2022 -- S 2715 | |
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LC005209 | |
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STATE OF RHODE ISLAND | |
IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY | |
JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2022 | |
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A N A C T | |
RELATING TO STATE AFFAIRS AND GOVERNMENT -- ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE | |
IMPACT STATEMENTS | |
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Introduced By: Senators Mack, Anderson, Calkin, and Acosta | |
Date Introduced: March 17, 2022 | |
Referred To: Senate Judiciary | |
It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows: | |
1 | SECTION 1. Title 42 of the General Laws entitled "STATE AFFAIRS AND |
2 | GOVERNMENT" is hereby amended by adding thereto the following chapter: |
3 | CHAPTER 6.3 |
4 | ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE IMPACT STATEMENTS |
5 | 42-6.3-1. Definitions. |
6 | (a) As used in this chapter: |
7 | (1) "Department" means the department of environmental management. |
8 | (2) "Environmental or public health stressors" means sources of environmental pollution, |
9 | including, but not limited to, concentrated areas of air pollution, mobile sources of air pollution, |
10 | contaminated sites, transfer stations or other solid waste facilities, recycling facilities, scrap yards, |
11 | and point-sources of water pollution including, but not limited to, water pollution from facilities or |
12 | combined sewer overflows; or conditions that may cause potential public health impacts, including, |
13 | but not limited to, asthma, cancer, elevated blood lead levels, cardiovascular disease, and |
14 | developmental problems in the overburdened community. |
15 | (3) "Facility" means any: |
16 | (i) Major source of air pollution; |
17 | (ii) Resource recovery facility or incinerator; |
18 | (iii) Sludge processing facility, combustor, or incinerator; |
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1 | (iv) Sewage treatment plant with a capacity of more than fifty million (50,000,000) gallons |
2 | per day; |
3 | (v) Transfer station or other solid waste facility, or recycling facility intending to receive |
4 | at least one hundred (100) tons of recyclable material per day; |
5 | (vi) Scrap metal facility; |
6 | (vii) Landfill, including, but not limited to, a landfill that accepts ash, construction or |
7 | demolition debris, or solid waste; or |
8 | (viii) Medical waste incinerator, |
9 | Except that "facility" shall not include a facility that uses regulated medical waste |
10 | processing equipment that accepts regulated medical waste for disposal , including a medical waste |
11 | incinerator, that is attendant to a hospital or university and intended to process self-generated |
12 | regulated medical waste. |
13 | (4) "Limited English proficiency" means that a household does not have an adult that |
14 | speaks English "very well" according to the United States Census Bureau. |
15 | (5) "Low-income household" means a household that is at or below twice the poverty |
16 | threshold as that threshold is determined annually by the United States Census Bureau. |
17 | (6) "Major source" means a major source of air pollution as defined by the federal Clean |
18 | Air Act, Pub. L. 88-206, 42 U.S.C. Sections 7401 -- 7671a, or which directly emits, or has the |
19 | potential to emit, one hundred (100) tons per year or more of any air pollutant, or other applicable |
20 | criteria set forth in the federal Clean Air Act, Pub. L. 88-206, 42 U.S.C. Sections 7401 -- 7671q. |
21 | (7) "Overburdened community" means any census block group, as determined in |
22 | accordance with the most recent United States Census, in which: |
23 | (i) At least thirty-five percent (35%) of the households qualify as low-income households; |
24 | (ii) At least forty percent (40%) of the residents identify as minority or as members of a |
25 | state recognized tribal community; or |
26 | (iii) At least forty percent (40%) of the households have limited English proficiency. |
27 | (8) "Permit" means any individual permit, registration, or license issued by the department |
28 | to a facility establishing the regulatory and management requirements for a regulated activity under |
29 | the following state laws: chapter 64 of title 42, chapter 37.1 of title 45, chapters 18.9, 19.1, 9.7 |
30 | through 19.12 and 19.14 of title 23; except that "permit" shall not include any authorization or |
31 | approval necessary to perform a remediation, as defined pursuant to chapter 19.14 of title 23 or any |
32 | authorization or approval required for a minor modification of a facility's major source permit for |
33 | activities or improvements that do not increase emissions. |
34 | 42-6.3-2 List of overburdened communities. |
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1 | No later than one hundred twenty (120) days after the effective date of this chapter, the |
2 | department shall publish and maintain on its Internet website a list of overburdened communities |
3 | in the state. The department shall update the list of overburdened communities at least once every |
