1.1                          A bill for an act 
  1.2             relating to environment; modifying provisions relating 
  1.3             to mercury reduction; appropriating money.  
  1.4   BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.5      Section 1.  [VOLUNTARY LOW-LEVEL MERCURY MONITORING PILOT 
  1.6   PROJECT.] 
  1.7      The commissioner shall initiate a voluntary low-level 
  1.8   mercury monitoring pilot project, whereby a minimum of ten major 
  1.9   municipal wastewater systems agree to conduct low-level mercury 
  1.10  monitoring at least three times per year over a two-year 
  1.11  period.  For the purposes of this section, "major" means those 
  1.12  municipal wastewater systems having an annual average design 
  1.13  flow rate in excess of 2,000,000 gallons per day.  Pilot project 
  1.14  participants shall apply to the Minnesota pollution control 
  1.15  agency for reimbursement of their documented low-level mercury 
  1.16  monitoring expenses.  At the conclusion of the pilot project, 
  1.17  the commissioner shall evaluate the results and recommend to the 
  1.18  legislature whether additional low-level mercury monitoring is 
  1.19  warranted.  If the commissioner recommends additional 
  1.20  monitoring, the commissioner may implement low-level mercury 
  1.21  monitoring in reissued or new National Pollutant Discharge 
  1.22  Elimination System/State Disposal System discharge permits on a 
  1.23  voluntary basis.  
  1.24     Sec. 2.  [APPROPRIATION.] 
  2.1      $50,000 is appropriated from the general fund to the 
  2.2   Minnesota pollution control agency for the 2002-2003 biennium 
  2.3   for the pilot project authorized in section 1.