State lawmakers held a joint oversight committee hearing Wednesday to question officials from California’s Department of Toxic Substances Control about how it’s going with various reform efforts. (It was definitely more of an annual teeth cleaning than a root canal.)
Among the topics of discussion was an ongoing CalMatters investigation into the state’s handling of hazardous waste. In January, CalMatters reported that government agencies — including the toxics department — and developers routinely skirt California’s stringent environmental laws by taking contaminated soil from cleanup sites to regular landfills in states with weaker environmental regulations.
This week, CalMatters reported on the dwindling number of sites that can treat, store or dispose of hazardous waste in the state. Among the remaining sites is Phibro-Tech, which recycles corrosive liquids for the electronics industry. State inspectors have identified violations at more than 30 inspections of the site since the mid-90’s, the state’s permitting and enforcement database shows.
The company has been operating on an expired permit since 1996, a fact that stunned the chairperson of the Assembly’s Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials Committee, Alex Lee. Lee, a Democrat from Milpitas, became the youngest legislator when he was elected in 2020 at the age of 25.
- Lee: “The permit they were given in the ’90s is different science, different understanding, different even urban development around there. Much different times. So we don’t want that to be lingering. I mean, not to stress the point but Phibro has been basically on (an expired) permit since I was alive.”
Lawmakers also urged the agency to do more research on technologies that would allow contaminated soil to be treated on site as opposed to being dug up and taken to a landfill.
Agency officials said they’re considering all that as part of an ongoing process to craft a statewide hazardous waste management plan. And they said the agency is working hard this year to make decisions on the oldest expired permits.
