(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.

 

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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1-7  program within its jurisdiction unless superseded.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 creation, receipt and exchange for consideration of

1-17  credits to reduce and control air contaminants in accordance with NRS

1-18  445B.508; and

2-1       (3) Must provide for adequate administration, enforcement, financing

2-2  and staff.

2-3    (c) The district board of health, county board of health or board of

2-4  county commissioners is designated as the air pollution control agency of

2-5  the county for the purposes of NRS 445B.100 to 445B.640, inclusive, and

2-6  the federal act insofar as it pertains to local programs, and that agency is

2-7  authorized to take all action necessary to secure for the county the benefits

2-8  of the federal act.

2-9    (d) Powers and responsibilities provided for in NRS 445B.210,

2-10  445B.240 to 445B.450, inclusive, 445B.560, 445B.570, 445B.580 and

2-11  445B.640 are binding upon and inure to the benefit of local air pollution

2-12  control authorities within their jurisdiction.

2-13    2.  The local air pollution control board shall carry out all provisions of

2-14  NRS 445B.215 with the exception that notices of public hearings must be

2-15  given in any newspaper, qualified pursuant to the provisions of chapter 238

2-16  of NRS, once a week for 3 weeks. The notice must specify with

2-17  particularity the reasons for the proposed regulations and provide other

2-18  informative details. NRS 445B.215 does not apply to the adoption of

2-19  existing regulations upon transfer of authority as provided in NRS

2-20  445B.610.

2-21    3.  In a county whose population is 400,000 or more, the local air

2-22  pollution control board may delegate to an independent hearing officer or

2-23  hearing board its authority to determine violations and levy administrative

2-24  penalties for violations of the provisions of NRS 445B.100 to 445B.450,

2-25  inclusive, and 445B.500 to 445B.640, inclusive, or any regulation adopted

2-26  pursuant to those sections. If such a delegation is made, 17.5 percent of any

2-27  penalty collected must be deposited in the county treasury in an account to

2-28  be administered by the local air pollution control board to a maximum of

2-29  $17,500 per year. The money in the account may only be used to defray the

2-30  administrative expenses incurred by the local air pollution control board in

2-31  enforcing the provisions of NRS 445B.100 to 445B.640, inclusive. The

2-32  remainder of the penalty must be deposited in the county school district

2-33  fund of the county where the violation occurred.

2-34    4.  Any county whose population is less than 100,000 or any city may

2-35  meet the requirements of this section for administration and enforcement

2-36  through cooperative or interlocal agreement with one or more other

2-37  counties, or through agreement with the state, or may establish its own

2-38  program for the control of air pollution. If the county establishes such a

2-39  program, it is subject to the approval of the commission.

2-40    5.  No district board of health, county board of health or board of

2-41  county commissioners may adopt any regulation or establish a compliance

2-42  schedule, variance order or other enforcement action relating to the control

2-43  of emissions from plants which generate electricity by using steam

2-44  produced by the burning of fossil fuel.

2-45    6.  For the purposes of this section, “plants which generate electricity

2-46  by using steam produced by the burning of fossil fuel” means plants that

2-47  burn fossil fuels in a boiler to produce steam for the production of

2-48  electricity. The term does not include any plant which uses technology for

3-1  a simple or combined cycle combustion turbine, regardless of whether the

3-2  plant includes duct burners.

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

3-4    445B.508  1.  In a county whose population is 400,000 or more, a

3-5  district board of health, county board of health or board of county

3-6  commissioners may, as a part of its program for the control of air

3-7  pollution established pursuant to NRS 445B.500, require each person or

3-8  entity that is proposing to locate a new source of air pollution within its

3-9  jurisdiction or to modify an existing source of air pollution within its

3-10  jurisdiction in such a way as to increase emissions of air pollutants, to

3-11  reduce or mitigate any increase in emissions in accordance with

3-12  regulations adopted by such board.

3-13    2.  If a district board of health, county board of health or board of

3-14  county commissioners imposes the requirement described in subsection

3-15  1, its program established pursuant to NRS 445B.500 must:

3-16    (a) Provide a method for determining credits which results in credits

3-17  that are quantifiable, surplus and legally enforceable;

3-18    (b) Set forth the manner in which credits will be banked and traded,

3-19  and the manner in which such transactions will be tracked and

3-20  accounted for by the board; and

3-21    (c) By not later than January 1, 2002, prohibit any person or entity

3-22  from purchasing or selling credits of one type of pollutant if such credits

3-23  will be used subsequently to produce a different type of pollutant.

3-24    3.  If a county operates a program [in which] for the control of air

3-25  pollution that allows a person operating or responsible for the existence of

3-26  a source [of air contaminant may] to earn credits for maintaining or

3-27  reducing the level of air contaminant emitted from the source, [such a] the

3-28  program:

3-29    (a) Must allow the person to earn credits for reducing the level of air

3-30  contaminant emitted from that source through the use of solar energy; and

3-31    (b) Must not allow the person to earn credits for reducing the level of air

3-32  contaminant emitted from that source if such a reduction is required as a

3-33  component of a penalty imposed against the person.

3-34    [2.] 4.  A credit earned pursuant to this section does not constitute an

3-35  interest in property.

3-36    5. As used in this section [, “credit”] :

3-37    (a) “Credit” means an administratively created [right that:

3-38    (a) Entitles] asset that may:

3-39      (1) Entitle a person operating or responsible for the existence of a

3-40  source [of air contaminant] to allow the source to emit a certain level of air

3-41  contaminant [; and

3-42    (b) May be] above a baseline that is determined by the board;

3-43      (2) Be used to comply with the requirements of a permit; and

3-44      (3) Be traded or sold to another person.

3-45    (b) “Surplus” means that a credit is not earned by compliance with a

3-46  requirement of the state implementation plan adopted by this state

3-47  pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 7410 or any other federal, state or local law,

3-48  ordinance or regulation.

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

4-2  pursuant to NRS 445B.508 shall prepare and submit to the director of the

4-3  legislative counsel bureau, for submission to the 72nd session of the

4-4  Nevada legislature, a report concerning the programs establishing credits

4-5  for the reduction of emissions.

4-6    Sec. 4.  This act becomes effective upon passage and approval.

 

4-7  H