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AB-1531 Public resources.(2021-2022)

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Date Published: 07/15/2021 09:00 PM
AB1531:v96#DOCUMENT

Amended  IN  Senate  July 15, 2021
Amended  IN  Assembly  April 26, 2021
Amended  IN  Assembly  March 18, 2021

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2021–2022 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill
No. 1531

Introduced by Assembly Member O’Donnell

February 19, 2021

An act to amend Section 659 of the Civil Code, to amend Sections 51010, 51010.5, 51011, 51012, 51013.5, and 51015.4 of the Government Code, to add Section 25228.5 to the Public Resources Code, and to add Section 740.17 to the Public Utilities Code, relating to pipeline safety. public resources.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 1531, as amended, O’Donnell. Pipeline safety: carbon dioxide. Public resources.
(1) Existing law defines land as a material of earth and includes free or occupied space for an indefinite upward or downward distance for the purpose of prescribing ownership of land.
This bill would specify that free space includes pore space that can be possessed and used for the storage of gaseous or liquid substances.

Under

(2) Under the Elder California Pipeline Safety Act of 1981, the State Fire Marshal exercises safety regulatory jurisdiction over intrastate pipelines used for the transportation of hazardous or highly volatile liquid substances. The act imposes various requirements in relation to the regulation of these intrastate pipelines and requires the State Fire Marshal to adopt regulations, not later than June 30, 1991, that establish procedures for maintaining, testing, and inspecting mainline valves and check valves on intrastate hazardous liquid pipelines. A person who willfully and knowingly violates the act or a regulation issued pursuant to the act is, upon conviction, subject to a fine, imprisonment, or both a fine and imprisonment, as provided.
This bill would expand the regulation of intrastate pipelines under the act to intrastate pipelines used for the transportation of carbon dioxide, as defined, including by revising the definition of “pipeline” for purposes of the act to also include intrastate pipelines used for the transportation of carbon dioxide. The bill would exempt from the act intrastate gas pipelines regulated by the Public Utilities Commission. The bill would require the State Fire Marshal to adopt regulations, not later than January 1, 2023, that establish procedures for maintaining, testing, and inspecting mainline valves and check valves on intrastate hazardous liquid and carbon dioxide pipelines. By imposing additional requirements under the act, and requiring the State Fire Marshal to adopt regulations, relating to intrastate pipelines used for the transportation of carbon dioxide, a violation of which would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would also make nonsubstantive changes.
(3) The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires a lead agency, as defined, to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and certify the completion of, an environmental impact report on a project that it proposes to carry out or approve that may have a significant effect on the environment or to adopt a negative declaration if it finds that the project will not have that effect. CEQA also requires a lead agency to prepare a mitigated negative declaration for a project that may have a significant effect on the environment if revisions in the project would avoid or mitigate that effect and there is no substantial evidence that the project, as revised, would have a significant effect on the environment. CEQA requires a lead agency to consult with a responsible agency, which is a public agency, other than the lead agency, that has responsibilities in carrying out or approving a project, in conducting the lead agency’s environmental review.
This bill would designate the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission as the lead agency and specified state agencies as responsible agencies for carbon capture and storage projects under CEQA. The bill would require the commission to coordinate the development of performance standards for carbon capture and storage sites, as prescribed.
(4) Existing law, enacted as part of the Clean Energy and Pollution Reduction Act of 2015, requires the Public Utilities Commission (PUC), in consultation with the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission) and the State Air Resources Board (state board), to direct electrical corporations to file applications for programs and investments to accelerate widespread transportation electrification, as defined, to achieve specified results. The PUC is required to approve, or modify and approve, programs and investments in transportation electrification, including those that deploy charging infrastructure, through a reasonable cost recovery mechanism, if they meet specified requirements.
This bill would require the PUC, in consultation with the state board and the Energy Commission, to authorize gas corporations to file applications for investments in programs to accelerate the use of carbon capture and sequestration or utilization to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases consistent with state carbon reduction goals. The bill would require the PUC to approve, or modify and approve, programs and investments in carbon pipelines, and carbon capture-related infrastructure and storage, through a reasonable cost recovery mechanism.

