The governing board of a school district may not approve a project involving the acquisition of a schoolsite by a school district, unless all of the following occur:

(a) The school district, as the lead agency, as defined in Section 21067 of the Public Resources Code, determines that the property purchased or to be built upon is not any of the following:

(1) The site of a current or former hazardous waste disposal site or solid waste disposal site, unless if the site was a former solid waste disposal site, the governing board of the school district concludes that the wastes have been removed.

(2) A hazardous substance release site identified by the Department of Toxic Substances Control in a current list adopted pursuant to Section 25356 of the Health and Safety Code for removal or remedial action pursuant to Chapter 6.8 (commencing with Section 25300) of Division 20 of the Health and Safety Code.

(3) A site that contains one or more pipelines, situated underground or aboveground, that carries hazardous substances, extremely hazardous substances, or hazardous wastes, unless the pipeline is a natural gas line that is used only to supply natural gas to that school or neighborhood.

(b) The school district, as the lead agency, as defined in Section 21067 of the Public Resources Code, in preparing the environmental impact report or negative declaration has consulted with the administering agency in which the proposed schoolsite is located, pursuant to Section 2735.3 of Title 19 of the California Code of Regulations, and with any air pollution control district or air quality management district having jurisdiction in the area, to identify both permitted and nonpermitted facilities within that district’s authority, including, but not limited to, freeways and other busy traffic corridors, large agricultural operations, and railyards, within one-fourth of a mile of the proposed schoolsite, that might reasonably be anticipated to emit hazardous air emissions, or to handle hazardous or extremely hazardous materials, substances, or waste. The school district, as the lead agency, shall include a list of the locations for which information is sought.

(c) The governing board of the school district makes one of the following written findings:

(1) Consultation identified none of the facilities or significant pollution sources specified in subdivision (b).

(2) The facilities or other pollution sources specified in subdivision (b) exist, but one of the following conditions applies:

(A) The health risks from the facilities or other pollution sources do not and will not constitute an actual or potential endangerment of public health to persons who would attend or be employed at the school.

(B) The governing board finds that corrective measures required under an existing order by another governmental entity that has jurisdiction over the facilities or other pollution sources will, before the school is occupied, result in the mitigation of all chronic or accidental hazardous air emissions to levels that do not constitute an actual or potential endangerment of public health to persons who would attend or be employed at the proposed school. If the governing board makes this finding, the governing board shall also make a subsequent finding, prior to the occupancy of the school, that the emissions have been mitigated to these levels.

(C) For a schoolsite with a boundary that is within 500 feet of the edge of the closest traffic lane of a freeway or other busy traffic corridor, the governing board of the school district determines, through analysis pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (b) of Section 44360 of the Health and Safety Code, based on appropriate air dispersion modeling, and after considering any potential mitigation measures, that the air quality at the proposed site is such that neither short-term nor long-term exposure poses significant health risks to pupils.

(D) The governing board finds that neither of the conditions set forth in subparagraph (B) or (C) can be met, and the school district is unable to locate an alternative site that is suitable due to a severe shortage of sites that meet the requirements in subdivision (a) of Section 17213. If the governing board makes this finding, the governing board shall adopt a statement of Overriding Considerations pursuant to Section 15093 of Title 14 of the California Code of Regulations.

(d) As used in this section:

(1) “Hazardous air emissions” means emissions into the ambient air of air contaminants that have been identified as a toxic air contaminant by the State Air Resources Board or by the air pollution control officer for the jurisdiction in which the project is located. As determined by the air pollution control officer, hazardous air emissions also means emissions into the ambient air from any substance identified in subdivisions (a) to (f), inclusive, of Section 44321 of the Health and Safety Code.

(2) “Hazardous substance” means any substance defined in Section 25316 of the Health and Safety Code.

(3) “Extremely hazardous substances” means any material defined pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (g) of Section 25532 of the Health and Safety Code.

(4) “Hazardous waste” means any waste defined in Section 25117 of the Health and Safety Code.

(5) “Hazardous waste disposal site” means any site defined in Section 25114 of the Health and Safety Code.

(6) “Administering agency” means any agency designated pursuant to Section 25502 of the Health and Safety Code.

(7) “Handle” means handle as defined in Article 1 (commencing with Section 25500) of Chapter 6.95 of Division 20 of the Health and Safety Code.

(8) “Facilities” means any source with a potential to use, generate, emit or discharge hazardous air pollutants, including, but not limited to, pollutants that meet the definition of a hazardous substance, and whose process or operation is identified as an emission source pursuant to the most recent list of source categories published by the State Air Resources Board.

(9) “Freeway or other busy traffic corridors” means those roadways that, on an average day, have traffic in excess of 50,000 vehicles in a rural area as defined in Section 50101 of the Health and Safety Code, and 100,000 vehicles in an urban area, as defined in Section 50104.7 of the Health and Safety Code.

(Amended by Stats. 2007, Ch. 130, Sec. 54. Effective January 1, 2008.)