Enforcement Update – SB14 and the CUPA

California’s SB 14, the Hazardous Waste Source Reduction and Management Review Act of 1989, requires that large quantity hazardous waste generators evaluate source reduction opportunities, develop a Plan to reduce hazardous waste, and report on accomplishments every four years – 2015 is a reporting year and plans were required to be developed by Sept 1.   Because these plans are now required to be maintained on site at your facility we have had numerous clients ask us how DTSC will be enforcing compliance.

Compliance Enforcement

DTSC no longer has a staff for SB 14 enforcement, and they have passed responsibility for SB 14 compliance enforcement to local CUPAs.  The County of Orange has indicated that CUPA inspectors within their jurisdiction will increase attention on SB14 compliance.   Orange County, in conjunction with DTSC, are currently developing an SB14 compliance checklist, which, once finalized, will be distributed to CUPA inspectors.  We can reasonably anticipate this to be the same for all of the State CUPA programs going forward.    DTSC has indicated the following on their website: “While qualifying generators must still complete all three SB14 documents (the Plan, the Performance Report and the Summary Progress Report), the law no longer requires generators to submit these documents to DTSC. However, generators must still make these documents available to DTSC or the Certified Unified Program Agency (CUPA) during inspection.”

The Health and Safety Code indicates the civil penalty can amount to $1000/day for violation.

Every generator shall retain the original of the current review and plan and report, shall maintain a copy of the current review and plan and report at each site, or, for a multisite review and plan or report, at a central location, and upon request, shall make it available to any authorized representative of the department or the unified program agency conducting an inspection pursuant to Section 25185. If a generator fails, within five days, to make available to the inspector the review and plan or report, the department, the unified program agency, or any authorized representative of the department, or of the unified program agency, conducting an inspection pursuant to Section 25185, shall, if appropriate, impose a civil penalty pursuant to Section 25187, in an amount not to exceed one thousand dollars ($1,000) for each day the violation of this article continues, notwithstanding Section 25189.2.

If you have questions, please give us a call at (888) 608-3010.

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