(REPRINTED WITH ADOPTED AMENDMENTS)

 

Senate Bill No. 535–Committee on Natural Resources

 

(On Behalf of Air Quality Programs in Clark County (SB 432))

 

March 26, 2001

____________

 

Referred to Committee on Natural Resources

 

SUMMARY—Authorizes local air pollution control agency in certain counties to establish program to reduce and control air pollution. (BDR 40‑791)

 

FISCAL NOTE:    Effect on Local Government: No.

                                 Effect on the State: No.

 

~

 

EXPLANATION – Matter in bolded italics is new; matter between brackets [omitted material] is material to be omitted.

 

AN ACT relating to air pollution; authorizing the local air pollution control agency in certain counties to establish a program to reduce emissions of air pollutants using credits to allow a certain level of air contaminant which may be traded or sold; requiring such an agency to adopt certain regulations concerning such a program; and providing other matters properly relating thereto.

 

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEVADA, REPRESENTED IN

SENATE AND ASSEMBLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

 

1-1    Section 1.  NRS 445B.500 is hereby amended to read as follows:

1-2    445B.500  1.  Except as otherwise provided in this section and in NRS

1-3  445B.310:

1-4    (a) The district board of health, county board of health or board of

1-5  county commissioners in each county whose population is 100,000 or more

1-6  shall establish a program for the control of air pollution and administer the

1-7  program within its jurisdiction unless superseded.

1-8    (b) The program [must:

1-9       (1) Include] :

1-10      (1) Must include, without limitation, standards for the control of

1-11  emissions, emergency procedures and variance procedures established by

1-12  ordinance or local regulation which are equivalent to or stricter than those

1-13  established by statute or state regulation; [and

1-14      (2) Provide]

1-15      (2) May, in a county whose population is 400,000 or more, include

1-16  requirements for the receipt and exchange of credits to reduce and

1-17  control air contaminants in accordance with NRS 445B.508; and

1-18      (3) Must provide for adequate administration, enforcement, financing

1-19  and staff.

2-1    (c) The district board of health, county board of health or board of

2-2  county commissioners is designated as the air pollution control agency of

2-3  the county for the purposes of NRS 445B.100 to 445B.640, inclusive, and

2-4  the federal act insofar as it pertains to local programs, and that agency is

2-5  authorized to take all action necessary to secure for the county the benefits

2-6  of the federal act.

2-7    (d) Powers and responsibilities provided for in NRS 445B.210,

2-8  445B.240 to 445B.450, inclusive, 445B.560, 445B.570, 445B.580 and

2-9  445B.640 are binding upon and inure to the benefit of local air pollution

2-10  control authorities within their jurisdiction.

2-11    2.  The local air pollution control board shall carry out all provisions of

2-12  NRS 445B.215 with the exception that notices of public hearings must be

2-13  given in any newspaper, qualified pursuant to the provisions of chapter 238

2-14  of NRS, once a week for 3 weeks. The notice must specify with

2-15  particularity the reasons for the proposed regulations and provide other

2-16  informative details. NRS 445B.215 does not apply to the adoption of

2-17  existing regulations upon transfer of authority as provided in NRS

2-18  445B.610.

2-19    3.  In a county whose population is 400,000 or more, the local air

2-20  pollution control board may delegate to an independent hearing officer or

2-21  hearing board its authority to determine violations and levy administrative

2-22  penalties for violations of the provisions of NRS 445B.100 to 445B.450,

2-23  inclusive, and 445B.500 to 445B.640, inclusive, or any regulation adopted

2-24  pursuant to those sections. If such a delegation is made, 17.5 percent of any

2-25  penalty collected must be deposited in the county treasury in an account to

2-26  be administered by the local air pollution control board to a maximum of

2-27  $17,500 per year. The money in the account may only be used to defray the

2-28  administrative expenses incurred by the local air pollution control board in

2-29  enforcing the provisions of NRS 445B.100 to 445B.640, inclusive. The

2-30  remainder of the penalty must be deposited in the county school district

2-31  fund of the county where the violation occurred.

2-32    4.  Any county whose population is less than 100,000 or any city may

2-33  meet the requirements of this section for administration and enforcement

2-34  through cooperative or interlocal agreement with one or more other

2-35  counties, or through agreement with the state, or may establish its own

2-36  program for the control of air pollution. If the county establishes such a

2-37  program, it is subject to the approval of the commission.

2-38    5.  No district board of health, county board of health or board of

2-39  county commissioners may adopt any regulation or establish a compliance

2-40  schedule, variance order or other enforcement action relating to the control

2-41  of emissions from plants which generate electricity by using steam

2-42  produced by the burning of fossil fuel.

