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                                                       PRINTER'S NO. 839

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA


SENATE BILL

No. 762 Session of 2007


        INTRODUCED BY M. WHITE, MUSTO, D. WHITE, LAVALLE, STOUT, PUNT,
           ROBBINS, MADIGAN, KASUNIC, BROWNE, FOLMER, EARLL, SCARNATI,
           PIPPY, PICCOLA, ARMSTRONG, REGOLA AND WASHINGTON,
           APRIL 12, 2007

        REFERRED TO ENVIRONMENTAL RESOURCES AND ENERGY, APRIL 12, 2007

                                     AN ACT

     1  Coordinating plans to reduce mercury emissions from new and
     2     existing stationary sources in this Commonwealth; imposing
     3     duties on and limiting certain powers of the Department of
     4     Environmental Protection; and imposing duties on and limiting
     5     certain powers of the Environmental Quality Board.

     6     The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
     7  hereby enacts as follows:
     8  Section 1.  Short title.
     9     This act shall be known and may be cited as the Clean Air
    10  Mercury Compliance Act.
    11  Section 2.  Legislative findings.
    12     The General Assembly finds as follows:
    13         (1)  The United States of America is the only nation that
    14     has a comprehensive regulatory scheme for controlling mercury
    15     emissions from industrial facilities.
    16         (2)  Emissions from foreign countries such as China and
    17     other industrial nations continue to have an adverse impact
    18     upon aquatic ecosystems in the United States.


     1         (3)  Reducing domestic emissions of mercury is in the
     2     public interest inasmuch as it will have a beneficial effect
     3     on aquatic systems and associated fish and wildlife.
     4         (4)  The Clean Air Act (69 Stat. 322, 42 U.S.C. § 7401 et
     5     seq.) contains a comprehensive regulatory scheme for the
     6     control of mercury emissions and other harmful air
     7     pollutants.
     8         (5)  The Clean Air Mercury Rule of the Environmental
     9     Protection Agency will achieve by 2018 a reduction in mercury
    10     emissions from 1999 emission levels of 70% at electric
    11     generating facilities through a two-phase program commencing
    12     in 2010 and ultimately reduce the emissions to an annual
    13     nationwide level of 15 tons.
    14         (6)  It is the intent of the General Assembly to ensure
    15     that mercury reductions are made in Pennsylvania without
    16     substantially impairing competitiveness of businesses and
    17     industries in this Commonwealth, producing an adverse impact
    18     on employment, coal production, economic development and
    19     family income.
    20  Section 3.  Purposes.
    21     The purposes of this act are as follows:
    22         (1)  To achieve by 2010 and 2015 an 80% and 90%
    23     reduction, respectively, in mercury emissions at Pennsylvania
    24     electric generating facilities measured from the coal feed or
    25     an emission rate of 0.024 lb/GWhr and 0.012 lb/GWhr,
    26     respectively, if greater.
    27         (2)  To provide this Commonwealth with the opportunity to
    28     participate in a national emissions trading program for
    29     mercury which is similar to the cost-effective national acid
    30     rain control program enacted in the Clean Air Act Amendments
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     1     of 1990 (Public Law 101-549, 42 U.S.C. § 7401 et seq.).
     2  Section 4.  Definitions.
     3     The following words and phrases when used in this act shall
     4  have the meanings given to them in this section unless the
     5  context clearly indicates otherwise:
     6     "Board."  The Environmental Quality Board.
     7     "Circulating fluidized bed unit."  Combustion of fuel in a
     8  bed or series of beds, including bubbling bed units and
     9  circulating bed units, of limestone aggregate or other sorbent
    10  materials in which these materials are forced upward by the flow
    11  of combustion air and the gaseous products of combustion.
    12     "Clean Air Mercury Rule."  The regulations adopted by the
    13  United States Environmental Protection Agency known as the Clean
    14  Air Mercury Rule codified at 40 CFR Pts. 60 (relating to
    15  standards of performance for new stationary sources), 72
    16  (relating to permits regulation) and 75 (relating to continuous
    17  emission monitoring).
    18     "Cobenefit mercury emission control technology."  The process
    19  whereby mercury is removed from an exhaust gas stream, through
    20  implementation of measures to control other pollutants, such as
    21  sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides or particulate matter.
    22     "Cold side electrostatic precipitator."  An air pollution
    23  control device for particulate matter installed downstream of a
    24  boiler air preheater that does all of the following:
    25         (1)  Charges particles with an electric field and causes
    26     them to migrate from the gas to a collection surface.
    27         (2)  Treats the flue gas after heat extraction from the
    28     gas has been completed.
    29         (3)  Operates with a temperature range of no greater than
    30     400 degrees Fahrenheit.
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     1     "Covered major mercury source."  A stationary coal-fired
     2  boiler or a stationary coal-fired combustion turbine that is an
     3  "Hg Budget unit" as defined in 40 CFR 60.4104 (relating to
     4  applicability). For purposes of this definition, "coal-fired"
     5  has the same definition as 40 CFR 60.4102 (relating to
     6  definitions).
     7     "Department."  The Department of Environmental Protection of
     8  the Commonwealth.
     9     "Fabric filtration."  An air pollution control device that
    10  removes particulate matter and emissions of nonvaporous metals
    11  by passing flue gas through filter bags.
    12     "Selective catalytic reduction."  A process where a gaseous
    13  or liquid reductant, most commonly ammonia or urea, is added to
    14  the flue gas stream in the presence of a catalyst.
    15     "Wet flue gas desulfurization unit."  An air pollution
    16  control device located downstream of a steam generating unit
    17  that removes sulfur oxides from the combustion gases of the
    18  steam generating unit by contacting the combustion gases of the
    19  steam generating unit with combustion gases with an alkaline
    20  slurry or solution, such as solutions of lime, limestone or
    21  sodium, and forming a liquid material, which liquid material may
    22  subsequently be converted to other forms.
    23  Section 5.  Implementation.
    24     (a)  Clean Air Mercury Rule.--The provisions of 40 CFR Pt.
    25  60, Subpt. HHHH (relating to emission guidelines and compliance
    26  times for coal-fired electric steam generating units) as
    27  published in the May 18, 2005, Federal Register are hereby
    28  incorporated by reference into the permitting program referred
    29  to in the act of January 8, 1960 (1959 P.L.2119, No.787), known
    30  as the Air Pollution Control Act, and into other appropriate
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     1  programs as the Commonwealth's mercury control program required
     2  by the Clean Air Mercury Rule and the department shall, by
     3  January 1, 2008, issue emission allowances to affected sources
     4  consistent with the EPA's model allocation method.
     5     (b)  Limitation on regulations and programs.--The board shall
     6  adopt by regulation the Clean Air Mercury Rule to be the sole
     7  method of regulating mercury emissions from covered major
     8  mercury sources, and notwithstanding any other provision of law
     9  to the contrary, the board shall not have the power to
    10  promulgate regulations and the department may not implement or
    11  enforce programs relating to the control of mercury emissions
    12  from covered major sources that are more stringent than the
    13  Clean Air Mercury Rule, except as specifically provided in
    14  subsection (c).
    15     (c)  Implementation of controls.--
    16         (1)  By November 1, 2007, the board shall adopt
    17     regulations providing for the installation and operation by
    18     January 1, 2010, and January 1, 2015, of mercury emission
    19     control technologies at all facilities having one or more
    20     covered major mercury sources that, except as provided in
    21     paragraph (2), will achieve an 80% and 90% reduction,
    22     respectively, in mercury emissions measured from the coal
    23     feed or 0.024 lb/GWhr and 0.012 lb/GWhr, respectively, if
    24     greater.
    25         (2)  The regulations shall provide alternative standards
    26     and limits for facilities where meeting the standards in
    27     paragraph (1) are not technologically or economically
    28     feasible.
    29         (3)  The regulations shall provide that the department
    30     shall make a determination of technologies for specified coal
    20070S0762B0839                  - 5 -     