The

(5) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: YES  

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:


SECTION 1.

 The Legislature finds and declares that California is home to a strong economic base, a skilled and trained workforce, and robust innovation capacity at its laboratories and universities. all of the following:
(a) Climate change is causing historic droughts, devastating wildfires, storms, extreme heat, the death of millions of trees, and billions of dollars in property damage, and is threatening human health and food supplies.
(b) California has set ambitious targets to reduce the effects of climate change by reducing carbon emissions to 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030 and to 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050.
(c) In 2018, Governor Jerry Brown issued Executive Order No. B-55-18, establishing a state goal to reach carbon neutrality by no later than 2045 and to maintain net negative greenhouse gas emissions thereafter, and directing the State Air Resources Board to work with relevant state agencies to develop a framework for implementation and accounting that tracks progress toward these goals.
(d) Carbon capture and storage is a clean technology pathway that is well suited for rapidly reducing emissions from economically vital sectors in California.
(e) According to several academic and scientific studies, California will be unlikely to achieve its greenhouse gas emission reduction goals without deployment of carbon capture and storage. The 2018 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5° Celsius and the International Energy Agency World Energy Outlook 2020 find that reaching net negative emissions will require a significant amount of carbon removal.
(f) California can deploy carbon capture and storage in the near term to abate nearly 60,000,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year, approximately 15 percent of the state’s current emission levels.
(g) Carbon capture and storage projects would provide jobs for California’s skilled and trained workforce consistent with the state’s commitment to an equitable and just clean energy transition. Carbon capture projects are skilled labor intensive and represent the best potential for a “just transition” for the state’s industrial workforce.
(h) Both the White House and Congress of the United States have signaled strong support for carbon capture, utilization, and storage by supporting proposals to increase the federal Section 45Q tax credit and to make the credit easier to use. The President’s American Jobs Plan also features enhanced support for deployment of carbon capture, utilization, and storage for industrial applications, direct air capture, and retrofits of existing powerplants, not only to help achieve the federal government’s decarbonization objectives, but also to create good jobs for American workers.
(i) If carbon capture and storage is to play a meaningful role in meeting California’s 2030 emissions reduction targets and 2045 carbon neutrality goals, the state must consider additional and immediate actions to promote deployment of carbon capture and storage projects.
(j) The pipeline transport of carbon dioxide is a proven mature technology. In its 2005 Special Report on Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage, the IPCC states that the pipeline transport of carbon dioxide operates as a mature market technology and that over 2,500 kilometers of pipeline in the United States transport more than 40,000,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year. Federal government data demonstrate that carbon dioxide pipelines are safe.

SEC. 2.

 Section 659 of the Civil Code is amended to read:

659.
 (a) Land is the material of the earth, whatever may be the ingredients of which it is composed, whether soil, rock, or other substance, and includes free or occupied space for an indefinite distance upwards as well as downwards, subject to limitations upon the use of airspace imposed, and rights in the use of airspace granted, by law.
(b) (1) The free space specified in subdivision (a) includes pore space that can be possessed and used for the storage of gaseous or liquid substances, including, but not limited to, greenhouse gas in the state.
(2) This subdivision does not change or alter the law as it relates to the rights belonging to, and the dominance of, the mineral estate, and does not change or alter the incidents of ownership or other rights of the owners of the mineral estate, including the right to mine, drill, complete, or abandon a well, the right to inject substances to facilitate production, the right to implement enhanced recovery for the purposes of recovery of oil, gas, or other minerals, or the dominance of the mineral estate.
(3) This subdivision does not affect existing instruments with regards to existing pore space use and ownership.

SEC. 2.SEC. 3.

 Section 51010 of the Government Code is amended to read:

51010.
 It is the intent of the Legislature, in enacting this chapter, that the State Fire Marshal shall exercise exclusive safety regulatory and enforcement authority over intrastate carbon dioxide and hazardous liquid pipelines and, to the extent authorized by agreement between the State Fire Marshal and the United States Secretary of Transportation, and may act as agent for the United State States Secretary of Transportation to implement the federal Hazardous Liquid Pipeline Safety Act of 1979 (49 U.S.C. Sec. 60101 et seq.) and federal pipeline safety regulations as to those portions of interstate pipelines located within this state, as necessary to obtain annual federal certification.

