2019 -- H 5672

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LC001962

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     STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2019

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A N   A C T

RELATING TO AERONAUTICS -- THE PERMANENT AIR QUALITY MONITORING ACT

     Introduced By: Representatives McNamara, Shekarchi, Shanley, Solomon, and Bennett

     Date Introduced: February 27, 2019

     Referred To: House Environment and Natural Resources

     It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:

     SECTION 1. Sections 1-7-5, 1-7-6, and 1-7-9 of the General Laws in Chapter 1-7 entitled

"The Permanent Air Quality Monitoring Act" are hereby amended to read as follows:

     1-7-5. Health study.

     (a) The corporation shall provide the department of health with funding in an amount not

to exceed two hundred thousand dollars ($200,000), half to be paid in fiscal year 2008 and the

other half to be paid in fiscal year 2009, which funds the department of health will use for an

independent health study developed in consultation with the department of environmental

management and the air quality monitoring public advisory committee. The purpose of the study

will be to determine whether and to what extent, air pollution generated by airport activities

affects the health of area residents based, to the extent feasible, on established health benchmarks.

     (b) The study shall use the data collected from the first year of long-term, air-quality

monitoring at the airport described in the previous sections to evaluate potential public health

implications of emissions based, to the extent feasible, on established health benchmarks, and

shall be completed and submitted to the governor, the speaker of the house of representatives, and

the president of the senate no later than May 30, 2009.

     (c) The corporation, the department of health, and the city of Warwick shall publish the

study on their respective websites no later than July 31, 2019, and shall maintain the study on

their respective websites thereafter.

     1-7-6. Reporting.

     (a) The corporation shall provide the department of environmental management with an

inventory of greenhouse gas pollutants, including, but not limited to, carbon dioxide and methane,

and an annual inventory of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and carbon monoxide. The inventories

of data generated in the prior calendar year shall be reported to the department of environmental

management on or before March 30, 2009, and every March 30 thereafter.

     (b) Data generated from the permanent air-quality monitors shall be reported to the

department of environmental management, and the department of health, and to the city of

Warwick on at least a quarterly basis and shall be used by the departments to continuously

augment and update air-quality-monitoring studies conducted by the departments. The

department of environmental management, the department of health, and the city of Warwick

shall publish the data on their respective websites within thirty (30) calendar days of receipt of the

data.

     (c) The department of health shall prepare an annual report that shall contain the

department's findings, analysis, conclusions, and recommendations resulting from the data

generated by and from the permanent air-quality monitors (the "monitors"), as well as a summary

of the data collected from the monitors. The first such report shall be due on or before July 31,

2017, and on or before July 31 in 2018, 2019, and for any further year thereafter during which

data is collected and reported pursuant to the provisions of subsection (b) of this section. Copies

of these reports shall be provided by the required dates to the speaker of the house, the president

of the senate, the office of the governor, the office of the attorney general, the airport corporation,

and the offices of the mayor and the city council of the city of Warwick. The department of

health, the airport corporation, and the city of Warwick shall publish these reports on their

respective websites within thirty (30) calendar days of receipt of the reports.

     1-7-9. Sunset provisions Monitoring actions required and compliance -- Sunset

provision.

     (a) On or before January 31, 2017, and on or before January 31, 2018, and January 31,

2019, thereafter, the department of environmental management, the department of health, and the

attorney general shall submit to the governor, the speaker of the house, and the president of the

senate, recommendations as to the continuation of the air monitoring required in this act. and,

unless

     (b) Unless extended by the general assembly, the corporation's obligation to operate and

maintain the air monitoring system will cease on July 31, 2019. 2021; provided that, this sunset

date shall be dependent upon the corporation undertaking and completing the following actions

prior to July 31, 2021:

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     (1) As part of the long-term air quality monitoring program, ambient air-quality monitors

shall be set up in a network that shall include at least four (4) monitoring sites in the area of and

surrounding Green International Airport. These monitors shall be designed, placed, and

maintained so as to measure air-quality impacts from airport operations, including those impacts

associated with planes operating on the extended runway and on neighborhoods adjacent to the

airport facility, and at the Winslow Park playing fields. The corporation shall compile at least

twenty (20) months of complete air quality monitoring data from these monitors and submit that

data to the department of health prior to May 1, 2021, pursuant to § 1-7-6; and

     (2) The corporation shall comply with all other reporting and publishing requirements set

forth in this chapter.

     SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage.

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EXPLANATION

BY THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL

OF

A N   A C T

RELATING TO AERONAUTICS -- THE PERMANENT AIR QUALITY MONITORING ACT

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     This act would extend the required air quality monitoring program at Green International

Airport for two (2) years to July 31, 2021. The act would also provide the sunset provision for the

air quality monitoring program would be dependent upon the airport corporation undertaking

certain specific actions regarding the collection and reporting of air quality data from monitors set

up around the airport.

     This act would take effect upon passage.

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