44300-44309

HEALTH AND SAFETY CODE
SECTION 44300-44309




44300.  This part shall be known and may be cited as the Air Toxics
"Hot Spots" Information and Assessment Act of 1987.



44301.  The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
   (a) In the wake of recent publicity surrounding planned and
unplanned releases of toxic chemicals into the atmosphere, the public
has become increasingly concerned about toxics in the air.
   (b) The Congressional Research Service of the Library of Congress
has concluded that 75 percent of the United States population lives
in proximity to at least one facility that manufactures chemicals. An
incomplete 1985 survey of large chemical companies conducted by the
Congressional Research Service documented that nearly every chemical
plant studied routinely releases into the surrounding air significant
levels of substances proven to be or potentially hazardous to public
health.
   (c) Generalized emissions inventories compiled by air pollution
control districts and air quality management districts in California
confirm the findings of the Congressional Research Service survey as
well as reveal that many other facilities and businesses which do not
actually manufacture chemicals do use hazardous substances in
sufficient quantities to expose, or in a manner that exposes,
surrounding populations to toxic air releases.
   (d) These releases may create localized concentrations or air
toxics "hot spots" where emissions from specific sources may expose
individuals and population groups to elevated risks of adverse health
effects, including, but not limited to, cancer and contribute to the
cumulative health risks of emissions from other sources in the area.
In some cases where large populations may not be significantly
affected by adverse health risks, individuals may be exposed to
significant risks.
   (e) Little data is currently available to accurately assess the
amounts, types, and health impacts of routine toxic chemical releases
into the air. As a result, there exists significant uncertainty
about the amounts of potentially hazardous air pollutants which are
released, the location of those releases, and the concentrations to
which the public is exposed.
   (f) The State of California has begun to implement a long-term
program to identify, assess, and control ambient levels of hazardous
air pollutants, but additional legislation is needed to provide for
the collection and evaluation of information concerning the amounts,
exposures, and short- and long-term health effects of hazardous
substances regularly released to the surrounding atmosphere from
specific sources of hazardous releases.
   (g) In order to more effectively implement control strategies for
those materials posing an unacceptable risk to the public health,
additional information on the sources of potentially hazardous air
pollutants is necessary.
   (h) It is in the public interest to ascertain and measure the
amounts and types of hazardous releases and potentially hazardous
releases from specific sources that may be exposing people to those
releases, and to assess the health risks to those who are exposed.




44302.  The definitions set forth in this chapter govern the
construction of this part.



44303.  "Air release" or "release" means any activity that may cause
the issuance of air contaminants, including the actual or potential
spilling, leaking, pumping, pouring, emitting, emptying, discharging,
injecting, escaping, leaching, dumping, or disposing of a substance
into the ambient air and that results from the routine operation of a
facility or that is predictable, including, but not limited to,
continuous and intermittent releases and predictable process upsets
or leaks.



44304.  "Facility" means every structure, appurtenance,
installation, and improvement on land which is associated with a
source of air releases or potential air releases of a hazardous
material.



44306.  "Health risk assessment" means a detailed comprehensive
analysis prepared pursuant to Section 44361 to evaluate and predict
the dispersion of hazardous substances in the environment and the
potential for exposure of human populations and to assess and
quantify both the individual and populationwide health risks
associated with those levels of exposure.



44307.  "Operator" means the person who owns or operates a facility
or part of a facility.



44308.  "Plan" means the emissions inventory plan which meets the
conditions specified in Section 44342.



44309.  "Report" means the emissions inventory report specified in
Section 44341.