     1     and boiler types that can be presumed to result in the
     2     emission reductions stated herein. Such technologies include,
     3     but are not limited to, the following for certain coals:
     4             (i)  Fabric filtration technology.
     5             (ii)  Selective catalytic reduction in conjunction
     6         with fabric filtration technology.
     7             (iii)  Wet flue gas desulfurization unit in
     8         conjunction with either cold side electrostatic
     9         precipitator unit or fabric filtration.
    10             (iv)  Selective catalytic reduction in conjunction
    11         with cold side electrostatic precipitator unit.
    12             (v)  Fabric filtration in conjunction with wet flue
    13         gas desulfurization unit.
    14             (vi)  Mercury sorbent injection in conjunction with
    15         either cold side electrostatic precipitator unit or
    16         fabric filtration.
    17             (vii)  Circulating fluidized bed unit.
    18     (d)  Interim review.--In 2012, the department shall review
    19  the state of mercury reduction technologies and shall adjust the
    20  2015 requirements stated in subsection (c)(1) or extend the date
    21  of compliance to 2018 if those requirements are found to exceed
    22  the capability of the technology.
    23  Section 6.  Coordination with Clean Air Mercury Rule.
    24     In the event that the Clean Air Mercury Rule is remanded by
    25  the D.C. Circuit Court to the Environmental Protection Agency
    26  for development of standards under section 112 of the Clean Air
    27  Act (69 Stat. 322, 42 U.S.C. § 7401 et seq.), then all of the
    28  following shall apply:
    29         (1)  The board shall not have the power to promulgate
    30     regulations, and the department shall not have the power to
    20070S0762B0839                  - 6 -     

     1     implement or enforce programs relating to the control of
     2     mercury emissions from covered major mercury sources unless
     3     and until the Environmental Protection Agency has adopted
     4     final regulations addressing the court's final decree that do
     5     either of the following:
     6             (i)  Establish standards or other requirements
     7         governing the control of mercury emissions from major
     8         covered mercury sources.
     9             (ii)  Establish requirements for State implementation
    10         plans to contain controls on mercury emissions from major
    11         covered mercury sources.
    12         (2)  Following adoption by the Environmental Protection
    13     Agency of final regulations addressing the court's final
    14     decree, the board shall promptly promulgate regulations and
    15     the department shall implement or enforce programs relating
    16     to the control of mercury emissions from covered major
    17     mercury sources that are consistent with the final
    18     Environmental Protection Agency regulations and section 6.6
    19     of the act of January 8, 1960 (1959 P.L.2119, No.787), known
    20     as the Air Pollution Control Act. The regulations and
    21     programs shall not be more stringent than the final
    22     Environmental Protection Agency regulations unless the
    23     General Assembly subsequently authorizes otherwise.
    24  Section 7.  Abrogation.
    25     All rules and regulations and parts thereof are abrogated to
    26  the extent that they are inconsistent with this act.
    27  Section 8.  Repeal.
    28     All acts and parts of acts are repealed insofar as they are
    29  inconsistent with this act.
    30  Section 9.  Effective date.
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     1     This act shall take effect immediately.




















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