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�./ Allen Matkins Leck Gamble Mallory LLP arron,eys at law Donna Heran December 11, 2000 Page 2 regulations exempt CESQGs from most generator requirements, and do not impose the requirements of the California tiered permitting program,including the PBR and generator permit fees at issue here. See 40 C.F.R. § 261.5(b). Because these elements of the California regulations go beyond those of the federal program,SB 2111 prohibits them from being applied to Qualex. This interpretation of the effect of SB 2111 on CESQGs has been confirmed by DTSC in a Fact Sheet issued in January 2000 entitled"Onsite Tiered Permitting: Changes in Regulation of Silver Wastes [as established by Senate Bill (SB) 2111]" (copy attached). As the Fact Sheet makes clear, "SB 2111 mandates that,effective January 1, 1999, `silver-only' hazardous wastes are to be regulated only to the extent they are regulated under the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act" This interpretation has also been confirmed by the California CUPA Forum in a letter from William Jones,the Chairman of the Forum's Board,to Paula Rasmussen, chief of the State Regulatory Programs Division at DTSC (copy attached). As Mr. Jones stated, "Senate Bill 2111 (Costa)requires wastes containing silver or silver compounds to be regulated in California only to the extent those wastes are regulated under Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). As a result, requirements for facilities which qualify as Conditionally Exempt Small Quantity Generators (CESQG) under federal statute have been extensively minimized from California mandates.."' Qualex has also confirmed this interpretation telephonically with DTSC staff. Despite this clear effect of SB 2111,the Qualex facility has received invoices from the County for PBR fees and a 5-25 ton generator permit. The first invoice,for$2,048 for PBR and permit fees for 1999, was erroneously paid by staff at the Manteca facility in April 1999. Qualex has asked that this payment be refunded,but has not received any formal response from the County. The second invoice,for another$2,048 for 2000, has not been paid and has had imposed a late-payment penalty of an additional $2,048. We believe the law is clear that pursuant to SB 2111 Qualex is exempt from these fees imposed by the County. Qualex has attempted several times over the past year and a half to resolve this issue with your staff(see attached letters),and we understand that DTSC staff have contacted them as well. Our understanding is that your staff have taken the position that the County may continue to 1 Mr. Jones was describing the effect of SB 2111 in a proposal that DTSC impose additional regulation of CESQG silver facilities. The regulated community does not support this proposal, and believes that all such further regulation is prohibited by SB 2111. Qualex nevertheless agrees with Mr. Jones's evaluation of the current state of the law—SB 2111 exempts CESQG "silver-only" wastes from California's tiered permitting program.