This website will be unavailable from Friday, April 26, 2024 at 6:00 p.m. through Monday, April 29, 2024 at 7:00 a.m. due to data center maintenance.
79R1122 JJT-F
By: Rodriguez H.B. No. 2577
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to air pollutant emissions from electric generating
facilities; providing for an administrative penalty.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Chapter 382, Health and Safety Code, is amended
by adding Subchapter I to read as follows:
SUBCHAPTER I. EMISSIONS REDUCTIONS REQUIRED
FOR ELECTRIC GENERATING FACILITIES
Sec. 382.351. DEFINITIONS. In this subchapter:
(1) "Annual emissions period" means the period from
May 1 of each year to April 30 of the following year.
(2) "Electric generating facility" means a facility
located in this state that generates electric energy for
compensation, including a facility owned or operated by a municipal
corporation, electric cooperative, or river authority.
Sec. 382.352. AUTHORITY TO REDUCE AIR CONTAMINANT
EMISSIONS. This subchapter does not limit the authority of the
commission to require reductions of emissions of any air
contaminant from any electric generating facility or class of
electric generating facilities.
Sec. 382.353. EMISSIONS ALLOCATION REGIONS. (a) The
commission by rule shall establish an East Texas Region, a West
Texas Region, and an El Paso Region as emissions allocation regions
for purposes of allocation and trading of air contaminant emissions
allowances under this subchapter.
(b) The East Texas Region contains all counties that are
traversed by or located east of Interstate Highway 35 and includes
Bosque, Coryell, Hood, Parker, Somervell, and Wise Counties.
(c) The West Texas Region includes all of the state not
contained in the East Texas Region or the El Paso Region.
(d) The El Paso Region includes El Paso County.
Sec. 382.354. NITROGEN OXIDES EMISSIONS REDUCTIONS IN EAST
TEXAS REGION. For each annual emissions period, the total annual
emissions of nitrogen oxides from electric generating facilities in
the East Texas Region may not exceed 97,500 tons.
Sec. 382.355. NITROGEN OXIDES EMISSIONS REDUCTIONS IN WEST
TEXAS AND EL PASO REGIONS. (a) For each annual emissions period,
the total annual emissions of nitrogen oxides from electric
generating facilities in the West Texas Region or in the El Paso
Region may not exceed 25 percent of the total emissions of nitrogen
oxides in that region from electric generating facilities during
1997, as reported to the commission.
(b) If the commission or the United States Environmental
Protection Agency determines that the reductions in nitrogen oxides
emissions in the El Paso Region required by Subsection (a) would
result in increased ambient ozone levels in El Paso County,
electric generating facilities in the El Paso Region are exempt
from the application of Subsection (a).
Sec. 382.356. SULPHUR DIOXIDE EMISSIONS REDUCTIONS IN
EMISSIONS ALLOCATION REGIONS. For each annual emissions period,
the total annual emissions of sulphur dioxide from coal-fired
electric generating facilities in an emissions allocation region
may not exceed 25 percent of the total emissions of sulphur dioxide
from coal-fired electric generating facilities in that region
during 1997, as reported to the commission.
Sec. 382.357. MERCURY EMISSIONS REDUCTIONS. (a) For each
annual emissions period, the total annual emissions of mercury and
mercury compounds from each electric generating facility may not
exceed 10 percent of the facility's total emissions of mercury and
mercury compounds during 2002, as reported to the commission.
(b) For an electric generating facility that was not in
operation for all or any part of 2002 or that was not operating at
full capacity for a period during that year, the commission may
impose for the facility a maximum allowable level of emissions of
mercury and mercury compounds that the commission computes from
convincing evidence and that corresponds to 10 percent of an
emissions level the commission estimates the facility would have
emitted had the facility operated at full capacity throughout that
year.
Sec. 382.358. ALLOCATION AND BUYING OR TRADING OF EMISSIONS
ALLOWANCES. (a) The commission by rule shall:
(1) provide for the allocation of emissions allowances
of nitrogen oxides and sulphur dioxide among electric generating
facilities in each emissions allocation region; and
(2) establish a market system for electric generating
facilities to buy or trade the emissions allowances with other
electric generating facilities in the same region.
(b) The rules must allocate to each electric generating
facility for each annual emissions period a number of nitrogen
oxides emissions allowances and a number of sulphur dioxide
emissions allowances, with each allowance equal to a quantity of
the applicable air contaminant for a 12-month period, measured by
weight, that permit emissions of that quantity of the air
contaminant from the facility in an annual emissions period.
(c) Emissions allowances for an air contaminant may be
bought or traded only for the same air contaminant.
(d) Emissions allowances for sulphur dioxide may be
allocated and bought or traded only among coal-fired electric
generating facilities.
(e) The rules must allow an electric generating facility in
the El Paso Region to meet emissions allowances by using credits
from emissions reductions achieved in Ciudad Juarez, United Mexican
States.
(f) A person possessing market power may not withhold
emissions allowances from the market in a manner that is
unreasonably discriminatory or tends to unreasonably restrict,
impair, or reduce the level of competition.
Sec. 382.359. EMISSIONS OFFSETS FOR NEW ELECTRIC GENERATING
FACILITIES. The commission may not issue a permit for the emission
of nitrogen oxides or sulphur dioxide by a new electric generating
facility unless the permit applicant:
(1) has acquired emissions allowances through the
emissions allowance market system established under this
subchapter; or
(2) demonstrates to the commission that emissions of
those contaminants from the facility will be offset by reductions
in emissions of those contaminants from industrial facilities or
mobile diesel engine sources located in the same emissions
allocation region.