SEC. 3.SEC. 4.

 Section 51010.5 of the Government Code is amended to read:

51010.5.
 As used in this chapter, the following definitions apply:
(a) “Pipeline” includes every intrastate pipeline used for the transportation of hazardous liquid substances, carbon dioxide, or highly volatile liquid substances, including a common carrier pipeline, and all piping containing those substances located within a refined products bulk loading facility that is owned by a common carrier and is served by a pipeline of that common carrier, and the common carrier owns and serves by pipeline at least five of these facilities in the state. “Pipeline” does not include the following:
(1) An interstate pipeline subject to Part 195 of Title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations.
(2) An intrastate pipeline subject to subdivision (a) of Section 950 of the Public Utilities Code.

(2)

(3) A pipeline for the transportation of a hazardous liquid substance in a gaseous state.

(3)

(4) A pipeline for the transportation of crude oil that operates by gravity or at a stress level of 20 percent or less of the specified minimum yield strength of the pipe.

(4)

(5) Transportation of petroleum in onshore gathering lines located in rural areas.

(5)

(6) A pipeline for the transportation of a hazardous liquid substance or carbon dioxide offshore located upstream from the outlet flange of each facility on the Outer Continental Shelf where hydrocarbons are produced or where produced hydrocarbons are first separated, dehydrated, or otherwise processed, whichever facility is farther downstream.

(6)

(7) Transportation of a hazardous liquid or carbon dioxide by a flow line.

(7)

(8) A pipeline for the transportation of a hazardous liquid substance or carbon dioxide through an onshore production, refining, or manufacturing facility, including a storage or inplant piping system associated with that facility. For purposes of this paragraph, a manufacturing facility includes any facility designed to facilitate the capture, processing, storage, or compression of carbon dioxide.

(8)

(9) Transportation of a hazardous liquid substance or carbon dioxide by vessel, aircraft, tank truck, tank car, or other vehicle or terminal facilities used exclusively to transfer hazardous liquids or carbon dioxide between those modes of transportation.
(b) “Flow line” means a pipeline that transports hazardous liquid substances from or carbon dioxide between the well head to and a treating facility or production storage facility.
(c) “Hydrostatic testing” means the application of internal pressure above the normal or maximum operating pressure to a segment of pipeline, under no-flow conditions for a fixed period of time, utilizing a liquid test medium.
(d) “Local agency” means a city, county, or fire protection district.
(e) “Rural area” means a location that lies outside the limits of any incorporated or unincorporated city or city and county, or other residential or commercial area, such as a subdivision, a business, a shopping center, or a community development.
(f) “Gathering line” means a pipeline eight inches or less in nominal diameter that transports petroleum from a production facility.
(g) “Production facility” means piping or equipment used in the production, extraction, recovery, lifting, stabilization, separation, or treatment of petroleum or associated storage or measurement. To be a production facility under this definition, piping or equipment must be used in the process of extracting petroleum from the ground and transporting it by pipelines.
(h) “Public drinking water well” means a wellhead that provides drinking water to a public water system as defined in Section 116275 of the Health and Safety Code, that is regulated by the State Water Resources Control Board and that is subject to Section 116455 of the Health and Safety Code.
(i) “GIS mapping system” means a geographical information system that will collect, store, retrieve, analyze, and display environmental geographical data in a database that is accessible to the public.
(j) “Motor vehicle fuel” includes gasoline, natural gasoline, blends of gasoline and alcohol, or gasoline and oxygenates, and any inflammable liquid, by whatever name the liquid may be known or sold, which is used or is usable for propelling motor vehicles operated by the explosion type engine. It does not include kerosene, liquefied petroleum gas, or natural gas in liquid or gaseous form.
(k) “Oxygenate” means an organic compound containing oxygen that has been approved by the United States Environmental Protection Agency as a gasoline additive to meet the requirements for an “oxygenated fuel” pursuant to Section 7545 of Title 42 of the United States Code.
(l) “Carbon dioxide” means a fluid consisting of more than 90 percent carbon dioxide molecules compressed to a supercritical state.

