Update on California Shenanigans

[BLHamrick@AOL.COM]

Just to keep everyone informed, State Senator Romero has introduced two bills.  SB 13 is an exact duplicate of her vetoed SB 1970 from the last legislative session.  That bill called for clean-up to background levels using the best available technology, and prohibited "transfer" of any materials above background to persons without a specific license (with a few ill-conceived exceptions).


Her SB 201 proposes to move all Radiologic Health Branch activities (the agency that currently implements the "agreement" with the NRC) from the Department of Health Services to the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC), with the exception of the control of materials used in nuclear medicine when they are "on-site" at a "healthcare facility."  I.e., only when they are on-site, not when they are transported from the pharmacy, and not when they are disposed via effluent, decay-in-storage, or any other manner.  The motivation behind this particular bill, I believe, is a mistaken impression that if the activities move to DTSC, which is a part of Cal-EPA, then the EPA CERCLA criteria will drive clean-ups.  It's a long story, but I'm fairly certain that's what's behind this.


In their first major PR jaunt of the season, Senator Romero and Daniel Hirsch teamed up with CBS' Los Angeles affiliate who did a "Special Assignment" report, which aired Thursday night on the 11:00 pm news.  No legitimate experts, and short on facts.  It was a huge scare campaign about how much radioactive material is stolen or missing, and how it's happening "right under the noses" of the agency.  Knowing all the background I do (which is all publicly available information), it was painfully obvious that they were trying to frighten the public and the legislators into demanding that SB 201 be passed to move the control agency to DTSC.


But, what was worse was the statements such as "one speck of [radioactive] dust and you will get cancer."  This is a sure way to cause utter chaos if we actually do experience an RDD detonation.  It is HORRIBLY irresponsible in my opinion.


I just wanted to put this out there, in case you have California colleagues that may want to start getting involved in this new season of legislative lunacy.


Barbara L. Hamrick