4 | two (2) years. The department shall notify a municipality if any part of the municipality has been |
5 | designated an overburdened community pursuant to this chapter. |
6 | 42-6.3-3. Permitting procedure. |
7 | (a) Beginning September 1, 2022, or immediately upon the adoption of the rules and |
8 | regulations required pursuant § 46-6.3-3, the department shall not consider complete for review |
9 | any application for a permit for a new facility or for the expansion of an existing facility, or any |
10 | application for the renewal of an existing facility's major source permit, if the facility is located, or |
11 | proposed to be located, in whole or in part, in an overburdened community, unless the permit |
12 | applicant first: |
13 | (1) Prepares an environmental justice impact statement that assesses the potential |
14 | environmental and public health stressors associated with the proposed new or expanded facility, |
15 | or with the existing major source, as applicable, including any adverse environmental or public |
16 | health stressors that cannot be avoided if the permit is granted, and the environmental or public |
17 | health stressors already borne by the overburdened community as a result of existing conditions |
18 | located in or affecting the overburdened community; |
19 | (2) Transmits the environmental justice impact statement required to be prepared pursuant |
20 | to subsection (a)(1) of this section, at least sixty (60) days in advance of the public hearing required |
21 | pursuant to subsection (a)(3) of this section, to the department and to the governing body and the |
22 | clerk of the municipality in which the overburdened community is located. Upon receipt, the |
23 | department shall publish the environmental justice impact statement on its Internet website; and |
24 | (3) Organizes and conducts a public hearing in the overburdened community. |
25 | (b) The permit applicant shall publish a notice of the public hearing in at least two (2) |
26 | newspapers circulating within the overburdened community, including one local non-English |
27 | language newspaper, if applicable, not less than sixty (60) days prior to the public hearing. The |
28 | permit applicant shall provide a copy of the notice to the department, and the department shall |
29 | publish the notice on its Internet website. The notice of the public hearing shall provide the date, |
30 | time, and location of the public hearing, a description of the proposed new or expanded facility or |
31 | existing major source, as applicable, a map indicating the location of the facility, a brief summary |
32 | of the environmental justice impact statement, information on how an interested person may review |
33 | a copy of the complete environmental justice impact statement, an address for the submittal of |
34 | written comments to the permit applicant, and any other information deemed appropriate by the |
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1 | department. At least sixty (60) days prior to the public hearing, the permit applicant shall send a |
2 | copy of the notice to the department and to the governing body and the clerk of the municipality in |
3 | which the overburdened community is located. The applicant shall invite the municipality to |
4 | participate in the public hearing. |
5 | (c) At the public hearing, the permit applicant shall provide clear, accurate, and complete |
6 | information about the proposed new or expanded facility, or existing major source, as applicable, |
7 | and the potential environmental and public health stressors associated with the facility. The permit |
8 | applicant shall accept written and oral comments from any interested party, and provided an |
9 | opportunity for meaningful public participation at the public hearing. The permit applicant shall |
10 | transcribe the public hearing and, no later than ten (10) days after the public hearing, submit the |
11 | transcript along with any written comments received, to the department. Following the public |
12 | hearing, the department shall consider the testimony presented and any written comments received, |
13 | and evaluate the issuance of, or conditions to, the permit, as necessary in order to avoid or reduce |
14 | the adverse environmental or public health stressors affecting the overburdened community. |
15 | (d) The department may require the applicant to consolidate the public hearing held |
16 | pursuant to this section with any other public hearing held or required by the department regarding |
17 | the permit application, provided the public hearing meets the other requirements of this section. |
18 | The department shall consider a request by a permit applicant to consolidate required public |
19 | hearings and, if the request is granted by the department, the consolidation shall not preclude an |
20 | application from being deemed complete for review pursuant to subsections (a), (b) and (c) of this |
21 | section. |
22 | (e) Notwithstanding any other law, rule or regulation to the contrary, the department shall |
23 | not issue a decision on an application for a permit for a new facility or for the expansion of an |
24 | existing facility, or on an application for the renewal of an existing facility's major source permit, |
