DTSC In-depth

The Mission of the Department of Toxic Substances Control is to provide the highest level of safety, and to protect public health and the environment from toxic harm.

What follows are descriptions of the roles and responsibilities of DTSC's organizational programs.

• Statewide Cleanup Operations Division
  Thousands of properties throughout California are contaminated with some level of toxic substances. DTSC's Statewide Cleanup Operations Division conducts and oversees cleanup on an average of 220 of these sites at any given time. They also complete an average of 125 cleanups each year. This division has 124 staff members throughout the State who coordinate all aspects of the cleanup from investigation through certification. Expediting this cleanup work is one of the most important goals of the program. DTSC created the Voluntary Cleanup Program, Expedited Remedial Action Pilot program, and other "Brownfields" tools to encourage redevelopment of blighted urban areas. DTSC also encourages property owners to investigate and clean up contamination through a combination of low-interest loans. In 2001, the Investigating Site Contamination and Cleanup Loans and Environmental Assistance to Neighborhoods (ISCP and CLEAN) Programs received 11 loan applications totalling $7.9 million to investigate and clean up urban properties.
  
  
• School Property Evaluation and Cleanup Division
  The School Property Evaluation and Cleanup Division works to ensure that all new, existing, and proposed school sites are environmentally safe. State law requires all proposed school sites that will receive state funding for purchase or construction to go through DTSC's rigorous environmental review. If the properties were previously contaminated, DTSC Schools Division staff make sure they have been cleaned up to a level that is safe for students and faculty. Last year, the Division's staff increased from 11 to 28 in order to meet the State's needs for assessment, investigation, or cleanup of more than 450 different school sites in California.
  
  
• Office of Military Facilities
  The Office of Military Facilities (OMF) is responsible for investigation, technical assistance, and oversight of cleanup operations at contaminated California properties currently or previously operated by the Department of Defense. California has one-third of all the closing bases in the country and more than 1,000 formerly used defense sites. With a staff of approximately 66 people, OMF is currently engaged in cleaning up more than 160 current or former military installations statewide. This team faces some unique challenges including residual unexploded ordinance and chemical and biological munitions. They also encounter other explosive, reactive, and otherwise toxic substances that remain on the property. The size of these facilities, and the number of separate cleanup sites at each installation, are factors in planning for successful cleanup operations. Additionally, there is often a high level of community concern, so OMF works closely with military representatives, contractors, interested parties, other programs within DTSC, and members of the surrounding communities to address their concerns.
  
  
• Emergency Response and Statewide Operations Division
  DTSC's Emergency Response and Statewide Operations Division (ERSO) encompasses several elements that each meet an important need for the people of California. The Emergency Response Program provides immediate assistance in the case of sudden releases or threatened releases of hazardous materials. This program includes disaster response, illegal drug lab cleanup, and developing remediation guidelines for illegal drug labs, and off-highway removal. Part of the emergency response focus is maintaining a trained staff who are ready and willing to go into a raided home drug lab, a train derailment site, or an earthquake-damaged area to remove dangerous substances before people are injured. Because training is a crucial element in a quick and effective cleanup action, DTSC continually trains its emergency response staff and provides hazardous substance training to local agencies. ERSO also houses the Engineering and Geological Services Branch, which supports the other programs within DTSC by providing expert technical assistance. ERSO has lead responsibility for conducting cleanup and enforcement actions at several high profile federal Superfund sites including Casmalia Resources and Stringfellow.
  
  
• Planning and Management Branch
  The Planning and Management Branch is a headquarters organization responsible for developing and managing various federal grants which help fund the Site Mitigation and Brownfields Reuse Program. Staff analyze State and federal legislation, develop policy and procedure, coordinate the annual workplan, and perform consolidated budget and personnel functions. In addition, Site Mitigation and Brownfields Reuse maintains a database of confirmed and suspected hazardous waste substance release sites.

Restructuring of the Hazardous Waste Management Program, March 18, 2003 Memorandum

The Hazardous Waste Management Program (HWMP) regulates hazardous waste through its permitting, enforcement and Unified Program activities. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) authorizes DTSC to implement the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) program in California. The main focus of HWMP is to ensure the safe storage, treatment, transportation and disposal of hazardous wastes.

• Permitting & Corrective Action Division
  The Permitting Division authorizes facilities to treat, store, and dispose of hazardous waste in a manner consistent with federal, state, and local laws. Types of authorization include permits, emergency permits and variances. The purpose of this process is to ensure that these facilities and their operators meet requirements for safe operating conditions, financial assurance, and environmental monitoring. In California, DTSC has permitted more than 130 major facilities to treat, store, or dispose of hazardous waste, and there are more than 1,000 registered hazardous waste transporters. DTSC regulates the 5,000 businesses that conduct lower-risk treatment activities through a streamlined tiered permitting process that provides an appropriate level of oversight. In addition, the Division conducts the corrective action and closure programs, including long-term maintenance of closed facilities, for more than 300 closed hazardous waste facilities.
  
