25356
. (a) (1) The department shall adopt, by regulation, criteria
for the selection of hazardous substance release sites for a response
action under this chapter. The criteria shall take into account
pertinent factors relating to public health, safety and the
environment, which shall include, but are not necessarily limited to,
potential hazards to public health, safety or the environment, the
risk of fire or explosion, and toxic hazards, and shall also include
the criteria established pursuant to Section 105(8) of the federal
act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 9605(8)).
(2) The criteria adopted pursuant to paragraph (1) may include a
minimum hazard threshold, below which sites shall not be listed
pursuant to this section, if the sites are subject to the authority
of the department to order a response action, or similar action,
pursuant to Chapter 6.5 (commencing with Section 25100).
(b) (1) The department shall publish and revise, at least
annually, a listing of the hazardous substance release sites selected
for, and subject to, a response action under this chapter. The
department shall list the sites based upon the criteria adopted
pursuant to subdivision (a) and the extent to which deferral of a
response action at a site will result, or is likely to result, in a
rapid increase in response costs at the site or in a significant
increase in risk to human health or safety or the environment.
(2) The list of sites established pursuant to this subdivision
shall be published by the department and made available to the public
or any interested person upon request and without cost. The
department shall list sites alphabetically within each priority tier,
as specified in subdivision (c), and shall update the list of sites
at least annually to reflect new information regarding previously
listed sites or the addition of new sites requiring response actions.
(c) The department shall assign each site listed pursuant to
subdivision (b) to one of the following priority tiers for the
purpose of informing the public of the relative hazard of listed
sites:
(1) "Priority tier one" shall include any site that the department
determines, using the criteria described in subdivision (b), meets
any of the following conditions:
(A) The site may pose a known or probable threat to public health
or safety through direct human contact.
(B) The site may pose a substantial probability of explosion or a
fire or a significant risk due to hazardous air emissions.
(C) The site has a high potential to contaminate or to continue to
contaminate groundwater resources that are present or possible
future sources of drinking water.
(D) There is a risk that the costs of a response action will
increase rapidly or risks to human health or safety or the
environment will increase significantly if response action is
deferred.
(2) "Priority tier two" shall include any site that poses a
substantial but less immediate threat to public health or safety or
the environment and any site that will require a response action, but
presents only a limited and defined threat to human health or safety
or the environment. Priority tier two may contain sites previously
listed in priority tier one if the department determines that direct
threats to human health or safety have been removed and if physical
deterioration of the site has been stabilized so that threats to the
environment are not significantly increasing.
(d) Hazardous substance release sites listed by the department
pursuant to subdivision (b) are subject to this chapter and all
actions carried out in response to hazardous substance releases or
threatened releases at listed sites shall comply with the procedures,
standards, and other requirements set forth in this chapter or
established pursuant to the requirements of this chapter.
(e) (1) The adoption of the minimum hazard threshold pursuant to
paragraph (2) of subdivision (a), the department's development and
publication of the list of sites pursuant to subdivision (b), and the
assignment of sites to a tier pursuant to subdivision (c), including
the classification of a site as within a minimum threshold pursuant
to subdivision (c), are not subject to Chapter 3.5 (commencing with
Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government
Code.
(2) The adoption of the criteria used by the department pursuant
to subdivision (b) to determine the extent to which deferral of a
response action at a site will result, or is likely to result, in a
rapid increase in response costs at a site or in a significant
increase in risk to human health or safety or the environment is
subject to Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of
Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code.
(f) (1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), the department shall
expend all funds appropriated to the department for any response
action pursuant to this chapter, and shall take all response action
pursuant to this chapter, in conformance with the assignment of sites
to priority tiers pursuant to subdivision (c).
(2) The department may expend funds appropriated for a response
action and take a response action, without conforming to the listing
of sites by tier pursuant to subdivision (c), or at a site that has
not been listed pursuant to subdivision (b), if any of the following
apply:
(A) The department is monitoring a response action conducted by a
responsible party at a site listed pursuant to subdivision (b) or at
a site that is not listed but is being voluntarily remediated by a
responsible party or another person.
(B) The expenditure of funds is necessary to pay for the state
share of a response action pursuant to Section 104(c)(3) of the
federal act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 9604(c)(3)).
(C) The department is assessing, evaluating, and characterizing
the nature and extent of a hazardous substance release at a site for
which the department has not been able to identify a responsible
party, the responsible party is defunct or insolvent, or the
responsible party is not in compliance with an order issued, or an
enforceable agreement entered into, pursuant to subdivision (a) of
Section 25355.5.
(D) The department is carrying out activities pursuant to
paragraph (2) or (3) of subdivision (b) of, or subdivision (c) or (d)
of, Section 25355.5.
(3) The department may, at any one time, expend funds and take a
response action at more than one site on the list established
pursuant to subdivision (b). In addition, the department may, at any
one time, oversee the performance of any activities conducted by a
responsible party on more than one site on the list established
pursuant to subdivision (b).
(g) This section does not require the department to characterize
every site listed pursuant to subdivision (b) before the department
begins response actions at those sites.
(h) The department, or, if appropriate, the California regional
water quality board, is the state agency with sole responsibility for
ensuring that required action in response to a hazardous substance
release or threatened release at a listed site is carried out in
compliance with the procedures, standards, and other requirements set
forth in this chapter, and shall, as appropriate, coordinate the
involvement of interested or affected agencies in the response
action.