Sec. 382.360. ENFORCEMENT. (a) The commission shall
penalize an electric generating facility that emits in an annual
emissions period a quantity of mercury or mercury compounds greater
than that allowed for that period by Section 382.357 and commission
rules adopted under that section. The commission shall penalize
the facility by:
(1) assessing an administrative penalty, in an amount
determined by commission rules, for each unit weight of mercury or
mercury compounds emissions by which the facility exceeded the
emissions limitation; and
(2) issuing an order reducing the quantity of mercury
and mercury compounds that the facility may emit in the next annual
emissions period by a quantity of emissions equal to the excessive
emissions in the annual emissions period in which the facility
emitted the excessive quantity of mercury or mercury compounds.
(b) The commission shall penalize an electric generating
facility that emits in an annual emissions period a quantity of
nitrogen oxides or sulphur dioxide that exceeds the facility's
allowances for that air contaminant by:
(1) assessing an administrative penalty, in an amount
determined by commission rules, for each allocated unit of air
contaminant emissions by which the facility exceeded its allocated
emissions allowances for that air contaminant; and
(2) issuing an order reducing the facility's allocated
emissions allowances for that air contaminant for the next annual
emissions period by a quantity of emissions equal to the excessive
emissions in the annual emissions period in which the facility
emitted the excessive quantity of that air contaminant.
(c) In addition to the penalties required by Subsection (a),
the commission may penalize an electric generating facility that
emits in an annual emissions period a quantity of mercury or mercury
compounds greater than that allowed by Section 382.357 and
commission rules adopted under that section by:
(1) ordering the facility to cease operations; or
(2) taking other enforcement action provided by
commission rules.
(d) In addition to the penalties required by Subsection (b),
the commission may penalize an electric generating facility that
emits in an annual emissions period a quantity of nitrogen oxides or
sulphur dioxide that exceeds the facility's allocated emissions
allowances for that air contaminant by:
(1) ordering the facility to cease operations; or
(2) taking other enforcement action provided by
commission rules.
(e) The limitation provided by Section 7.052, Water Code, on
the amount of an administrative penalty that may be assessed does
not apply to a penalty assessed under this section.
SECTION 2. Section 39.264, Utilities Code, is amended by
amending Subsections (d), (e), (f), (l), and (r) and adding
Subsection (t) to read as follows:
(d) A municipal corporation, electric cooperative, or river
authority may exclude any electric generating facilities of 25
megawatts or less from the requirements prescribed by this section.
Not later than January 1, 2000, a municipal corporation, electric
cooperative, or river authority must inform the conservation
commission of its intent to exclude those facilities. An electric
generating facility excluded under this section is subject to
Subchapter I, Chapter 382, Health and Safety Code.
(e) The owner or operator of an electric generating facility
shall apply to the conservation commission for a permit for the
emission of air contaminants on or before September 1, 2000. A
permit issued by the conservation commission under this section
shall require the facility to achieve emissions reductions or
trading emissions allowances as provided by this section. The
conservation commission shall amend the permit to require as a
permit condition that the facility achieve emissions reductions or
trading emissions allowances as required by Subchapter I, Chapter
382, Health and Safety Code. If the facility uses coal as a fuel,
the permit must also be conditioned on the facility's emissions
meeting opacity limitations provided by conservation commission
rules. Notwithstanding Section 382.0518(g), Health and Safety
Code, a facility that does not obtain a permit as required by this
subsection may not operate after May 1, 2003, unless the
conservation commission finds good cause for an extension.
(f) The conservation commission shall develop rules for the
permitting of electric generating facilities. The rules adopted
under this subsection shall provide, by region, for the allocation
of emissions allowances of sulphur dioxides and nitrogen oxides
among electric generating facilities and for facilities to trade
emissions allowances for those contaminants until those rules are
superseded by Subchapter I, Chapter 382, Health and Safety Code,
and the rules adopted under that subchapter.
(l) A facility may not trade an unused allowance under this
section or Subchapter I, Chapter 382, Health and Safety Code, for a
contaminant for use as a credit for another contaminant.
(r) [An applicant for a permit under Subsection (e) shall
publish notice of intent to obtain the permit in accordance with
Section 382.056, Health and Safety Code. The conservation
commission shall provide an opportunity for a public hearing and
the submission of public comment and send notice of a decision on an
application for a permit under Subsection (e) in the same manner as
provided by Sections 382.0561 and 382.0562, Health and Safety
Code.] The conservation commission shall review and renew a permit
issued under this section in accordance with Section 382.055,
Health and Safety Code.
(t) This subsection and Subsections (c), (g), (h), (i), (j),
(n), (o), (p), and (q) expire May 1, 2007.
SECTION 3. (a) The Texas Commission on Environmental
Quality shall adopt rules to implement the changes in law made by
this Act not later than March 1, 2006. The Texas Commission on
Environmental Quality by rule shall provide for permits and permit
amendments as necessary for electric generating facilities to meet
the goals of and for the commission to enforce Subchapter I, Chapter
382, Health and Safety Code, as added by this Act, and Section
39.264, Utilities Code, as amended by this Act.
(b) The first annual emissions period to which Subchapter I,
Chapter 382, Health and Safety Code, as added by this Act, applies
is the period from May 1, 2007, to April 30, 2008.
(c) The amendments to Section 39.264, Utilities Code, made
by this Act do not apply to a violation of that section committed
before the effective date of the amendments. For purposes of this
subsection, a violation of that section is committed before the
effective date of the amendments if any element of the violation
occurs before that date. A violation committed before the
effective date of the amendments is covered by Section 39.264,
Utilities Code, as that section existed on the date on which the
violation was committed, and the former law is continued in effect
for that purpose.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2005.