  
• Statewide Compliance Division
  The Statewide Compliance Division (SCD) monitors hazardous waste transfer, storage, treatment, and disposal facilities for illegal activity. SCD carries out a technical investigation program that provides sampling, technical site investigation, and expert testimony for civil and criminal investigations brought by the State Attorney General, District Attorneys, Regional Environmental Crimes Task Forces, and Federal Attorneys. Staff members conduct routine inspections, investigate complaints, monitor hazardous waste transporters and their manifests, and take enforcement action against those who violate hazardous waste laws. DTSC carries out its own statewide inspection program and responds to nearly 1,000 citizen complaints regarding hazardous waste handling per year. Staff members refer the bulk of these complaints to local government; however, DTSC conducts approximately 200 inspections a year, generating as many as 30 new enforcement cases as a result. In addition, SCD makes sure that commercial hazardous waste management facilities have adequate financial resources to cover both sudden accidental liability and the long-term costs of closing the facility.
  
  
• State Regulatory Programs Division
  The State Regulatory Programs Division (SRPD) oversees the implementation of the hazardous waste generator and onsite treatment program, one of the six environmental programs at the local level consolidated within the Unified Program. SRPD participates in the triennial review of 72 Certified Unified Program Agencies (CUPAs) to ensure that their programs are consistent statewide, conform to standards, and deliver quality environmental protection at the local level. This includes working closely with the CUPAs, and providing technical assistance and training. SRPD also carries out the State's hazardous waste recycling and resource recovery program, a waste evaluation program to assist in waste determinations, and the household hazardous waste and agricultural chemical collection programs. The Division conducts a corrective action oversight program that assures any releases of hazardous constituents at generator facilities that conduct onsite treatment of hazardous waste are safely and effectively remediated.

• Office of Pollution Prevention and Technology Development
  The Office of Pollution Prevention and Technology Development promotes hazardous waste source reduction and environmental technologies through statewide leadership, demonstration projects, technology evaluations, and assistance to technology developers, local governments, and regulatory agencies. The Pollution Prevention Branch focuses on source reduction, which is any practice that eliminates or reduces the amount or hazardous properties of waste generated. DTSC's pollution prevention program supports local pollution prevention programs, ensures that inspectors and permit staff promote pollution prevention during routine regulatory activities, develops informational materials (fact sheets, checklists, brochures, videos, technical reports, etc.), and works with generators to identify and implement pollution prevention.
  
  The Technology Development Branch evaluates the effectiveness and reliability of hazardous waste technologies. This technical group offers assistance to other DTSC programs in evaluating technology performance and determining appropriate operating and monitoring requirements. The Branch implemented an environmental technology certification program in 1994, which can draw on the expertise of other parts of Cal/EPA as well as outside consultants. Providing assistance to developers of improved technology helps bring new ideas to market, and independently verified performance data is used to promote the use of cost-effective environmental technologies. The program has certified 25 hazardous waste environmental technologies, including pollution prevention technologies, waste treatment technologies, and quicker and more effective monitoring technologies for detecting contaminants in soil and water. The Branch also participates in a national forum that provides training via Internet-based classes.
  
  
• Human and Ecological Risk Division
  The Human and Ecological Risk Division (HERD) scientists provide expert consultation and support to other DTSC programs in the areas of toxicology, human and ecological risk assessment, exposure assessment and industrial hygiene. Staff scientists in the Waste Evaluation Unit define and classify wastes. They provide cutting-edge information about the composition and risks of toxic substances, helping to avoid exposure that may be dangerous to children and adults as well as to sensitive ecological receptors. Their determinations affect the way Californians handle individual substances, and sometimes they impact entire industries. The Multi-Media (air, land, water) Section develops and sets up analytical tools and models to help predict the effects of contaminants under varying circumstances. The Industrial Hygiene Section manages DTSC's worker field safety program, setting exposure limits and safety guidelines that protect DTSC employees engaged in field activities.
  
  
• Hazardous Materials Laboratory
  The Hazardous Materials Laboratory (HML) is an analytical chemistry laboratory with facilities in Berkeley and Los Angeles. The lab provides DTSC and other boards and departments within Cal/EPA with sample analysis for both inorganic and organic chemicals. Scientists identify and quantify concentrations of toxic chemicals in many different media including air, water, soil, sludge, hazardous waste streams, and biological and human tissues. Chemists in HML also develop new analytical methods as new regulations and laws are adopted for hazardous waste management. Working with other Science, Pollution Prevention and Technology Programs, HML evaluates and certifies new technologies and processes for treating and recycling hazardous waste. In addition, HML provides DTSC with data validation, data interpretation, and review of sampling analysis plans and quality assurance program plans. Finally, HML provides basic and advanced training courses encompassing sampling plans and techniques, analytical procedures, and data interpretation.
  

• Regional Coordinator/Ombudsman
  DTSC's Regional Coordinator works with the management teams in the four major regional offices and two satellite offices to ensure that the tools and policies of DTSC are in place so that the department's work is carried out effectively. The Regional Coordinator/Ombudsman also represents the Department through presentations, task force participation, and ombudsman functions.
  
  
• Public and Business Liaisons
  The DTSC Public and Business Liaisons provide a critical regulatory assistance service to the public. At its core are four Hazardous Substances Scientists, one in each of the major Regional Offices, with a combined total of 45 years of experience in DTSC. A Public and Business Liaison's full-time job is to respond to inquiries from the regulated community, environmental firms, other agencies, and the public at large. Typically, they respond to hundreds of calls per week and, increasingly, to e-mails. In addition to traditional references (regulations, policies and procedures, and other documents), they rely on contacts in and outside of DTSC who are experts in specialized fields. In addition, program staff throughout the Regional offices back up the Public and Business Liaisons in their absence so that the service is uninterrupted.
  
  
• Office of Environmental Information Management
  The Office of Environmental Information Management (OEIM) is responsible for all of the Department's personal computers, network infrastructure, data communications, and database applications. OEIM has a staff of 55 Information Systems Analysts and Programmer Analysts. These highly skilled technicians create applications, develop and maintain network infrastructure, and operate hazardous waste generator information services. The Generator Information Services staff operates the Hazardous Waste Manifesting Program and issues EPA ID Numbers.
  
  
• Office of Cost Recovery & Reimbursement Policy
  DTSC's Office of Cost Recovery and Reimbursement Policy oversees the department's cost recovery efforts, an important process which supports much of DTSC's work. DTSC makes every effort to recover State funds used in oversight or remediation from those parties who are legally responsible for the contamination. In addition, DTSC has the authority to recover its costs for overseeing corrective action done by owners and operators of permitted hazardous waste facilities. DTSC averaged $11 million per year from cost recovery efforts in recent years, including reimbursement costs from voluntary cleanups. The cost recovery process is successful because all DTSC staff members track and report all costs and time by site or project. This information is used to compile quarterly billings. In the event that a responsible party disputes an invoice or does not pay, this office collects through the courts, administers the dispute resolution policy, or manages the flow of bankruptcy information within DTSC. They may also testify as an expert witness on DTSC's accounting system, billing process, time-keeping system, and indirect cost rates in cost recovery cases.
  
  
• Audits and Investigations
  The Office of Audits and Investigations ensures that DTSC complies with oversight measures created by the State Legislature and conducts mandated internal and external audits of various DTSC functions.

• Office of Legal Counsel
  The Office of Legal Counsel and Criminal Investigations has three components, the Office of Legal Counsel, the Criminal Investigations Branch and the Task Force Support and Special Investigations Branch. The Office of Legal Counsel staff of 22 attorneys advises DTSC on a wide range of legal matters, including administrative and civil enforcement actions, permit decisions regarding hazardous waste facilities, hazardous waste site cleanups, legislative and policy positions, regulatory changes, Public Record Act issues, and personnel actions, among other things. DTSC attorneys research cutting-edge environmental law topics, such as parallel civil and criminal enforcement actions, the adequacy of captive insurance, an environmental audit privilege, lender liability, arbitration and mediation, and scientific evidence admissibility. Attorneys work closely with DTSC program staff and the California Attorney General's Office on matters ranging from prosecuting environmental violations and permit revocation, to cost recovery and collection of environmental fees.
  
  
• Criminal Investigations Branch
  The Criminal Investigations Branch (CIB) is staffed with approximately 20 criminal investigators and support personnel. The investigators are sworn peace officers with the powers of arrest, and search and seizure, the only peace officers in the California Environmental Protection Agency (Cal/EPA). CIB is charged primarily with investigating alleged criminal violations of the Hazardous Waste Control Law and routinely pursues a wide range of both felony and misdemeanor cases. This Branch participates in criminal investigations in both a lead and support capacity and works closely with other law enforcement agencies, including district attorneys' offices throughout the state, the federal Environmental Protection Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and law enforcement personnel in other states. CIB also conducts DTSC's internal investigations.
  
