The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:

(a) In the wake of recent publicity surrounding planned and unplanned releases of toxic chemicals into the atmosphere, the public has become increasingly concerned about toxics in the air.

(b) The Congressional Research Service of the Library of Congress has concluded that 75 percent of the United States population lives in proximity to at least one facility that manufactures chemicals. An incomplete 1985 survey of large chemical companies conducted by the Congressional Research Service documented that nearly every chemical plant studied routinely releases into the surrounding air significant levels of substances proven to be or potentially hazardous to public health.

(c) Generalized emissions inventories compiled by air pollution control districts and air quality management districts in California confirm the findings of the Congressional Research Service survey as well as reveal that many other facilities and businesses which do not actually manufacture chemicals do use hazardous substances in sufficient quantities to expose, or in a manner that exposes, surrounding populations to toxic air releases.

(d) These releases may create localized concentrations or air toxics “hot spots” where emissions from specific sources may expose individuals and population groups to elevated risks of adverse health effects, including, but not limited to, cancer and contribute to the cumulative health risks of emissions from other sources in the area. In some cases where large populations may not be significantly affected by adverse health risks, individuals may be exposed to significant risks.

(e) Little data is currently available to accurately assess the amounts, types, and health impacts of routine toxic chemical releases into the air. As a result, there exists significant uncertainty about the amounts of potentially hazardous air pollutants which are released, the location of those releases, and the concentrations to which the public is exposed.

(f) The State of California has begun to implement a long-term program to identify, assess, and control ambient levels of hazardous air pollutants, but additional legislation is needed to provide for the collection and evaluation of information concerning the amounts, exposures, and short- and long-term health effects of hazardous substances regularly released to the surrounding atmosphere from specific sources of hazardous releases.

(g) In order to more effectively implement control strategies for those materials posing an unacceptable risk to the public health, additional information on the sources of potentially hazardous air pollutants is necessary.

(h) It is in the public interest to ascertain and measure the amounts and types of hazardous releases and potentially hazardous releases from specific sources that may be exposing people to those releases, and to assess the health risks to those who are exposed.

(Added by Stats. 1987, Ch. 1252, Sec. 1. Section operative July 1, 1988, pursuant to Section 44384.)