57008
. (a) For purposes of this section, the following definitions
apply:
(1) "Agency" means the California Environmental Protection Agency.
(2) "Contaminant" means all of the following:
(A) A substance listed in Tables II and III of subparagraphs (A)
and (B) of paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) of Section 66261.24 of
Title 22 of the California Code of Regulations.
(B) The five halogenated hydrocarbon industrial solvents that, in
the experience of the State Water Resources Control Board and the
Department of Toxic Substances Control are most commonly found as
contaminants at sites subject to remediation under the
Carpenter-Presley-Tanner Hazardous Substances Account Act (Chapter
6.8 (commencing with Section 25300) of Division 20) and the
Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act (Division 7 (commencing with
Section 13000) of the Water Code).
(C) Ten hazardous substances not included under subparagraphs (A)
and (B) that, in the experience of the Department of Toxic Substances
Control and the State Water Resources Control Board, are most
commonly found as contaminants at sites subject to remediation under
the Carpenter-Presley-Tanner Hazardous Substances Account Act
(Chapter 6.8 (commencing with Section 25300) of Division 20) and the
Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act (Division 7 (commencing with
Section 13000) of the Water Code).
(3) "Screening number" means the concentration of a contaminant
published by the agency as an advisory number pursuant to the process
established in subdivisions (b) and (c). A screening number is
solely an advisory number, and has no regulatory effect, and is
published solely as a reference value that may be used by citizen
groups, community organizations, property owners, developers, and
local government officials to estimate the degree of effort that may
be necessary to remediate a contaminated property. A screening number
may not be construed as, and may not serve as, a level that can be
used to require an agency to determine that no further action is
required or a substitute for the cleanup level that is required to be
achieved for a contaminant on a contaminated property. The public
agency with jurisdiction over the remediation of a contaminated site
shall establish the cleanup level for a contaminant pursuant to the
requirements and the procedures of the applicable laws and
regulations that govern the remediation of that contaminated property
and the cleanup level may be higher or lower than a published
screening number.
(b) (1) During the same period when the agency is carrying out the
pilot study required by Section 57009 and preparing the
informational document required by Section 57010, the agency shall
initiate a scientific peer review of the screening levels published
in Appendix 1 of Volume 2 of the technical report published by the
San Francisco Regional Water Quality Control Board entitled
"Application of Risk-Based Screening Levels and Decision-Making to
Sites with Impacted Soil and Groundwater (Interim Final-August 2000)."
The agency shall conduct the scientific peer review process in
accordance with Section 57004, and shall limit the review to those
substances specified in paragraph (2) of subdivision (a). The agency
shall complete the peer review process on or before December 31,
2004.
(2) The agency, in cooperation with the Department of Toxic
Substances Control, the State Water Resources Control Board, and the
Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, shall publish a
list of screening numbers for contaminants listed in paragraph (2) of
subdivision (a) for the protection of human health and safety, and
shall report on the feasibility of establishing screening numbers to
protect water quality and ecological resources. The agency shall
determine the screening numbers using the evaluation set forth in
Section 25356.1.5 and the results of the peer review, and shall use
the most stringent hazard criterion established pursuant to Subpart E
of the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency
Plan (40 C.F.R. 300.400 et seq.), as amended. The agency shall set
forth separate screening levels for unrestricted land uses and a
restricted, nonresidential use of land. In determining each screening
number, the agency shall consider all of the following:
(A) The toxicology of the contaminant, its adverse effects on
human health and safety, biota, and its potential for causing
environmental damage to natural resources, including, but not limited
to, beneficial uses of the water of the state, including sources of
drinking water.
(B) Risk assessments that have been prepared for the contaminant
by federal or state agencies pursuant to environmental or public
health laws, evaluations of the contaminant that have been prepared
by epidemiological studies and occupational health programs, and risk
assessments or other evaluations of the contaminant that have been
prepared by governmental agencies or responsible parties as part of a
project to remediate a contaminated property.
(C) Cleanup levels that have been established for the contaminant
at sites that have been, or are being, investigated or remediated
under Chapter 6.8 (commencing with Section 25300) of Division 20, or
cleaned up or abated under Division 7 (commencing with Section 13000)
of the Water Code or under any other remediation program
administered by a federal or local agency.
(D) Screening numbers that have been published by other agencies
in the state, in other states, and by federal agencies.
(E) The results of external scientific peer review of the
screening numbers made pursuant to Section 57004.
(c) (1) Before publishing the screening numbers pursuant to
subdivision (b), the agency shall conduct two public workshops, one
in the northern part of the state and the other in the southern part
of the state, to brief interested parties on the scientific and
policy bases for the development of the proposed screening numbers
and to receive public comments.
(2) Following publication of the screening numbers pursuant to
subdivision (b), the agency shall conduct three public workshops in
various regions of the state to discuss the screening numbers and to
receive public comments. The agency shall select an agency
representative who shall serve as the chairperson for the workshops,
and the agency shall ensure that ample opportunity is available for
public involvement in the workshops. The deputy secretary for
external affairs shall actively seek out participation in the
workshops by citizen groups, environmental organizations,
community-based organizations that restore and redevelop contaminated
properties for park, school, residential, commercial, open-space or
other community purposes, property owners, developers, and local
government officials.
(d) Following the workshops required by subdivision (c), the
agency shall revise the screening numbers as appropriate. The agency
shall, from time to time, revise the screening numbers as necessary
as experience is gained with their use and shall add screening
numbers for contaminants to the list as information concerning
remediation problems becomes available.
(e) The agency shall publish a guidance document for distribution
to citizen groups, community-based organizations, property owners,
developers, and local government officials that explains how
screening numbers may be used to make judgments about the degree of
effort that may be necessary to remediate contaminated properties, to
facilitate the restoration and revitalization of contaminated
property, to protect the waters of the state, and to make more
efficient and effective decisions in local-level remediation
programs.
(f) Nothing in this section affects the authority of the
Department of Toxic Substances Control, the State Water Resources
Control Board, or a regional water quality control board to take
action under any applicable law or regulation regarding a release or
threatened release of hazardous materials.