(a) The department shall adopt regulations pursuant to this section, which authorize the reuse of pulping liquors that are reclaimed in a pulping liquor recovery furnace, and which are equivalent to the regulations in Section 261.4 (a)(6) of Title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations.

Until the department adopts these regulations, the regulations adopted by the Environmental Protection Agency regarding pulping liquors that are reclaimed in a pulping liquor recovery furnace and then reused in the pulping process, as set forth in Section 261.4 (a)(6) of Title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations, shall be deemed to be the regulations of the department.

(b) To the extent consistent with the federal act, and notwithstanding any other provision of law, organic materials, including, but not limited to, crude sulfate turpentine and methanol, that are derived from wood processed at kraft pulping mills to produce wood pulp, may be burned as a fuel by the mill which produced the materials, without obtaining a hazardous waste facilities permit or other grant of authorization from the department, if all of the following requirements are met:

(1) The materials exhibit only the characteristics listed in Section 66261.21 of, and paragraph (6) of subdivision (a) of Section 66261.24 of, Title 22 of the California Code of Regulations.

(2) The materials have heating values comparable to that of commercially available fuels.

(3) The materials are not contaminated or mixed with hazardous constituents from other processes.

(4) The combustion of the materials is regulated by an air pollution control district or air quality management district.

(Added by Stats. 1995, Ch. 401, Sec. 1. Effective January 1, 1996.)