The California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC), pursuant to authority granted under California Code of Regulations, Title 22, Division 4.5, Chapter 20, prepared an approval for the renewal of a Hazardous Waste Facility Permit (Permit) pursuant to California Health and Safety Code Section 25200 for ten years for the Clean Harbors Buttonwillow, LLC (CH Buttonwillow) facility. DTSC prepared an Addendum to a previously certified 2024 Environmental Impact Report (EIR) (State Clearinghouse Number 2020069034) prepared by Kern County to evaluate impacts associated with various modifications to continued commercial hazardous waste management and disposal operations. The Addendum also updates the discussion of DTSCs regulatory authority contained in the certified EIR. DTSC determined that an addendum was appropriate, because no significant new information has come to light since the certification of the EIR that would require preparation of a Supplemental or Subsequent EIR.
Background: CH Buttonwillow is a 320-acre commercial hazardous waste management and disposal facility located at 2500 West Lokern Road in Buttonwillow, California 93206. The facility is an existing commercial waste management facility which accepts solid, semi-solid, and liquid, hazardous and non-hazardous wastes for treatment, storage, or disposal. Early operations included the use of surface impoundments for liquid waste storage and disposal. By the mid-1990s, all hazardous waste surface impoundments had been clean closed (i.e., no further actions required), and the facility altered operations to utilize landfills. Hazardous Waste Management Units at the facility include: a stabilization and treatment unit; a drum storage area; a truck wash station; dirty water tank system; operational landfill Waste Management Unit (WMU) 34, and cell 7 of WMU-35; and post-closure landfill WMU-28, WMU-33, and WMU-35 cells 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6. The Permit will authorize modifications which include administrative and operational changes to existing hazardous waste units, new hazardous waste treatment buildings, a new container storage pad area, and addition of environmental monitoring programs. Specifically, these modifications will include: 1. Reclassification of four existing tank units to miscellaneous units; 2. Construction and operation of four new buildings where treatment is conducted (tank treatment buildings) within the existing facility and reorganizing operations to use the new tank treatment buildings, including the construction of a new bulk container storage pad area for waste that is pending verifications; and 3. Addition of environmental monitoring programs consistent with current regulatory standards. The certified 2024 Final EIR prepared by Kern County evaluated potential impacts of the modifications that will result from the DTSC Hazardous Waste Facility Permit renewal. The certified 2024 Final EIR prepared by Kern County also evaluated potential impacts of Kern Countys modification of existing land use authorizations to include an expanded non-hazardous waste disposal area to facilitate the construction and operation of additional non-hazardous waste landfill units and an expanded non-DTSC permitted facility area to accommodate a soil stockpiles area; increases to non-hazardous waste truck traffic; increases to non-hazardous waste permitted disposal capacity; and construction and operation of a latex paint recycling building. DTSC has considered the potential impacts from activities regulated by Kern County. The modifications are subject to Kern Countys authority and are not subject to DTSCs regulatory authority, therefore these modifications were not considered in the facilitys Permit application to DTSC. The DTSC Permit Renewal does not permit any expansion of the facilitys hazardous waste disposal capacity. CH Buttonwillow, formerly Petroleum Waste, Inc., was originally constructed and began operations in 1983. In 1982, an EIR (State Clearinghouse Number 1982012858 and 1982012859) was prepared by Kern County and certified by the Kern County Board of Supervisors prior to approval of the facilitys Conditional Use Permit (CUP No. 2, Map No. 97). The California Department of Health Services, predecessor to DTSC, issued a Hazardous Waste Facility Permit to the facility in May 1983. In November 1994, Kern County prepared a Supplemental EIR (State Clearinghouse Number 1992042028) and was approved by the Kern County Board of Supervisors for various modifications to the DTSC Permit and CUP. In April 1996, DTSC issued an updated/renewed Hazardous Waste Facility Permit to reflect those modifications. The 1996 DTSC Hazardous Waste Facility Permit expired on April 6, 2006. A Permit Renewal application was timely submitted in October 2005 as required by California Code of Regulations, Title 22, Section 66270.10(h). The application was deemed complete by DTSC on December 27, 2005, thereby allowing the facility to operate pending issuance of a renewed Permit while DTSC performed a technical review of the permit application. The proposed project objectives include a decision on the DTSC permit authorizing various modifications for continued commercial hazardous waste management and disposal operations. The facility continues to operate in accordance with its existing Hazardous Waste Facility Permit until such time DTSC issues or denies a renewed permit (California Code of Regulations, Title 22, Section 66270.51(a)). The 2024 Final EIR prepared by Kern County included modifications to the Facility that encompassed both DTSC regulated and non-regulated activities. The proposed project involves continuation of activities and operations with changes as described above that were previously evaluated in the certified 2024 Final EIR prepared by Kern County. DTSC prepared an Addendum to the previously certified Kern County 2024 Final EIR to address activities associated with the Permit Renewal request and to update the analysis of the previously certified 2024 Final EIR pertaining to DTSCs regulatory authority. The environmental analysis relies on the analyses completed in the certified 2024 Final EIR prepared by Kern County and directly references the certified 2024 Final EIR prepared by Kern County, as appropriate. The continuance of the DTSC Permit would not result in new or substantially more severe significant impacts on the environment or otherwise include significant new information that would require a Supplemental or Subsequent EIR by DTSC. All proposed facility modifications are intended to prevent and minimize the release or threat of release of hazardous waste for protection of the environment.
