Ship and boat operators and businesses that discharge into waterways beware: New regulations are coming your way.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger last week signed two bills by state Sen. Joseph Simitian, D-Palo Alto, to clamp down on water pollution.
The first one, SB 497, requires the California State Lands Commission next year to adopt rules on the discharge of ballast water from ships. The rules would require ship operators to treat the water before discharging it.
When ships leave port, they take on ballast water for stability. When the ships reach their destinations, they empty their ballast water.
The process transfers plants and animals,such as clams and crabs,native to one area of the globe to another, impacting waterway habitats.
The goal of the legislation is to rid ballast water of all sea life by 2020, requiring ship operators to treat the ballast water before discharging it in California ports and marinas. It will be up to the state lands commission to come up with the timetables and exact standards.
Shipping companies, which opposed California’s effort to set standards for what it regards as a global issue, fought for regular reviews of the regulations to ensure they aren’t too far ahead of treatment technology.
“We really don’t know what it’s going to take to meet the standards,” said John Berge, vice president of the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association in San Francisco. “Obviously, there will have to be some sort of onboard treatment systems installed on all ships calling on California ports. But as of now, the technology simply isn’t there yet.”
Setting a benchmark actually might be a good thing, since “that would give the technology developers something to strive for,” Berge said.
As for the ultimate cost to the shippers, much hinges on how costly treatment technologies prove to be, he said.
The other bill Schwarzenegger signed, SB 729, also by Simitian, gives more power to the State Water Resources Control Board and regional water boards to monitor water quality and impose penalties for violations.
Construction companies and industrial plants that discharge water will have to make sure they are in compliance with existing regulations or face a higher risk of penalties.
How much higher that risk will be will depend on funding levels for the water quality control boards to hire additional inspectors.
The issue is “definitely a big priority here,” said Steven Cox, director of risk management at the Newport Beach office of St. Louis-based McCarthy Building Cos., one of Orange County’s largest construction companies.
“In Orange County and San Diego, everything is paved now and there’s not a whole lot of land to build on, which makes more opportunities to pollute through runoff,” he said.
Helpful Bills
Bill signing season hasn’t been all bad for business. Two weeks ago, Schwarzenegger signed a trio of bills designed to help small businesses.
The first bill, SB 1436 by Sen. Liz Figueroa, D-Fremont, requires state agencies that impact small businesses to designate at least one person to serve as a small business liaison. The liaison will, among other things, respond to complaints, provide technical advice, report concerns to top agency brass and ensure the agency meets small business contracting guidelines.
“The real key is making sure that all the small business liaisons that are currently in place actually help small businesses comply with regulations,” said Scott Hauge, president of Small Business California, an advocacy group with 200 members. “This function slipped away when the state Trade & Commerce agency was disbanded during the budget crisis.”
The second bill, AB 2330 by Juan Arambula, D-Fresno, requires the state Office of Small Business to prepare a cost impact study of state regulations on small business and submit a report to the governor by next October.
A companion bill that came out of the Jobs Committee that Arambula chairs will require the Office of Small Business to provide technical assistance to small employers on disaster preparedness, response and recovery.
Consumer Product Regs
Makers of aerosol and other household products have 90 days to comply with new state rules limiting concentrations of smog-forming compounds and certain toxic chemicals in their products.
Earlier this month, the state Air Resources Board sent a letter to manufacturers reminding them of the deadline.
The limits vary widely by product. Floor or wall covering adhesive removers only can have 5% of the chemicals, while other adhesives can have up to 80%.
The letter also reminds companies they already should have removed chloroethyelene compounds from their new products as of the end of last year, with “sell-through dates” ending in 2008 for products already on or destined for store shelves.
The letter can be accessed at www.arb.ca.gov/consprod/regs and contains a table with limits for each type of consumer product.
Deadly Popcorn Butter?
OK, we all know fake butter flavoring on popcorn isn’t the healthiest. But now there’s a new threat that federal and state regulators are investigating: whether fumes from the butter flavoring at microwave popcorn plants could cause harm to workers.
The California Occupational Safety and Health Administration is holding a meeting in Oakland on Thursday to consider imposing an exposure limit to diacetyl, the chemical in question. The agency is acting on a petition from the United Food and Commercial Workers union and the California Labor Federation.