SEC. 4.SEC. 5.

 Section 51011 of the Government Code is amended to read:

51011.
 (a) The State Fire Marshal shall adopt hazardous liquid and carbon dioxide pipeline safety regulations in compliance with the federal law relating to hazardous liquid and carbon dioxide pipeline safety, including, but not limited to, compliance orders, penalties, and inspection and maintenance provisions, and including amendments to those laws and regulations that may be hereafter enacted and adopted. Regulations adopting the minimum standards for hazardous liquid and carbon dioxide pipelines contained in the federal Hazardous Liquid Pipeline Safety Act of 1979 (49 U.S.C. Sec. 60101 et seq.) and Title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations by the State Fire Marshal are exempt from the procedures specified in Article 5 (commencing with Section 11346) of Chapter 3.5 of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code, except that those regulations shall be submitted to the Office of Administrative Law for filing with the Secretary of State and publication in the California Code of Regulations.
(b) The State Fire Marshal may exempt the application of regulations adopted pursuant to this section to any pipeline, or portion thereof, when it is determined that the risk to public safety is slight and the probability of injury or damage remote.
(c) Notification of exemptions shall be written, and shall include a discussion of those factors that the State Fire Marshal considers significant to the granting of the exemption.

SEC. 5.SEC. 6.

 Section 51012 of the Government Code is amended to read:

51012.
 (a) The State Fire Marshal shall establish a Pipeline Safety Advisory Committee for purposes of informing local agencies and every pipeline operator of changes in applicable laws and regulations affecting the operations of pipelines and reviewing proposed hazardous liquid and carbon dioxide pipeline safety regulations adopted pursuant to Section 51011.
(b) The committee shall be composed of eight members of whom two shall represent pipeline operators, three shall represent local agencies, one shall be a fire chief, and two shall be public members. The committee shall meet when requested by the State Fire Marshal, but not less than once a year. The members shall be paid expenses and one hundred dollars ($100) per diem for each meeting.

SEC. 6.SEC. 7.

 Section 51013.5 of the Government Code is amended to read:

51013.5.
 (a) Every newly constructed pipeline, existing pipeline, or part of a pipeline system that has been relocated or replaced, and every pipeline that transports a hazardous liquid substance, carbon dioxide, or a highly volatile liquid substance, shall be tested in accordance with Subpart E (commencing with Section 195.300) of Part 195 of Title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations.
(b) Every pipeline not provided with properly sized automatic pressure relief devices or properly designed pressure limiting devices shall be hydrostatically tested annually.
(c) Every pipeline over 10 years of age and not provided with effective cathodic protection shall be hydrostatically tested every three years, except for those on the State Fire Marshal’s list of higher risk pipelines, which shall be hydrostatically tested annually.
(d) Every pipeline over 10 years of age and provided with effective cathodic protection shall be hydrostatically tested every five years, except for those on the State Fire Marshal’s list of higher risk pipelines which shall be hydrostatically tested every two years.
(e) Piping within a refined products bulk loading facility served by pipeline shall be tested hydrostatically at 125 percent of maximum allowable operating pressure utilizing the product ordinarily transported in that piping if that piping is operated at a stress level of 20 percent or less of the specified minimum yield strength of the pipe. The frequency for pressure testing these pipelines shall be every five years for those pipelines with effective cathodic protection and every three years for those pipelines without effective cathodic protection. If that piping is observable, visual inspection may be the method of testing.
(f) The State Fire Marshal shall study indicators and precursors of serious pipeline accidents, and, in consultation with the Pipeline Safety Advisory Committee, shall develop criteria for identifying which hazardous liquid pipelines pose the greatest risk to people and the environment due to the likelihood of, and likely seriousness of, an accident due to corrosion or defect. The study shall give due consideration to research done by the industry, the federal government, academia, and to any other information which the State Fire Marshal shall deem relevant, including, but not limited to, recent leak history, pipeline location, and materials transported. Beginning January 1, 1992, using the criteria identified in that study, the State Fire Marshal shall maintain a list of higher risk pipelines, which exceed a standard of risk to be determined by the State Fire Marshal, and which shall be tested as required in subdivisions (c) and (d) as long as they remain on the list. By January 1, 1992, after public hearings, the State Fire Marshal shall adopt regulations to implement this subdivision.
(g) In addition to the requirements of subdivisions (a) to (e), inclusive, the State Fire Marshal may require any pipeline subject to this chapter to be subjected to a pressure test, or any other test or inspection, at any time, in the interest of public safety.
(h) Test methods other than the hydrostatic tests required by subdivisions (b), (c), (d), and (e), including inspection by instrumented internal inspection devices, may be approved by the State Fire Marshal on an individual basis. If the State Fire Marshal approves an alternative to a pressure test in an individual case, the State Fire Marshal may require that the alternative test be given more frequently than the testing frequencies specified in subdivisions (b), (c), (d), and (e).
(i) The State Fire Marshal shall adopt regulations before January 1, 1992, to establish what the State Fire Marshal deems to be an appropriate frequency for tests and inspections, including instrumented internal inspections, which, when permitted as a substitute for tests required under subdivisions (b), (c), and (d), do not damage pipelines or require them to be shut down for the testing period. That testing shall in no event be less frequent than is required by subdivisions (b), (c), and (d). Each time one of these tests is required on a pipeline, it shall be approved on the same individual basis as under subdivision (h). If it is not approved, a hydrostatic test shall be carried out at the time the alternative test would have been carried out, and subsequent tests shall be carried out in accordance with the time intervals prescribed by subdivision (b), (c), or (d), as applicable.

SEC. 7.SEC. 8.

 Section 51015.4 of the Government Code is amended to read:

51015.4.
 (a) Each operator shall, as specified in regulations provided for in subdivision (c), maintain each valve and check valve that is necessary for the safe operation of its pipeline systems in good working order at all times.
(b) Each operator shall provide protection for each valve and check valve from unauthorized operation and from vandalism.
(c) The State Fire Marshal shall adopt regulations, not later than January 1, 2023, that establish procedures for maintaining, testing, and inspecting mainline valves and check valves on intrastate hazardous liquid and carbon dioxide pipelines.

SEC. 9.

 Section 25228.5 is added to the Public Resources Code, to read:

25228.5.
 (a) For the environmental review of a carbon capture and storage project pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act (Division 13 (commencing with Section 21000)), both of the following apply:
(1) The commission is the lead agency.
(2) The responsible agency is as follows:
(A) The Geologic Energy Management Division for activities related to the subsurface.
(B) The State Fire Marshal for carbon dioxide pipelines.
(C) The State Water Resources Control Board for impacts to water quality.
(D) The State Air Resources Board for air-related aspects of carbon dioxide monitoring, reporting, and verification requirements.
(b) The commission shall coordinate the development of performance standards for carbon capture and storage sites that include design requirements and other operational measures consistent with the goals of protecting groundwater and preventing the emission of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.
(c) The standards and regulations developed pursuant to subdivision (b) apply to the injection of carbon dioxide and other injectants in allowable geologic formations for the purposes of greenhouse gas emission reduction or limitation through long-term sequestration and do not apply to the use of Class II injection wells for conventional enhanced hydrocarbon recovery.

SEC. 10.

 Section 740.17 is added to the Public Utilities Code, to read:

740.17.
 (a) The commission, in consultation with the State Air Resources Board and the Energy Commission, shall authorize gas corporations to file applications for investments in programs to accelerate the use of carbon capture and sequestration or utilization to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases consistent with state carbon reduction goals.
(b) Programs proposed by gas corporations shall seek to minimize overall costs and maximize overall benefits. The commission shall approve, or modify and approve, programs and investments in carbon pipelines, and carbon capture-related infrastructure and storage, through a reasonable cost recovery mechanism.

SEC. 8.SEC. 11.

 No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution.