81R7130 JJT-D
By: Allen H.B. No. 1447
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to monitoring, permitting, and reducing emissions of
certain air contaminants and pollutants.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter B, Chapter 382, Health and Safety
Code, is amended by adding Section 382.0165 to read as follows:
Sec. 382.0165. AIR POLLUTANT WATCH LIST. (a) The
commission shall establish and maintain an air pollutant watch
list. The air pollutant watch list must identify:
(1) each air contaminant that the commission
determines, on the basis of federal or state ambient air quality
standards or effects screening levels for the contaminant, should
be included on the air pollutant watch list; and
(2) each geographic area of the state for which
ambient air quality monitoring data indicates that the individual
or cumulative emissions of one or more air contaminants identified
by the commission under Subdivision (1) may cause short-term or
long-term adverse human health effects or odors in that area.
(b) The commission shall publish notice of and allow public
comment on:
(1) an addition of an air contaminant to or removal of
an air contaminant from the air pollutant watch list; or
(2) an addition of an area to or removal of an area
from the air pollutant watch list.
(c) The commission shall hold a public meeting in each area
listed on the air pollutant watch list to provide residents of the
area with information regarding:
(1) the reasons for the area's inclusion on the air
pollutant watch list; and
(2) commission actions to reduce the emissions of air
contaminants contributing to the area's inclusion on the air
pollutant watch list.
(d) The air pollutant watch list and the addition or removal
of a pollutant or area to or from the list are not matters subject to
the procedural requirements of Subchapter B, Chapter 2001,
Government Code.
SECTION 2. Subchapter C, Chapter 382, Health and Safety
Code, is amended by adding Section 382.0525 to read as follows:
Sec. 382.0525. MONITORING OF AND LIMITATIONS ON EMISSIONS
NEAR SCHOOL, HOSPITAL, OR RESIDENTIAL CARE FACILITY FOR ELDERLY.
(a) The commission may not issue a permit or permit amendment under
this chapter for a facility or proposed facility that, at the time
the application for the permit or amendment is filed with the
commission, is located or proposed to be located less than five
miles from a school, hospital, or residential care facility for
elderly persons if the facility or proposed facility would emit any
of the following contaminants or pollutants at a level of emissions
that may cause a person located less than five miles from the
emission source an illness, an irritation, or a medical complaint
or condition:
(1) an air contaminant identified on the air pollutant
watch list under Section 382.0165(a)(1); or
(2) a hazardous air pollutant listed under Section 112
of the federal Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. Section 7412).
(b) The commission shall require a facility that, under a
permit issued under this chapter, may emit an air contaminant or
pollutant of a type and at a level of emissions described by
Subsection (a) and that is located less than five miles from a
school, hospital, or residential care facility for elderly persons
to reduce the emissions of those contaminants or pollutants by not
less than 10 percent each calendar year until the facility's level
of emissions of each of those contaminants or pollutants is reduced
to a level that will not cause a person located less than five miles
from the emission source an illness, an irritation, or a medical
complaint or condition.
(c) Not later than the 30th day after the date the
commission receives a complaint made by a local government or the
administrative body of a school, hospital, or residential care
facility for elderly persons of an illness, an irritation, or a
medical complaint or condition that is allegedly caused by the air
contaminant or pollutant emissions a facility produces, the
commission shall begin monitoring the air contaminant or pollutant
emissions of the facility to determine whether the facility
produces more than the permitted level of emissions of contaminants
or pollutants described by Subsection (a).
SECTION 3. (a) Section 382.0525, Health and Safety Code, as
added by this Act, applies only to an application for a permit to
emit air contaminants or pollutants filed with the Texas Commission
on Environmental Quality on or after the effective date of this Act.
(b) The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality may not
require a permitted facility to reduce emissions under Section
382.0525(b), Health and Safety Code, as added by this Act, until
after December 31, 2010.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2009.