Contra Costa County Municipal Code Ch. 450-2 Hazardous Materials Release Response Plans and Inventories

Health and Safety Code Chapter 6.95 requires, among other things, that any business which handles a specified quantity of a hazardous material establish a business plan for emergency response to a release or threatened release of a hazardous material, which includes an inventory of hazardous materials handled by the business, and report to the administering agency and the State Office of Emergency Services, occurrences of specified releases or threatened releases of hazardous materials.

The purpose of this division is to impose regulations in addition to Health and Safety Code Chapter 6.95, for the protection of the public and emergency rescue personnel in the county, and to facilitate implementation of said chapter, as authorized by Health and Safety Code Section 25500.

(Ords. 88-74 § 2, 87-5 § 2).

(a) The terns used herein shall have the meanings ascribed to them in Health and Safety Code Section 25501.

(b) "Facility" means a single location or site where hazardous materials are handled.

(Ord. 87-5 § 2).

The health services department is the designated administering agency in Contra Costa County, responsible for administering and enforcing the provisions of Health and Safety Code Chapter 6.95 and this division, and is empowered to take all actions necessary, therefor. The health services director or the health services director's designee is designated and empowered to carry out all functions under Chapter 6.95 and this division unless the board, by resolution or order, designates another agency.

(Ord. No. 2024-23, § III(Exh. A), 12-3-24; Ord. 87-5 § 2).

(a) Findings. The board finds that the handling of consumer products which are not prepackaged, and which contain a hazardous material or a mixture containing a hazardous material, poses the same threat to the public and emergency rescue personnel as the handling of any hazardous material or mixture containing a hazardous material not meant for direct distribution to the general public. For this reason, consumer products which are not prepackaged for direct distribution to, and use by, the general public should be subject to the same regulations as hazardous materials or mixtures thereof, of like quantities.

(b) Business plans required. Notwithstanding Health and Safety Code 25503.5, any business handling a hazardous material or mixture containing a hazardous material, which has a quantity at any one time during the reporting year equal to, or greater than a total weight of five hundred pounds, or a total volume of fifty-five gallons, or two hundred cubic feet at standard temperature and pressure for compressed gas, contained solely in a consumer product for direct distribution to, and use by, the general public, and which is not prepackaged prior to such distribution, shall establish and implement a business plan for emergency response to a release or threatened release of a hazardous material in accordance with Health and Safety Code § 25500 et seq., and the standards and regulations adopted pursuant thereto and in this division.

(Ord. 87-5 § 2).

Business plans shall be submitted on the form and in the manner prescribed by the administering agency. In addition to the information required by state law, business plans shall include:

(1) Number of employees at the facility;

(2) Square footage of facility;

(3) Four-digit Department of Transportation Identification Number; and

(4) Any other information required by the board.

(Ord. 87-5 § 2).

Pursuant to Health and Safety Code § 25513, the board may, by resolution and from time to time, adopt a schedule of fees to be collected from each business required to submit a business plan pursuant to Health and Safety Code Chapter 6.95 or this division.

(Ord. 87-5 § 2).

Any decision of the administering agency may be appealed to the hearing authority, in the manner and according to the procedures for appeals from the permit authority in decisions concerning underground storage of hazardous substances, set forth in Sections 450-6.802 through 450-6.806, inclusive, of this code.

(Ord. 96-49 § 2, 87-5).

(a) In addition to the releases or threatened releases of hazardous materials required to be reported under Health and Safety Code Section 25507, a handler shall, immediately upon discovery, report to the administering agency, any release of a hazardous material reportable under any law to any federal, state or other local regulatory agency.

(b) For purposes of this section, the term "hazardous material" includes any material, substance or chemical defined as a hazardous material, hazardous substance or hazardous waste under any law requiring report of a release of such material, chemical or waste to any federal, state or other local regulatory agency.

(c) This section does not apply to any person engaged in the transportation of a hazardous material on a highway subject to and in compliance with, the requirements of Sections 2453 and 23112.5 of the Vehicle Code.

(Ord. 88-74 § 3.)