BILL REQ. #: H-0111.2
State of Washington | 62nd Legislature | 2011 Regular Session |
Prefiled 01/05/11. Read first time 01/10/11. Referred to Committee on Environment.
AN ACT Relating to the permitting of anaerobic digestion under the clean air act; amending RCW 70.94.161; adding a new section to chapter 70.94 RCW; and creating a new section.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1 The legislature finds that it is in the
public interest to encourage and foster the development of clean,
renewable energy technology and intends to create a limited permitting
exemption under chapter 70.94 RCW for anaerobic digestion in order to
minimize any regulatory burdens inhibiting the furtherance of the
stated public interest.
Sec. 2 RCW 70.94.161 and 2008 c 14 s 6 are each amended to read
as follows:
Except as otherwise provided in this section, the department of
ecology, or board of an authority, shall require renewable permits for
the operation of air contaminant sources subject to the following
conditions and limitations:
(1) Permits shall be issued for a term of five years. A permit may
be modified or amended during its term at the request of the permittee,
or for any reason allowed by the federal clean air act. The rules
adopted pursuant to subsection (2) of this section shall include rules
for permit amendments and modifications. The terms and conditions of
a permit shall remain in effect after the permit itself expires if the
permittee submits a timely and complete application for permit renewal.
(2)(a) Rules establishing the elements for a statewide operating
permit program and the process for permit application and renewal
consistent with federal requirements shall be established by the
department by January 1, 1993. The rules shall provide that every
proposed permit must be reviewed prior to issuance by a professional
engineer or staff under the direct supervision of a professional
engineer in the employ of the permitting authority. The permit program
established by these rules shall be administered by the department and
delegated local air authorities. Rules developed under this subsection
shall not preclude a delegated local air authority from including in a
permit its own more stringent emission standards and operating
restrictions.
(b) The board of any local air pollution control authority may
apply to the department of ecology for a delegation order authorizing
the local authority to administer the operating permit program for
sources under that authority's jurisdiction. The department shall, by
order, approve such delegation, if the department finds that the local
authority has the technical and financial resources, to discharge the
responsibilities of a permitting authority under the federal clean air
act. A delegation request shall include adequate information about the
local authority's resources to enable the department to make the
findings required by this subsection. However, any delegation order
issued under this subsection shall take effect ninety days after the
environmental protection agency authorizes the local authority to issue
operating permits under the federal clean air act.
(c) Except for the authority granted the energy facility site
evaluation council to issue permits for the new construction,
reconstruction, or enlargement or operation of new energy facilities
under chapter 80.50 RCW, the department may exercise the authority, as
delegated by the environmental protection agency, to administer Title
IV of the federal clean air act as amended and to delegate such
administration to local authorities as applicable pursuant to (b) of
this subsection.
(3) In establishing technical standards, defined in RCW 70.94.030,
the permitting authority shall consider and, if found to be
appropriate, give credit for waste reduction within the process.
(4)(a) Operating permits shall apply to all sources (((a))):
(i) Where required by the federal clean air act((,)); and (((b)))
(ii) For any source that may cause or contribute to air pollution
in such quantity as to create a threat to the public health or welfare.
((Subsection))
(b) (a) of this subsection ((is)) does not ((intended to)) apply
to:
(i) The operation of an anaerobic digester consistent with section
3 of this act for the production of renewable energy; or
(ii) Small businesses, except when both of the following
limitations are satisfied: (((i))) (A) The source is in an area
exceeding or threatening to exceed federal or state air quality
standards; and (((ii))) (B) the department provides a reasonable
justification that requiring a source to have a permit is necessary to
meet a federal or state air quality standard, or to prevent exceeding
a standard in an area threatening to exceed the standard. For purposes
of this subsection "areas threatening to exceed air quality standards"
shall mean areas projected by the department to exceed such standards
within five years. Prior to identifying threatened areas the
department shall hold a public hearing or hearings within the proposed
areas.
(5) Sources operated by government agencies are not exempt under
this section.
(6) Within one hundred eighty days after the United States
environmental protection agency approves the state operating permit
program, a person required to have a permit shall submit to the
permitting authority a compliance plan and permit application, signed
by a responsible official, certifying the accuracy of the information
submitted. Until permits are issued, existing sources shall be allowed
to operate under presently applicable standards and conditions provided
that such sources submit complete and timely permit applications.
(7) All draft permits shall be subject to public notice and
comment. The rules adopted pursuant to subsection (2) of this section
shall specify procedures for public notice and comment. Such
procedures shall provide the permitting agency with an opportunity to
respond to comments received from interested parties prior to the time
that the proposed permit is submitted to the environmental protection
agency for review pursuant to section 505(a) of the federal clean air
act. In the event that the environmental protection agency objects to
a proposed permit pursuant to section 505(b) of the federal clean air
act, the permitting authority shall not issue the permit, unless the
permittee consents to the changes required by the environmental
protection agency.
(8) The procedures contained in chapter 43.21B RCW shall apply to
permit appeals. The pollution control hearings board may stay the
effectiveness of any permit issued under this section during the
pendency of an appeal filed by the permittee, if the permittee
demonstrates that compliance with the permit during the pendency of the
appeal would require significant expenditures that would not be
necessary in the event that the permittee prevailed on the merits of
the appeal.
(9) After the effective date of any permit program promulgated
under this section, it shall be unlawful for any person to: (a)
Operate a permitted source in violation of any requirement of a permit
issued under this section; or (b) fail to submit a permit application
at the time required by rules adopted under subsection (2) of this
section.