  
• Task Force Investigations Support
  Task force work includes participating in environmental crimes task forces, serving as technical experts to task forces, promoting consistent statewide application of hazardous waste laws and regulations, and helping to develop and interpret hazardous waste policy for local agencies and circuit prosecutors within the task force setting. This work also includes assisting the Cal/EPA cross-media enforcement unit on high priority criminal, civil, and multimedia cases jointly investigated and prosecuted with other Cal/EPA regulatory agencies, the California Attorney General's Office, and local prosecutors. The special investigations component of the Branch's work includes the resolution of cases and the investigation of complaints referred by DTSC's Statewide Compliance Division. The Branch also provides technical investigation assistance and expert testimony for civil and criminal investigations.
  
  
• Office of Environmental Analysis and Regulations
  The Office of Environmental Analysis and Regulations (OEAR) manages DTSC's rulemakings and oversees California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) compliance. All of the programs within DTSC adhere to CEQA, the Administrative Procedures Act, the Political Reform Act, and the Financial Integrity and State Manager's Accountability Act under the watchful eye of this office. This office has central review and approval authority for documents and actions required under those statutes. They also maintain a database of documents for budget, planning, and litigation purposes. During fiscal year 2000-2001, staff reviewed and approved 87 Notices of Exemption, 84 Negative Declarations, seven Environmental Impact Reports and six Responsible Agency Reviews. In addition, staff members forwarded 1,975 "interested party" documents from the State Clearinghouse to DTSC regional offices.

• Office of Civil Rights
  The Office of Civil Rights (OCR) supports a healthy working environment free of discrimination and ensures equality in all aspects of DTSC's personnel management practices and policies for department employees and applicants. Staff members conduct investigations in response to complaints and provide consultation on how to handle discrimination or harassment. In addition, this office arranges for employee training on EEO issues such as Preventing Sexual Harassment classes and management training on the Americans with Disabilities Act and Reasonable Accommodations.
  
  
• Training and Quality Services
  The Training and Quality Services Unit provides training and team and meeting facilitation services and consultation, to enhance organizational effectiveness and foster continual improvement. The unit arranges or conducts training on a range of subject areas including technical, general, and management classes that are responsive to new and existing staff needs, and program changes and innovations. DTSC recognizes that taking care of employees through an effective and meaningful Employee Recognition Program, is a critical element to maintaining a high-performing staff.

• Financial Operations
  The DTSC Financial Operations staff provides budgeting, fiscal systems, accounting, and cost recovery services, as well as overseeing revenue projections and collections. The budget, fiscal systems, and accounting units serve the traditional roles in a governmental agency of monitoring and reporting expenditures to ensure consistency with state and federal requirements. The cost recovery unit accumulates cost and time data, which has been carefully tracked throughout the month by all DTSC employees, and in turn sends quarterly bills to the responsible parties for the costs of DTSC's oversight and cleanup activity at and in support of specific sites. The fees unit administers the various hazardous waste activity fees such as permit fees and application fees that are established in the Health and Safety Code and contribute to operating the program.
  
  
• Business Services
  The Business Services Unit provides the rest of DTSC's programs and staff with the things they need to accomplish the mission of protecting human health and the environment. This section is responsible for finding and buying goods and services necessary to operate an organization of more than 1,000 people fanned out across the state. Among their duties are commodity acquisitions, contract procurement, work service authorizations, equipment orders, contract administration, facility and space management, and records management.
  
  
• Human Resources
  Human Resources Branch staff are responsible for recruiting and appointing highly qualified and skilled people to the DTSC organization. As the problem of hazardous substances in our communities continues to grow and change, DTSC must expand its efforts by both attracting and retaining qualified personnel. DTSC has very specific talent requirements. The Department's staff includes roughly 189 Hazardous Substance Scientists, 110 Engineers, 41 Geologists, 20 Toxicologists, 10 Industrial Hygienists, and 30 Public Participation Specialists. The remainder of DTSC's staff provides various types of technical administrative support. The Human Resources Branch also conducts the complex functions of payroll and benefit administration, position classification, labor relations, workers' compensation, and office health and safety activities.
  
  
• Regional Administrative Services
  Regional Administrative Services is the administrative support arm for each of the four DTSC regional offices in Sacramento, Berkeley, Glendale, Cypress, and the satellite offices in Clovis and San Diego. The responsibilities of these offices include facility management, purchasing, file room management, clerical support, and personnel management. These offices operate in close conjunction with their companion offices at DTSC Headquarters.