On December 16, the Department of Toxic Substance Control (DTSC) issued a response to two massive coalition letters sent by RCRC (along with over 60 other local government and solid waste partners) regarding the management and disposal of treated wood waste (TWW).
The existing standards for managing TWW, including authorizing landfill disposal, have been in place since 2004, but will expire on December 31, 2020 as a result of Governor Newsom’s recent veto of Senate Bill 68 (Galgiani). This means that all TWW, including fence posts, sill plates, landscape timbers, pilings, guardrails, and decking, will have to be managed as hazardous waste, hauled by a registered hazardous waste transporter, and disposed in hazardous waste landfills beginning January 1, 2021. These changes will exponentially increase management and disposal costs and lead to a significant increase in illegal dumping and burning of TWW.
RCRC and other stakeholders are working on a long-term solution through legislation; however, that will not provide any relief until mid- to late-2021. In the interim, RCRC and others have petitioned DTSC to act quickly to develop a short-term solution.
DTSC’s letter indicates that they will be issuing variances to generators, transporters, and facilities for management and disposal of TWW; however, they are not expected to make variance applications available until February 2021. Furthermore, each variance application is subject to CEQA and notice requirements and reviews are expected to take at least two weeks from the date of receipt. This means that there will likely be no practical solutions for managing TWW (except for temporary on-site storage) until March of 2021. RCRC and others are working to get DTSC to expedite its timeframe to minimize the possibility for illegal dumping and burning.
On December 22, RCRC provided DTSC with additional comments and feedback based upon the December 16 letter and subsequent conversations with DTSC staff. In the letter, RCRC urged DTSC to roll out its solution as soon as possible and to take steps to minimize DTSC’s administrative burden associated with reviewing and issuing hundreds or thousands of variances (and thereby minimize the complexity and burden of the application process for applicants).
It is unknown how much the variance application fee will be, but variances are expected to be valid for six months with an optional six-month extension. It is similarly unclear how this variance process will impact the export of TWW to Oregon, although DTSC has indicated an interest in working with impacted stakeholders on this issue.
In the interim, DTSC has issued a Fact Sheet on TWW, which can be accessed here.
For more information, please contact John Kennedy, RCRC Legislative Advocate at (916) 447-4806 or jkennedy@rcrcnet.org.