BILL REQ. #:  H-3984.2 

Read first time 01/28/2004.   Referred to Committee on Fisheries, Ecology & Parks.

     AN ACT Relating to implementing an area-wide soil contamination initiative; amending RCW 70.105.010; adding new sections to chapter 70.105 RCW; creating a new section; and making an appropriation.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   The legislature finds that emissions from metal smelters, the use of lead arsenate pesticides, the combustion of leaded gasoline, and other sources have contributed to arsenic and lead soil contamination covering dispersed areas in the state. The legislature further finds area-wide soil contamination presents special challenges with respect to human health protection, land use, financial impacts, and public awareness. The legislature further finds that existing clean-up rules may place a significant burden on individual homeowners, discouraging efforts to address potential public health risks. The legislature further finds that the area-wide soil contamination task force report provides recommendations for a statewide strategy for addressing area-wide soil contamination. The legislature therefore finds it in the public interest to implement an area-wide soil contamination initiative that contains a broad-based approach to education and awareness, identifies areas where area-wide soil contamination is located, provides guidance on assessing properties, removes barriers to testing private property, and provides for the implementation of steps to protect public health, especially children.

Sec. 2   RCW 70.105.010 and 1989 c 376 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
     The words and phrases defined in this section shall have the meanings indicated when used in this chapter unless the context clearly requires otherwise.
     (1) "Area-wide soil contamination" means low to moderate level soil contamination that is dispersed over a large geographic area ranging from several hundred acres to many square miles.
     (2) "Area-wide soil contamination zone" means an area where the department has determined a probability exists for area-wide soil contamination.
     (3) "Child-use area" means public schools, public parks, and public and private child care facilities.
     (4) "Department" means the department of ecology.
     (((2))) (5) "Director" means the director of the department of ecology or the director's designee.
     (((3))) (6) "Disposal site" means a geographical site in or upon which hazardous wastes are disposed of in accordance with the provisions of this chapter.
     (((4))) (7) "Dispose or disposal" means the discarding or abandoning of hazardous wastes or the treatment, decontamination, or recycling of such wastes once they have been discarded or abandoned.
     (((5))) (8) "Dangerous wastes" means any discarded, useless, unwanted, or abandoned substances, including but not limited to certain pesticides, or any residues or containers of such substances which are disposed of in such quantity or concentration as to pose a substantial present or potential hazard to human health, wildlife, or the environment because such wastes or constituents or combinations of such wastes:
     (a) Have short-lived, toxic properties that may cause death, injury, or illness or have mutagenic, teratogenic, or carcinogenic properties; or
     (b) Are corrosive, explosive, flammable, or may generate pressure through decomposition or other means.
     (((6))) (9) "Eligible property" means child-use areas and private residences within area-wide soil contamination zones.
     (10) "Extremely hazardous waste" means any dangerous waste which
     (a) will persist in a hazardous form for several years or more at a disposal site and which in its persistent form
     (i) presents a significant environmental hazard and may be concentrated by living organisms through a food chain or may affect the genetic make-up of man or wildlife, and
     (ii) is highly toxic to man or wildlife
     (b) if disposed of at a disposal site in such quantities as would present an extreme hazard to man or the environment.
     (((7))) (11) "Initiative" means the area-wide soil contamination initiative in section 4 of this act.
     (12) "Low to moderate soil contamination" means arsenic concentrations of up to one hundred milligrams per kilogram and lead concentrations ranging from five hundred to seven hundred milligrams per kilogram.
     (13) "Person" means any person, firm, association, county, public or municipal or private corporation, agency, or other entity whatsoever.
     (((8))) (14) "Pesticide" shall have the meaning of the term as defined in RCW 15.58.030 as now or hereafter amended.
     (((9))) (15) "Solid waste advisory committee" means the same advisory committee as per RCW 70.95.040 through 70.95.070.
     (((10))) (16) "Designated zone facility" means any facility that requires an interim or final status permit under rules adopted under this chapter and that is not a preempted facility as defined in this section.
     (((11))) (17) "Facility" means all contiguous land and structures, other appurtenances, and improvements on the land used for recycling, storing, treating, incinerating, or disposing of hazardous waste.
     (((12))) (18) "Preempted facility" means any facility that includes as a significant part of its activities any of the following operations: (a) Landfill, (b) incineration, (c) land treatment, (d) surface impoundment to be closed as a landfill, or (e) waste pile to be closed as a landfill.
     (((13))) (19) "Hazardous household substances" means those substances identified by the department as hazardous household substances in the guidelines developed under RCW 70.105.220.
     (((14))) (20) "Hazardous substances" means any liquid, solid, gas, or sludge, including any material, substance, product, commodity, or waste, regardless of quantity, that exhibits any of the characteristics or criteria of hazardous waste as described in rules adopted under this chapter.
     (((15))) (21) "Hazardous waste" means and includes all dangerous and extremely hazardous waste, including substances composed of both radioactive and hazardous components.
     (((16))) (22) "Local government" means a city, town, or county.
     (((17))) (23) "Moderate-risk waste" means (a) any waste that exhibits any of the properties of hazardous waste but is exempt from regulation under this chapter solely because the waste is generated in quantities below the threshold for regulation, and (b) any household wastes which are generated from the disposal of substances identified by the department as hazardous household substances.
     (((18))) (24) "Service charge" means an assessment imposed under RCW 70.105.280 against those facilities that store, treat, incinerate, or dispose of dangerous or extremely hazardous waste that contains both a nonradioactive hazardous component and a radioactive component. Service charges shall also apply to facilities undergoing closure under this chapter in those instances where closure entails the physical characterization of remaining wastes which contain both a nonradioactive hazardous component and a radioactive component or the management of such wastes through treatment or removal, except any commercial low-level radioactive waste facility.
