CUPA - TIERED PERMITTING

What is Tiered Permitting?

Tiered Permitting refers to a graduated series of requirements applicable to hazardous waste generators conducting onsite treatment their own hazardous waste. California legislation (AB 1772) passed in 1992 established a five-tiered program for authorizing hazardous waste treatment and/or storage at many businesses that are required to have a state permit or authorization to do so. The new tiers were added to make permitting easier for businesses that treat hazardous waste onsite within their normal operations. In this way, the burden of regulation is matched to the amount of risk in the hazardous waste activity.

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What levels of Tiered Permitting does the County handle?

Formerly, all hazardous waste treatment, storage, or disposal facilities required Full or Standardized Permits from the Cal-EPA's Department of Toxic Substances Control. Under the tiered permit system, the level of regulation is scaled to the relative risk and comlexity involved under each treatment tier. In ascending order, the tiers are: conditional exemption (CE); conditional authorization (CA); and permit by rule (PBR). The statutes (Health & Safety Code Chapter 6.5, Article 9) and regulations (California Code of Regulations, Title 22, Division 2, Chapter 4.5) governing tiered permitting may be downloaded from www.leginfo.ca.gov or www.calregs.com, respectively.

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What about notifications?

• Notifications containing all of the applicable requirments of Title 22, California Code of Regulations, Section 67450.2(b) shall be submitted to the CUPA in person or by certified mail with return receipt requested. These applicable requirements include submission of the following:
• The forms listed in Title 22, California Code of Regulatoins, Section 67450.2(b)(2). These pages of the Unified Program Consolidated Form are:
• The annual Onsite Hazardous Waste Treatment Notification page
• Business Activities page
• Business Owner/Operator page
• The requirements of Section 67450.2(b)(3).

• Within forty-five (45) calendar days of receipt of the above notification, the CUPA shall acknowledge, in writing, receipt of the notification. The CUPA shall, in conjunction with the acknowledgement, either:
• Authorize operation of the FTU subject to the requirements and conditions specified in sections 67450.3, 67450.7, 67450.9(b) and 67450(c); or
• Deny authorization under a permit by rule pursuant to section 67450.9(a), or notify the owner or operator that hte notification is incomplete or inaccurate. If the notification is incomplete, the CUPA shall specify what additional information or correction is required.
• The CUPA shall authorize or deny authorization to operate under the specified sections wihtin forty-five (45) days of receipt of the requested information or corrected notification.
• The CUPA shall reject the notification if the information is not provided within ten (10) days of receipt of the acknowledgement. Upon showing of good cause, the CUPA shall grant the owner or operator additional time to provide the requested information or correction.
• An owner or operator whose notification is rejected may submit a new initial notification.
• The requirements of Section 67450.2(b)(3).

• The owner or operator of an FTU that treats hazardous waste shall be deemed to have a permit when the owner or operator complies with the California Code of Regulations, Title 22, Section 67450.2 §(b)(1), if applicable, (b)(2), (b)(3), and (b)(5), and receives an acknowledgement from the CUPA authorizing operation of the FTU pursuant to (b)(4).