PRINTER'S NO. 1735
No. 1201 Session of 2006
INTRODUCED BY M. WHITE, MUSTO, CORMAN, D. WHITE, WENGER,
SCARNATI, BROWNE, PICCOLA, WOZNIAK, ROBBINS, LAVALLE,
GORDNER, STOUT, PIPPY, EARLL, BRIGHTBILL, KASUNIC, MELLOW,
ARMSTRONG, MADIGAN, BOSCOLA, WONDERLING, PUNT AND LEMMOND,
APRIL 20, 2006
REFERRED TO ENVIRONMENTAL RESOURCES AND ENERGY, APRIL 20, 2006
AN ACT
1 Coordinating plans to reduce mercury emissions from new and
2 existing stationary sources in this Commonwealth; imposing
3 duties on the Department of Environmental Protection; and
4 limiting certain powers of the Environmental Quality Board.
5 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
6 hereby enacts as follows:
7 Section 1. Short title.
8 This act shall be known and may be cited as the Clean Air
9 Mercury Compliance Act.
10 Section 2. Legislative findings.
11 The General Assembly finds as follows:
12 (1) The United States of America is the only nation that
13 has a comprehensive regulatory scheme for controlling mercury
14 emissions from industrial facilities.
15 (2) Emissions from foreign countries such as China and
16 other industrial nations continue to have an adverse impact
17 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) Imposition of emission controls for electric
15 generating units which are more stringent than those required
16 by the Clean Air Mercury Rule of the Environmental Protection
17 Agency could impair competitiveness of businesses and
18 industries in this Commonwealth, producing an adverse impact
19 on employment, coal production, economic development and
20 family income while having a negligible beneficial effect on
21 the environment.
22 Section 3. Purposes.
23 The purposes of this act are as follows:
24 (1) To achieve by 2018 a reduction in mercury emissions
25 at Pennsylvania electric generating facilities of 86% from
26 1999 emission levels and 94% measured from the coal feed.
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. Implementation.
3 (a) Department of Environmental Protection.--No later than
4 30 days after the effective date of this section, the Department
5 of Environmental Protection shall publish a notice of proposed
6 rulemaking in the Pennsylvania Bulletin proposing to incorporate
7 by reference the provisions of 40 CFR Pt. 60, Subpt. HHHH
8 (relating to emission guidelines and compliance times for coal-
9 fired electric steam generating units) as published in the May
10 18, 2005, Federal Register into the permitting program referred
11 to in the act of January 8, 1960 (1959 P.L.2119, No.787), known
12 as the Air Pollution Control Act, and into other appropriate
13 programs, if any, under the supervision and control of the
14 Department of Environmental Protection, and shall issue emission
15 allowances to affected sources consistent with EPA's model
16 allocation method.
17 (b) Environmental Quality Board.--Notwithstanding any other
18 provision of law to the contrary, the Environmental Quality
19 Board shall not have the power to promulgate regulations
20 relating to the control of mercury emissions from coal-fired
21 electric steam generating units which exceed or contravene 40
22 CFR Pt. 60 Subpt. HHHH as published in the May 18, 2005, Federal
23 Register.
24 Section 5. Abrogation.
25 All rules and regulations and parts thereof are abrogated to
26 the extent that they are inconsistent with this act.
27 Section 6. Repeal.
28 All acts and parts of acts are repealed insofar as they are
29 inconsistent with this act.
30 Section 7. Effective date.
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1 This act shall take effect immediately.
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