     (25) "Site-specific public health plan" means measures developed for an eligible property containing individual protective measures, site-specific mitigation, and other remedial actions to protect public health on sites containing area-wide soil contamination.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 3   A new section is added to chapter 70.105 RCW to read as follows:
     The department shall work with the department of health, the department of agriculture, the department of community, trade, and economic development, and local governments to increase knowledge of area-wide soil contamination through a broad-based education and awareness campaign. The education campaign shall focus on persons and organizations that care for children including parents, educators, health care providers, and child care providers. The elements of the education campaign shall include but are not limited to providing:
     (1) Information on where area-wide soil contamination is most likely to occur;
     (2) Information on the health risks associated with exposure to area-wide soil contamination;
     (3) Information on options for conducting voluntary individual property evaluations;
     (4) Guidance on how to collect and analyze soil samples;
     (5) Measures a person can take to reduce the likelihood of exposure to arsenic and lead in soil; and
     (6) Educational materials for local permitting and land-use planning departments to educate developers and others regarding area-wide soil contamination.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 4   A new section is added to chapter 70.105 RCW to read as follows:
     (1) The department shall implement an area-wide soil contamination initiative to minimize the potential for exposure to area-wide soil contamination, focusing efforts on the protection of children. The initiative shall include additional testing of sites in counties west of the crest of the Cascade mountains to determine the extent of contamination and improve existing data and maps. The initiative shall provide education, outreach, and financial incentives to seek voluntary participation by eligible persons within area-wide soil contamination zones.
     (2) The department shall develop area-wide soil contamination zones within the state. The department shall assist local governments requesting assistance to identify area-wide soil contamination zones.
     (3) Subject to available funds, the department shall:
     (a) Conduct qualitative evaluations at all child-use areas within an area-wide soil contamination zone; and
     (b) Conduct soil samples for individual properties and child-use areas warranting additional analysis.
     (4) Within area-wide soil contamination zones, persons owning eligible properties may volunteer to participate in the area-wide soil contamination initiative.
     (5) The department shall assist owners of eligible properties that volunteer to participate in the initiative by providing the following assistance including, but not limited to:
     (a) Conducting qualitative evaluations to determine where area-wide soil contamination exposures could occur;
     (b) Testing soils where evaluations indicate potential for contamination; and
     (c) Providing technical and financial assistance to implement site-specific public health plans including, but not limited to, identifying appropriate individual protective measures, installing protective barriers, removal and replacement of small amounts of soil, tilling or blending of soil, and other remedial actions. To implement site-specific public health plans, the department may provide up to seventy-five percent of the cost for private residences or up to one hundred percent of the cost for child-use areas.
     (6) The department shall establish a streamlined system to recognize eligible properties that have soil samples with lead and arsenic concentrations in compliance with model toxics control clean-up standards in chapter 70.105D RCW.
     (7) The department shall establish an enforcement forbearance policy for eligible properties choosing to participate in the initiative. Owners of eligible property implementing site-specific public health plans in subsection (5) of this section are exempt from enforcement actions under chapter 70.105D RCW. Owners of eligible property choosing not to implement site-specific public health plans would not be exempt from enforcement under chapter 70.105D RCW.
     (8)(a) Except as specified in (b) of this subsection, the department shall not use model toxics control act clean-up procedures under chapter 70.105D RCW for eligible properties with low to moderate contamination levels of lead and arsenic.
     (b) The department shall use the clean-up procedures specified in chapter 70.105D RCW when:
     (i) Individual properties have above low to moderate soil contamination levels of arsenic or lead;
     (ii) Individual properties have contaminates other than arsenic and lead above standards developed pursuant to chapter 70.105D RCW;
     (iii) Individual properties have ground water contamination or the department determines there is a significant risk of ground water contamination;
     (iv) The individual property owner has implemented a final remedy under chapter 70.105D RCW; or
     (v) The individual property owner chooses to use the clean-up procedures specified in chapter 70.105D RCW.
     (c) Subject to available funds, the department shall provide financial assistance to eligible property owners in (b)(i) through (iii) of this subsection that must comply with chapter 70.105D RCW. The department shall not initiate enforcement actions against eligible property owners voluntarily participating in the initiative that are unable to implement remedial actions due to insufficient funding.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 5   A new section is added to chapter 70.105 RCW to read as follows:
     The department shall assist other state agencies and local governments and provide funding where appropriate to implement area-wide soil contamination initiative activities including but not limited to:
     (1) Obtaining additional scientific information on the health of Washington residents who may be exposed to arsenic and lead;
     (2) Providing financial assistance to develop mandatory soil testing for new construction of public child-use areas;
     (3) Providing financial assistance to the department of social and health services to develop a voluntary child care certification program to raise awareness of area-wide soil contamination;
     (4) Providing financial assistance to local governments to identify historical orchard locations and update smelter emission plume dispersal areas, or other areas with a probability of area-wide soil contamination;
     (5) Providing financial assistance to public health districts to conduct blood lead testing or urinary arsenic screening;
     (6) Providing financial assistance to build area-wide soil contamination training into any system for the state training and registry system for child care training programs; and
     (7) Amending the state environmental policy act checklist to address area-wide soil contamination.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 6   The sum of one million five hundred thousand dollars, or as much thereof as may be necessary, is appropriated for the biennium ending June 30, 2005, from the local toxics control account--state to the department of ecology for the purposes of implementing sections 1 through 5 of this act.