On 1/1/08, authorization expired for the UST orphan fund for the State of California. During its three-year lifetime, $30 million were disbursed for the clean-up of 37 orphan sites.
Pursuant to SB 1161 [http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/07-08/bill/sen/sb_1151-1200/sb_1161_bill_20080930_chaptered.html], which was signed into law 9/30/08, the orphan fund was authorized to be reestablished. The State Water Resources Control Board has proposed regulations that are very much akin to those for the prior fund, but with a few significant differences. The former allowed performance based contracts; the new fund will only issue time-and-material clean-up grants. This would appear a step backwards. The same $1.5 million cap per occurrence is maintained; this would appear to be on the small side if the site is (for example) a large tank farm. The new fund will be financed by a $10 million transfer each year for the next three years from the UST Cleanup Fund, which (as has been noted in prior posts) is itself facing a funding shortfall.
A copy of the proposed regulations for the new fund can be found at http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/ustcf/oscf.shtml.
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