Evaluation of Responsiveness of a California Central Coast Leaking Underground Fuel Tank Program: ABSTRACT

Abstract

The Coalition of Labor, Agriculture, and Business (COLAB) appointed a task force during 1993 to evaluate changes to the Santa Barbara County's LUFT and SMU programs to make them more responsive to the RP's needs, more cost efficient, more expeditious, and to regain local control of the LUFT program without sacrificing environmental quality or jeopardizing the health and safety of the local residents. The COLAB task force provided the County Health Care Services director with a comprehensive report recommending 25 changes to the LUFT/SMU guidance document and to department policy. These recommendations included the appointment of an advisory committee to review department policy and guidelines, limiting LUFT/SMU staff efforts that duplicate consultant activities, the development of a deminimus rule that would immediately close sites with insignificant levels and quantities of soil and/or groundwater contamination, adopt guidelines for the use of fate and transport models and risk assessments as a mechanism for site closure, speed review of work plans, develop uniform standards for sampling and reporting, consolidation of county permits for contaminated sites into one or two departments, grant exemptions for some permit requirements, develop a policy for distributing responsibility for commingled plumes among several parties, and to develop an appeals more » board for resolving disagreements between the responsible parties' consultants and the county. Various personnel changes were recommended with the intention of increasing the level of technical expertise and professionalism of the county's staff, and making the staff more responsive to the public. These recommendations included hiring an individual licensed in the field of engineering geology or hydrogeology, developing guidelines for conflict of interest, and hiring of an individual to aid the responsible parties in obtaining reimbursement from the state fund set up for that purpose pursuant to AB 2004. « less