NAME crrY ,ZIP Declaration of Circulator (to be completed after above signatures have been obtained) I am registered to vote in the County of Kern. I circulated this petition section and saw the appended signatures being written. Each signature was made in my presence. Each signature ct this petition is to the best of my knowledge and beiiel, the genuine signature of the person whose name it purports to be. All signatures to this document were obtained between and . I declare under penalty ct perjury that the foregoing is true and correct, monih. ~ay, ),eat month, ~ay. year E~ecuted at Cslflomia on $~nature of petition circulater County of signing Dale of sigmng Pnnt Name Residence AOdres.~ Cffy Zip Rush petition to Kern County Toxics Coalition, 2211 o 17th Street, Bakersfield, CA 93301, (805) 324-4670 THIS PETITION IS INVALID UNLESS DECLARATION OF CIRCULATOR IS COMPLETED. GREATER BAKERSFIELD CHAMBER OF COMMERCE APRIL 8,1988 CHAMBER OF COMMERCE 'POSITION PAPER ISSUE INITIATIVE : MEASURE B County-wide elections - 6-7-88 INTRODUCTION : While the proponents of Measure B sug- gest that it will only impose a one year moratorium on permitting new haz- ardous facilities and prohibit deep well injection methods, the actual impacts will significantly differ and could have a devastating effect on both existing and future businesses in Kern County? It will not permit the County to develop rational plans for businesses to deal with locally generated hazardous waste. THE ISSUES AS PRESENTED BY INITIATIVE PROPONENTS : This initiative calls for a county-wide election for the purpose of submitting to the voters the issue of imposing a moratorium on the siting of any hazard- ous waste facility and banning the siting of deep well injection facilities in Kern County. The election is set for June 7, 1988. Specifically, it will place a mor- atorium on the processing of approval of Kern County's Hazardous Waste Management Plan, which is required by state law and, if passed, this measure will prohibit any new hazardous waste deep well injection facilities. This measure is a direct result of an application by TSD to develop a Class I Hazardous Waste Dump through a deep-well injection facility in the County's north- west. The application caused the group known as Kern Toxic Coalition to circu- late a petition in order to develop the necessary signatures to qualify the ini- tiative for the June ballot. Some of the key arguments presented by proponents are as follows: 1) It makes no sense to continue process- ing, reviewing, and approving new haz- ardous waste dumps in Kern County until the plan is finished (by 6/89) and provides guidelines needed to in- telligently plan for and site hazar- dous waste facilities. page 2 2) The proposed TSD facility would be capable of bringing 3 million tons (730 million gallons) of hazardous waste a year to Kern County, 100 times more than that produced in 1986. 3) There woul'd be 400 trucks making 800 trips a day. 4) Deep well injection is a failed tech- nology and may soon be prohibited. 5) Hazardous waste being brought to Kern County from L.A., the rest of Calif- ornia, and other states already threa- tens our quality of life. ARGUMENTS OPPOSING THE INITIATIVE : 1) The initiative documentation; the' Board of Supervisors Resolution; the ballot language and stated public intent are~'all in conflict and raise serious legal questions regarding the initiative's intent, scope and appli- cation if passed. This will result in costly litigation to the citizens of Kern County to resolve through the courts the actual application of the initiative. 2) The uncertainty of the effect of the deep well injection prohibition in the use of water, injection wells for disposing of oil field produced water could prevent disposal of such water. If this were to happen , the Kern Co- unty oil industry would be shut down. 3) While reference to the June 1989 date is made, actual completion and appro- val of the Kern County Hazardous Waste Management Plan may take much longer to be completed.. This will cause the moratOrium to extend well past the one year period referenced in the initiative. Again, this will paralyze Kern County business and in- dustry with their efforts to implement technologically sound plans and facil- ities to deal with hazardous waste. 4) Since the moratorium will extend past 1989, inadequate local facilities to deal with locally generated hazardous page 3 waste will greatly increase the costs to small generators and local citizens for disposal. The legal requirements of the small generator and citizens for appropriate disposal are rapidly expanding' and are only now beginning to be understood. The financial impact of this broad group of small businesses, if passed, will increase significantly'. 5) The confusion in Measure B will also ironically remove the ability of Kern County citizens to have local control, with or without an adequate management plan, over the issue of hazardous waste treatment. If passed, the State will make the final decision on deep well injection. SUPPORTING GROUP : Kern Toxic Coalition OPPOSING GROUPS : Greater Bakersfield Chamber of Commerce COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATIONS : The Governmental Review Committee recommends that the Board of Directors go on record as opposing Measure B on the June(1988) ballot. The GRC also recommends that the Chamber lead the effort to present information to the public as to why it should vote against Measure B (for example, through an ad cam- paign and a May Waste Management Initiative Forum). COMMITTEE VOTE : 14-0 For recommendation. COUNTY COUNSEL'S IMPARTIAL ANALYSIS MEASURE B' A "Yes" vote by a majority of the voters voting on this measure will impose a moratorium freezing all activity on applications to site new hazardous waste facility projects in Kern County untt! Kern County's Hazardous Waste Management Plan is accepted by the State. Additionally, adoption of this measure will ban the siting of any new hazardous waste facility project in Kern County which relies on deep-well injection of hazardous wastes. The measure uses the State /aw definition of "hazardous waste facility project," which is any project requiring a permit from the State Department of Health Services. The term "hazardous waste" is not specifically defined in the measure. That phrase will be defined according to State and Federal /aw. State law authorizes Kern County to develop a Hazardous Waste Management Plan for the management of hazardous wastes produced in the County. This plan will also govern land use decisions relative to the siting of hazardous waste facilities in the County. The Kern County Board of Supervisors is in the process of preparing such a plan. If this measure ts approved, the moratorium imposed will prohibit any County agency (Including the Board of Supervisors} from processing or acting on any pending application and from accepting any new application to site a hazardous waste facility project in Kern County, until 90 days after the State approves Kern County's Hazardous Waste Management Plan. 'Existing State law requires that a local Jurisdiction take final action (approval or disapproval) on any application within one year of its filing. In the event that the one-year period ends on a pending application while the moratorium is in effect, it is unclear whether the moratorium imposed by adoption of this measure will prevent final action within the one year prescribed by State law. If adopted, this measure would a/so amend the Kern County Genera/ Plan by deleting the map code designation (3.6) which permits the siting of deep-we// hazardous waste facility projects on property designated for that use. By deletion of map code designation 3.6 from the General Plan, adoption of this measure will ban .the siting of any new hazardous waste disposal facility projects in Kern County which rely on deep-well injection of hazardous wastes. Existing State /aw provides that the criteria of a County's General Plan in place at the time an application to site a hazardous waste facility project is accepted govern whether the project is consistent with the General Plan. It is unclear whether the ban proposed by this measure Will apply to applications to site a deep well injection hazardous waste facility project accepted prior to the General Plan amendment enacted by adoption of this measure.