SF 1962

as introduced - 80th Legislature (1997 - 1998) Posted on 12/15/2009 12:00am

  1.1                          A bill for an act 
  1.2             relating to the environment; requiring public hearings 
  1.3             and legislative review of any proposed state actions 
  1.4             related to the atmospheric transport of ozone, 
  1.5             including draft and final state implementation plans 
  1.6             to be submitted to the United States Environmental 
  1.7             Protection Agency; requiring prior legislative 
  1.8             approval of and prohibiting the submission of state 
  1.9             implementation plans under certain circumstances; 
  1.10            proposing coding for new law in Minnesota Statutes, 
  1.11            chapter 116. 
  1.12  BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.13     Section 1.  [116.741] [OZONE ATTAINMENT.] 
  1.14     Subdivision 1.  [TITLE.] This section may be referred to as 
  1.15  the ozone attainment state implementation plan act. 
  1.16     Subd. 2.  [DEFINITIONS.] For the purposes of this section, 
  1.17  "stakeholder" means, but is not necessarily limited to, 
  1.18  representatives of state and local governments including elected 
  1.19  officials and representatives of consumer, business, labor, 
  1.20  civic, and environmental organizations.  
  1.21     Subd. 3.  [FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.] The legislature of the 
  1.22  state of Minnesota hereby finds that: 
  1.23     (1) the federal Clean Air Act, as amended, United States 
  1.24  Code, title 42, section 7401 et seq., contains a comprehensive 
  1.25  regulatory scheme for the control of emissions from mobile and 
  1.26  stationary sources; 
  1.27     (2) ozone and other pollutants have declined substantially 
  1.28  during the past 25 years throughout the United States due to 
  2.1   implementation of the Clean Air Act, and additional air quality 
  2.2   improvements will result as the 1990 Clean Air Act amendments 
  2.3   are implemented; 
  2.4      (3) implementation of the Clean Air Act, as amended, 
  2.5   together with other local emission control actions, will help 
  2.6   states to attain the national ambient air quality standard for 
  2.7   ozone; 
  2.8      (4) in response to concerns raised by certain northeastern 
  2.9   states about the interstate transport of ozone, the United 
  2.10  States Environmental Protection Agency has convened the Ozone 
  2.11  Transport Assessment Group (OTAG), involving representatives 
  2.12  from 37 eastern states, including Minnesota, to consider means 
  2.13  to reduce the atmospheric transport of ozone; 
  2.14     (5) ground-level ozone, a main ingredient of urban smog, is 
  2.15  caused by the photochemical reaction of natural and manmade 
  2.16  emissions of nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds by 
  2.17  sunlight on hot days; 
  2.18     (6) computer modeling studies prepared by OTAG indicate 
  2.19  that: 
  2.20     (i) ozone nonattainment is caused predominantly by local 
  2.21  emission sources in densely populated urbanized areas; 
  2.22     (ii) emissions originating in Minnesota do not contribute 
  2.23  significantly to ozone nonattainment in other states or regions; 
  2.24  and 
  2.25     (iii) even extreme emission controls imposed locally or in 
  2.26  upwind areas would not permit a few densely populated urban 
  2.27  areas to demonstrate attainment of the national ozone standard; 
  2.28     (7) OTAG recommendations for emission control actions will 
  2.29  form the basis for the United States Environmental Protection 
  2.30  Agency enforcement actions under the Clean Air Act, including 
  2.31  the preparation and submission of state implementation plans 
  2.32  potentially requiring emission control actions in Minnesota not 
  2.33  specifically mandated by the Clean Air Act amendments of 1990; 
  2.34     (8) emission controls for stationary and mobile sources 
  2.35  proposed by OTAG are more stringent and more costly than those 
  2.36  mandated by the Clean Air Act amendments of 1990, and could 
  3.1   impair the competitiveness of businesses and industries in 
  3.2   Minnesota, with negligible environmental benefits, and with 
  3.3   adverse effects on employment, economic development, and income 
  3.4   in Minnesota; and 
  3.5      (9) legislative oversight of proposed regulatory actions 
  3.6   related to the control of ozone and precursor emissions 
  3.7   generated by sources in Minnesota, including the preparation and 
  3.8   submission of state implementation plans for ozone attainment, 
  3.9   is in the public interest.  
  3.10     Subd. 4.  [REVIEW OF PROPOSED STATE IMPLEMENTATION PLANS 
  3.11  RELATED TO OZONE.] (a) Upon the issuance of a request by the 
  3.12  United States Environmental Protection Agency for submission of 
  3.13  a state implementation plan for Minnesota related to ozone 
  3.14  attainment, the commissioner of the agency shall immediately 
  3.15  notify the senate and house committees with jurisdiction over 
  3.16  the environment of the request, and shall provide the committees 
  3.17  with copies of any state implementation plan prepared pursuant 
  3.18  to the request not less than 60 days prior to the submission of 
  3.19  the state implementation plan to the United States Environmental 
  3.20  Protection Agency. 
  3.21     (b) Within a reasonable time following receipt of the state 
  3.22  implementation plan, the senate and house committees with 
  3.23  jurisdiction over the environment shall convene public hearings 
  3.24  to receive comments from agencies of government and other 
  3.25  interested parties on the prospective economic and environmental 
  3.26  impacts of the state implementation plan, including impacts on 
  3.27  energy use, the environment, economic development, utility costs 
  3.28  and rates, transportation fuel costs, and industrial 
  3.29  competitiveness. 
  3.30     (c) In the absence of an act of the legislature approving 
  3.31  it, the commissioner shall not submit to the United States 
  3.32  Environmental Protection Agency any state implementation plan 
  3.33  related to ozone attainment that would impose emission controls 
  3.34  in Minnesota more stringent than necessary for Minnesota to 
  3.35  demonstrate attainment with any national ambient air quality 
  3.36  standard for ozone, or adopt any regulations implementing such a 
  4.1   state implementation plan, unless it can be shown that: 
  4.2      (1) manmade emission sources located within Minnesota 
  4.3   contribute significantly to nonattainment or inability to 
  4.4   maintain an ozone standard in another state; and 
  4.5      (2) feasible emission reductions in such other nonattaining 
  4.6   state would not permit such state to demonstrate attainment and 
  4.7   maintenance of an ozone standard. 
  4.8      (d) Regulations implementing any state implementation plan 
  4.9   submitted to the committees under paragraph (a) shall not take 
  4.10  effect until the later of: 
  4.11     (1) 60 days after the state implementation plan was 
  4.12  submitted to the committee under paragraph (a); or 
  4.13     (2) the written approval of the state implementation plan 
  4.14  by the United States Environmental Protection Agency. 
  4.15     (e) Where there is a determination pursuant to paragraph 
  4.16  (c) that manmade emissions originating in Minnesota are 
  4.17  contributing significantly to another state's inability to 
  4.18  attain or maintain an ozone national ambient air quality 
  4.19  standard, then the agency shall convene a stakeholder process 
  4.20  among affected areas, with opportunity for public participation, 
  4.21  to develop cooperative approaches for resolving interstate ozone 
  4.22  transport issues.