(10) Each air operating permit shall state the origin of and
specific legal authority for each requirement included therein. Every
requirement in an operating permit shall be based upon the most
stringent of the following requirements:
(a) The federal clean air act and rules implementing that act,
including provision of the approved state implementation plan;
(b) This chapter and rules adopted thereunder;
(c) In permits issued by a local air pollution control authority,
the requirements of any order or regulation adopted by that authority;
(d) Chapter 70.98 RCW and rules adopted thereunder; and
(e) Chapter 80.50 RCW and rules adopted thereunder.
(11) Consistent with the provisions of the federal clean air act,
the permitting authority may issue general permits covering categories
of permitted sources, and temporary permits authorizing emissions from
similar operations at multiple temporary locations.
(12) Permit program sources within the territorial jurisdiction of
an authority delegated the operating permit program shall file their
permit applications with that authority, except that permit
applications for sources regulated on a statewide basis pursuant to RCW
70.94.395 shall be filed with the department. Permit program sources
outside the territorial jurisdiction of a delegated authority shall
file their applications with the department. Permit program sources
subject to chapter 80.50 RCW shall, irrespective of their location,
file their applications with the energy facility site evaluation
council.
(13) When issuing operating permits to coal fired electric
generating plants, the permitting authority shall establish
requirements consistent with Title IV of the federal clean air act.
(14)(a) The department and the local air authorities are authorized
to assess and to collect, and each source emitting one hundred tons or
more per year of a regulated pollutant shall pay an interim assessment
to fund the development of the operating permit program during fiscal
year 1994.
(b) The department shall conduct a workload analysis and prepare an
operating permit program development budget for fiscal year 1994. The
department shall allocate among all sources emitting one hundred tons
or more per year of a regulated pollutant during calendar year 1992 the
costs identified in its program development budget according to a
three-tiered model, with each of the three tiers being equally
weighted, based upon:
(i) The number of sources;
(ii) The complexity of sources; and
(iii) The size of sources, as measured by the quantity of each
regulated pollutant emitted by the source.
(c) Each local authority and the department shall collect from
sources under their respective jurisdictions the interim fee determined
by the department and shall remit the fee to the department.
(d) Each local authority may, in addition, allocate its fiscal year
1994 operating permit program development costs among the sources under
its jurisdiction emitting one hundred tons or more per year of a
regulated pollutant during calendar year 1992 and may collect an
interim fee from these sources. A fee assessed pursuant to this
subsection (14)(d) shall be collected at the same time as the fee
assessed pursuant to (c) of this subsection.
(e) The fees assessed to a source under this subsection shall be
limited to the first seven thousand five hundred tons for each
regulated pollutant per year.
(15)(a) The department shall determine the persons liable for the
fee imposed by subsection (14) of this section, compute the fee, and
provide by November 1, 1993, the identity of the fee payer with the
computation of the fee to each local authority and to the department of
revenue for collection. The department of revenue shall collect the
fee computed by the department from the fee payers under the
jurisdiction of the department. The administrative, collection, and
penalty provisions of chapter 82.32 RCW shall apply to the collection
of the fee by the department of revenue. The department shall provide
technical assistance to the department of revenue for decisions made by
the department of revenue pursuant to RCW 82.32.160 and 82.32.170. All
interim fees collected by the department of revenue on behalf of the
department and all interim fees collected by local authorities on
behalf of the department shall be deposited in the air operating permit
account. The interim fees collected by the local air authorities to
cover their permit program development costs under subsection (14)(d)
of this section shall be deposited in the dedicated accounts of their
respective treasuries.
(b) All fees identified in this section shall be due and payable on
March 1, 1994, except that the local air pollution control authorities
may adopt by rule an earlier date on which fees are to be due and
payable. The section 5, chapter 252, Laws of 1993 amendments to RCW
70.94.161 do not have the effect of terminating, or in any way
modifying, any liability, civil or criminal, incurred pursuant to the
provisions of RCW 70.94.161 (15) and (17) as they existed prior to July
25, 1993.
(16) For sources or source categories not required to obtain
permits under subsection (4) of this section, the department or local
authority may establish by rule control technology requirements. If
control technology rule revisions are made by the department or local
authority under this subsection, the department or local authority
shall consider the remaining useful life of control equipment
previously installed on existing sources before requiring technology
changes. The department or any local air authority may issue a general
permit, as authorized under the federal clean air act, for such
sources.
(17) Emissions of greenhouse gases as defined in RCW 70.235.010
must be reported as required by RCW 70.94.151. The reporting
provisions of RCW 70.94.151 shall not apply to any other emissions from
any permit program source after the effective date of United States
environmental protection agency approval of the state operating permit
program.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 3 A new section is added to chapter 70.94 RCW
to read as follows:
(1) An anaerobic digester, as that term is defined in RCW
70.95.330, that processes at least fifty percent livestock manure by
volume or an engine or flare powered by fuel from an anaerobic digester
that processes at least fifty percent livestock manure by volume,
qualifies for an exemption from the permitting requirements of RCW
70.94.161 only if:
(a) The facility has a combined aggregate heat input of less than
ten million British thermal units of energy per hour; and
(b) The facility's sulfur emissions is 0.1 percent or less of its
total emissions.
(2) Nothing in this section prohibits the department from making
facility recommendations under RCW 70.94.163 or from establishing a
monitoring program to ensure that an anaerobic digester is being
operated consistent with the stated intent of this section.