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CITY OF LOS ANGELES CONSERVATION ELEMENT
Adopted September 2001
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Policy 1: continue striving to meet the city's water, power and other
needs while at the same time striving to be a good steward of natural
resources and minimizing impacts on the environment.
Program: City facility and property management programs.
Responsibility: departments of *Airports, *Public Works and
*Water and Power.
Policy 2: continue striving to meet legal mandates to avoid, mitigate
or abate potential significant environmental impacts associated with
city facilities that are located outside the city's borders.
Program: operating agency facility and property management
programs.
Responsibility: departments of *Airports, *Public Works,
*Recreation and Parks, and *Water and Power.
For related information see:
N
"Infrastructure Systems Element" (including water and power
facilities and systems), Los Angeles City General Plan (under
preparation) and
N
"Public Facilities and Services Element" (parks and other city
facilities), Los Angeles City General Plan (under preparation).
SECTION 14: HAZARDOUS MATERIALS
The general plan Safety Element addresses hazardous materials. However,
after the element was drafted, several important changes took place
that warrant mentioning. These involve the state Unified Program and
landfill, brownfields and NPDES programs.
Unified Program. In an effort to streamline hazardous materials
management the state adopted the Unified Hazardous Waste and Materials
Management Regulatory Program (aka Unified Program). The program
(California Health and Safety Code, Division 20 and Code of
Regulations, Titles 19, 22, 24 and 27) consolidates and makes six
existing state hazardous waste and materials management programs
consistent with each other and mandates their coordination. The Los
Angeles City Fire Department applied for and was designated the
Certified Unified Program Agency (CUPA) for the city (1997), making it
the single point contact for Unified Program activities. As the city's
CUPA, the Fire Department accepts applications from regulated
facilities, issues permits, performs inspections, coordinates with
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CITY OF LOS ANGELES CONSERVATION ELEMENT
Adopted September 2001
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other regulatory agencies, enforces regulations within its jurisdiction
and provides information regarding hazardous materials regulations and
management. The Fire Department, as described in the Safety Element,
already was performing many of the tasks assigned by state legislation.
In 1995 the non-regulatory Hazardous and Toxic Materials Office was
transferred from the Department of Public Works to the Environmental
Affairs Department (EAD). The office works primarily with businesses
and city agencies, disseminating information, providing technical
assistance and coordinating city efforts to promote proper hazardous
materials management and prevention of hazardous materials pollution.
Landfill regulation. Pursuant to state law (Public Resources Code
Division 30 and Code of Regulations Titles 14 and 27) cities and
counties are authorized to enforce solid waste management regulations
at all landfill, transfer station and composting facilities. In 1993,
the city established (Ordinance No. 168,508) a local enforcement agency
(LEA) within EAD. The LEA monitors approximately 100 solid waste
facilities, including open and closed disposal sites and potential
former disposal sites that have been identified by the California State
Integrated Waste Management Board (IWMB). The disposal sites are
located throughout the city. Most were established prior to government
landfill siting regulations. Some may have been established in the 19th
century. Landfill sites deemed to have existing or potential health or
safety problems are inspected by the LEA. Redevelopment of a site
requires LEA approval prior to issuance of a building permit. The LEA
evaluates proposed plans and the site. It can require soils reports and
may impose conditions to abate any potential health or safety problems.
Sites deemed not to have been a landfill or to have no health or safety
problems are recommended by the LEA to the IWMB for removal from the
site inspection list.
Brownfields. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) defines
brownfields as abandoned, inactive or underutilized industrial and
commercial properties where expansion or redevelopment is complicated
by real or perceived environmental contamination. The EPA provides
funds for site assessment and revitalization of sites that are
contaminated with hazardous materials.
The city's brownfields program is a collaborative approach to
redevelopment of individual or groups of old industrial parcels. Soil
contamination often is a major deterrent to redevelopment because
owners lack the funds to cleanup the contaminants which are impeding
property sale or improvement. Most of the sites are located within
communities which grew up around industries, some of which were
established before World War I. The goal of the city program is to
assist property owners in resolving contamination related problems