2-43    6.  For the purposes of this section, “plants which generate electricity

2-44  by using steam produced by the burning of fossil fuel” means plants that

2-45  burn fossil fuels in a boiler to produce steam for the production of

2-46  electricity. The term does not include any plant which uses technology for

2-47  a simple or combined cycle combustion turbine, regardless of whether the

2-48  plant includes duct burners.

 

3-1    Sec. 2.  NRS 445B.508 is hereby amended to read as follows:

3-2    445B.508  1.  In a county whose population is 400,000 or more, a

3-3  district board of health, county board of health or board of county

3-4  commissioners may, as a part of its program for the control of air

3-5  pollution established pursuant to NRS 445B.500, require each person or

3-6  entity that is proposing to locate a new source of air pollution within its

3-7  jurisdiction or to modify an existing source of air pollution within its

3-8  jurisdiction in such a way as to increase emissions of air pollutants, to

3-9  reduce or mitigate any increase in emissions in accordance with

3-10  regulations adopted by such board.

3-11    2.  Regulations established pursuant to subsection 1 must include

3-12  credits for the reduction of emissions of air pollutants, including, without

3-13  limitation, credits for the reduction of emissions from mobile sources.

3-14  The regulations relating to credits for the reduction of emissions from

3-15  mobile sources must, without limitation:

3-16    (a) Provide a method for determining the baseline emissions from

3-17  mobile sources to be used for establishing such credits;

3-18    (b) Require operators of fleets that are mobile sources to reduce

3-19  emissions from vehicles in their fleets which are older than the 1991

3-20  model year by a certain amount to be eligible for credits;

3-21    (c) Provide a method for determining credits which results in credits

3-22  that are real, permanent and subject to a legally enforceable agreement

3-23  to sell or trade the credits and which will ensure that emission reductions

3-24  associated with the credit actually occur;

3-25    (d) Establish credits for reducing emissions of carbon monoxide,

3-26  oxides of nitrogen, volatile organic compounds and particulates that are

3-27  capable of being inhaled;

3-28    (e) Set forth the manner in which credits will be banked and traded,

3-29  and the manner in which such transactions will be tracked and

3-30  accounted for by the board; and

3-31    (f) By not later than January 1, 2002, prohibit any person or entity

3-32  from purchasing credits of one type of pollutant and using those credits

3-33  to produce a different type of pollutant.

3-34  Regulations adopted pursuant to this subsection must not allow credits

3-35  for complying with a requirement for the state implementation plan or

3-36  any other federal law.

3-37    3.  If a county operates a program [in which] for the control of air

3-38  pollution that allows a person operating or responsible for the existence of

3-39  a source [of air contaminant may] to earn credits for maintaining or

3-40  reducing the level of air contaminant emitted from the source, [such a] the

3-41  program:

3-42    (a) Must allow the person to earn credits for reducing the level of air

3-43  contaminant emitted from that source through the use of solar energy; and

3-44    (b) Must not allow the person to earn credits for reducing the level of air

3-45  contaminant emitted from that source if such a reduction is required as a

3-46  component of a penalty imposed against the person.

3-47    4.  A credit earned pursuant to this section does not constitute an

3-48  interest in property.

3-49    5. As used in this section [, “credit”] :

4-1    (a) “Credit” means an administratively created right that:

4-2    [(a)] (1) Entitles a person operating or responsible for the existence of a

4-3  source [of air contaminant] to allow the source to emit a certain level of air

4-4  contaminant; and

4-5    [(b)] (2) May be traded or sold to another person.

4-6    (b) “State implementation plan” means a plan adopted by the state

4-7  pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 7410.

4-8    (c) “Volatile organic compound” has the meaning ascribed to it in 40

4-9  C.F.R. § 51.100 as that section existed on January 1, 2001.

4-10    Sec. 3.  1.  On or before February 1, 2003, a board that adopts

4-11  regulations pursuant to subsection 2 of NRS 445.508 shall prepare and

4-12  submit to the director of the legislative counsel bureau, for submission to

4-13  the 72nd session of the Nevada legislature, a report concerning the

4-14  programs establishing credits for the reduction of emissions.

4-15    2.  A board that has a program establishing credits for the reduction of

4-16  emissions from mobile sources which is in existence on the effective date

4-17  of this act shall adopt the regulations required pursuant to paragraph (a) of

4-18  subsection 2 of NRS 445.508 concerning the baseline emissions from

4-19  mobile sources by not later than March 15, 2003.

4-20    Sec. 4.  This act becomes effective upon passage and approval.

 

4-21  H