|
|
|
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
|
|
AN ACT
|
|
relating to permitting procedures of the Texas Commission on |
|
Environmental Quality for control of air pollution. |
|
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
|
SECTION 1. Section 382.003, Health and Safety Code, is |
|
amended by amending Subdivisions (3-a) and (11-a) and adding |
|
Subdivisions (3-b), (4-a), (8-a), and (11-b) to read as follows: |
|
(3-a) "Best available control technology" means an |
|
emissions limitation as defined by 40 C.F.R. Section 52.21(b)(12), |
|
as of September 1, 2009. |
|
(3-b) "Coal" has the meaning assigned by Section |
|
134.004, Natural Resources Code. |
|
(4-a) "Criteria air pollutant" means one of the |
|
following air contaminants for which the United States |
|
Environmental Protection Agency sets national ambient air quality |
|
standards: ozone, carbon monoxide, particulate matter, sulfur |
|
dioxide, lead, and nitrogen dioxide. |
|
(8-a) "Lowest achievable emission rate" means an |
|
emissions limitation as defined by 40 C.F.R. Section |
|
51.165(a)(1)(xiii), as of July 1, 2008. |
|
(11-a) "Significant source" means a source, including |
|
an electric generating facility, with the potential to emit a |
|
pollutant at a rate that equals or exceeds the rate provided for the |
|
pollutant by 40 C.F.R. Section 51.166(b)(23), as of September 1, |
|
2009. |
|
(11-b) "Solid waste" has the meaning assigned by |
|
Section 361.003. |
|
SECTION 2. Section 382.051, Health and Safety Code, is |
|
amended by adding Subsection (e) to read as follows: |
|
(e) The commission shall track and publicly post on its |
|
Internet site a list of the emissions limitations for criteria air |
|
pollutants, mercury, and sulfuric acid mists that have been |
|
represented as being the best available control technology or |
|
lowest achievable emission rate in the 10 permit applications most |
|
recently determined by the commission to be administratively |
|
complete or among permits issued nationwide. The list must be |
|
organized by industry category and by type of fuel. The list shall |
|
include for each entry a description of the processes and |
|
technologies used to attain best available control technology or |
|
lowest achievable emission rate limitations. The commission shall |
|
update the list at least semiannually. |
|
SECTION 3. Subchapter C, Chapter 382, Health and Safety |
|
Code, is amended by adding Sections 382.05102 and 382.05141 to read |
|
as follows: |
|
Sec. 382.05102. CONSIDERATION OF MOST RECENTLY PROVEN |
|
TECHNOLOGIES. In a commission proceeding to issue or amend a permit |
|
under this chapter, the commission shall consider the emissions |
|
limitations listed in accordance with Section 382.051(e) in |
|
determining whether the permit complies with the federal best |
|
available control technology or lowest achievable emission rate |
|
requirements. The commission may require as a condition of the |
|
permit a specific process to achieve best available control |
|
technology or lowest achievable emission rate requirements. |
|
Sec. 382.05141. OZONE ANALYSIS. (a) Before granting a |
|
permit or permit amendment under this subchapter for a significant |
|
source, the commission shall conduct or obtain and consider an |
|
impacts analysis, using photochemical grid modeling consistent |
|
with the United States Environmental Protection Agency's modeling |
|
protocol, of the facility's or proposed facility's effects on |
|
concentrations of ground-level ozone in areas downwind from the |
|
location of the facility or proposed facility under typical high |
|
ground-level ozone conditions for the downwind area. |
|
(b) The photochemical grid modeling impacts analysis must |
|
include an area at least 250 kilometers from the significant source |
|
being considered for the permit or permit amendment. |
|
(c) The commission shall: |
|
(1) make the results of the impacts analysis available |
|
for public comment; and |
|
(2) consider and reply to the public comments received |
|
before the commission grants a permit or permit amendment. |
|
SECTION 4. Section 382.0518, Health and Safety Code, is |
|
amended by adding Subsection (b-1) to read as follows: |
|
(b-1) In making its finding under Subsection (b)(2) as to |
|
whether emissions from a facility or proposed facility that is a |
|
significant source will contravene the intent of this chapter, the |
|
commission shall analyze and consider the effects on the health and |
|
physical property of this state's residents from the facility's |
|
expected air contaminant emissions and the cumulative effects of |
|
the facility's expected emissions considered together with those of |
|
other existing facilities in this state, facilities that have been |
|
issued a permit by the commission but that are not yet operational, |
|
and proposed facilities for which the commission has determined |
|
that the permit application is administratively complete. The |
|
cumulative effects analysis must include, at a minimum, the impacts |
|
analysis conducted or obtained under Section 382.05141. |
|
SECTION 5. Subchapter C, Chapter 382, Health and Safety |
|
Code, is amended by adding Section 382.051801 to read as follows: |
|
Sec. 382.051801. ADDITIONAL PERMIT REQUIREMENT FOR CERTAIN |
|
NEW SIGNIFICANT SOURCES. (a) In this section, "attainment area" |
|
and "nonattainment area" respectively, mean areas so designated |
|
under Section 107(d) of the federal Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. Section |
|
7407). |
|
(b) To obtain a permit under this subchapter, a new or |
|
modified significant source located in an attainment area must meet |
|
the emissions limitations and other requirements of a nonattainment |
|
area, if the source will cause or contribute to air pollution levels |
|
in excess of any national ambient air quality standard in any air |
|
quality control region in this state as identified by the United |
|
States Environmental Protection Agency. |
|
SECTION 6. Section 382.055(d), Health and Safety Code, is |
|
amended to read as follows: |
|
(d) In determining whether and under which conditions a |
|
preconstruction permit should be renewed, the commission shall |
|
analyze and consider, at a minimum: |
|
(1) the performance of the owner or operator of the |
|
facility according to the method developed by the commission under |
|
Section 5.754, Water Code; [and] |
|
(2) the condition and effectiveness of existing |
|
emission control equipment and practices; and |
|
(3) if the facility is a significant source, the |
|
effects on the health and physical property of this state's |
|
residents from the facility's expected air contaminant emissions |
|
and the cumulative effects of the facility's expected emissions |
|
considered together with those of other existing facilities in this |
|
state, facilities that have been issued a permit by the commission |
|
but that are not yet operational, and proposed facilities for which |
|
the commission has determined that the permit application is |
|
administratively complete. |
|
SECTION 7. The changes in law made by this Act to Chapter |
|
382, Health and Safety Code, apply only to an application for the |
|
issuance, amendment, or renewal of a permit under that chapter that |
|
is pending before, or filed with, the Texas Commission on |
|
Environmental Quality on or after January 1, 2009. |
|
SECTION 8. This Act takes effect September 1, 2009. |