HB 4578 Text

ENROLLED
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
H. B. 4578
(By Delegates Ashley, Martin,
Seacrist and Staton)

[Passed March 13, 1998; in effect ninety days from passage.]

A BILL to amend article five, chapter twenty-two of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated section eighteen, relating to requiring the director of the division of environmental protection to propose legislative rules; establishing a market-based air emission banking and trading program; and providing for emissions credits.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That article five, chapter twenty-two of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended by adding thereto a new section, designated section eighteen, to read as follows:

ARTICLE 5. AIR POLLUTION CONTROL.

§22-5-18. Market-based banking and trading programs, emissions
credits; director to promulgate rules.
(a) Within one hundred eighty days after the effective date of this section, the director shall propose legislative rules for promulgation in accordance with article three, chapter twenty- nine-a of this code, to the full extent allowed by federal and state law, one or more rules establishing a voluntary emissions trading and banking program that provides incentives to make progress toward the attainment or maintenance of the national ambient air quality standards, the reduction or prevention of hazardous air contaminants or the protection of human health and welfare and the environment from air pollution.
(b) Any person reducing air emission from a source to a greater extent than otherwise required by state or federal law is entitled to an emissions credit in the amount of the excess emission reduction. The director shall establish a system by legislative rule for quantifying, verifying and registering all emissions reduction credits, which are eligible for banking and trading if achieved after the first day of January, one thousand nine hundred ninety-one, to the extent permitted by federal law. Credits also shall be available for permanent shutdowns: Provided, That the credits may be transferred by the depositor to the state office of economic development or to a public interest group of the depositor's designation. Except for voluntary reductions of nitrogen oxides, ten percent of any emission credits registered with the director shall be credited to an account for the benefit of the state and retired from future use, if not used within ten years. All other emissions reduction credits registered shall remain in effect until used and debited or retired, if not used within ten years. The director may charge a reasonable transaction fee at the time any credits are registered and shall deposit the fees in the air pollution control fund.
(c) Emission credits registered by a person in accordance with subsection (b) of this section may be used by the person to satisfy emission reduction requirements that would otherwise be required under state or federal law or the credits may be used for the same purpose at another source, by the person who registered the credit or by another person to whom the credit was transferred. Same source use of banked emission credits requires prior notification to the West Virginia office of air quality. The rules may not prohibit the transfer of credits among persons, but shall establish procedures by which transfers are identified, tracked and accounted for in the program. The division may establish the emissions trading program as a state, multistate or regional program as long as the program contributes to the goal of improving the air quality in West Virginia and in the air quality region where the source is located.
(d) The director may propose legislative rules for promulgation in accordance with article three, chapter twenty- nine-a of this code, establishing classes of volatile organic compounds, and shall allow banking and trading of different volatile organic compounds within the same class. In lieu thereof, trading shall be allowed among all volatile organic compounds where not inconsistent with federal law and where similar degrees of hazard and qualitative impact are anticipated with respect to air quality. For any emissions banking and trading program used for the purpose of making progress toward attaining or maintaining the national ambient air quality standard for ozone, the director may allow reductions of volatile organic compounds to be substituted for required reductions of oxides of nitrogen, or reductions of oxides of nitrogen to be substituted for required reductions of volatile organic compounds, where appropriate, if not inconsistent with federal law.

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