25 | if such facility is located, or proposed to be located, in whole or in part, in an overburdened |
26 | community until at least forty-five (45) days after the public hearing held pursuant to this section. |
27 | (f) Notwithstanding the provisions of any other law, rule or regulation adopted pursuant |
28 | thereto, to the contrary, the department shall, after review of the environmental justice impact |
29 | statement prepared pursuant to this chapter and any other relevant information, including testimony |
30 | and written comments received at the public hearing, deny a permit for a new facility, or for the |
31 | expansion of an existing facility, or apply new conditions to the renewal of an existing facility's |
32 | major source permit, upon a finding that approval of the permit, or permit renewal, as proposed, |
33 | would, together with other environmental or public health stressors affecting the overburdened |
34 | community, cause or contribute to adverse cumulative environmental or public health stressors in |
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1 | the overburdened community that are higher than those stressors borne by other communities |
2 | within the state, county, or other geographic unit of analysis as determined by the department |
3 | pursuant to rule, regulation, or guidance adopted or issued pursuant to § 46-6.3-4, except that where |
4 | the department determines that a new or expanded facility will serve a compelling public interest |
5 | in the community where it is to be located, the department may grant a permit that imposes |
6 | conditions on the construction and operation of the facility to protect the public health . |
7 | (g) Notwithstanding the provisions of any other law, rule or regulation adopted pursuant |
8 | thereto to the contrary, the department may, after review of the environmental justice impact |
9 | statement and any other relevant information, including testimony and written comments received |
10 | at the public hearing, apply conditions to a permit for the expansion of an existing facility, or the |
11 | renewal of an existing facility's major source permit, concerning the construction and operation of |
12 | the facility to protect the public health, upon a finding that approval of a permit or permit renewal, |
13 | as proposed, would, together with other environmental or public health stressors affecting the |
14 | overburdened community, cause or contribute to adverse cumulative environmental or public |
15 | health stressors in the overburdened community that are higher than those stressors borne by other |
16 | communities within the state, county, or other geographic unit of analysis as determined by the |
17 | department pursuant to rule, regulation, or guidance adopted or issued pursuant to § 46-6.3-4. |
18 | (h) If a permit applicant is applying for more than one permit for a proposed new or |
19 | expanded facility, the permit applicant shall only be required to comply with the provisions of this |
20 | section once, unless the department, in its discretion, determines that more than one public hearing |
21 | is necessary due to the complexity of the permit applications necessary for the proposed new or |
22 | expanded facility. Nothing in this section shall be construed to limit the authority of the department |
23 | to hold or require additional public hearings, as may be required by any other law, rule, or |
24 | regulation. |
25 | (i) Nothing in this section shall be construed to limit the right of an applicant to continue |
26 | facility operations during the process of permit renewal to the extent such right is conveyed by |
27 | applicable law, rule, or regulation, including any of the rules and regulations adopted pursuant to |
28 | chapter 6.2 of title 42, ("act on climate") or the "Air Pollution Control Act (1954)," Pub. L. 1954, |
29 | chapter 212. |
30 | (j) In addition to any other fee authorized by law, rule, or regulation, the department shall |
31 | assess each permit applicant a reasonable fee in order to cover the department's costs associated |
32 | with the implementation of this chapter, including costs to provide technical assistance to permit |
33 | applicants and overburdened communities as needed to comply with this chapter. |
34 | 42-6.3-4. Rules and regulations. |
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1 | (a) The department shall adopt, pursuant to the chapter 35 of title 42, ("administrative |
2 | procedure act"), rules and regulations as are necessary to implement the provisions of this chapter. |
3 | (b) The department may issue technical guidance for compliance with this chapter, which |
4 | the department shall publish on its Internet website. |
5 | SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage. |
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LC005209 | |
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EXPLANATION | |
BY THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL | |
OF | |
A N A C T | |
RELATING TO STATE AFFAIRS AND GOVERNMENT -- ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE | |
IMPACT STATEMENTS | |
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1 | This act would require that the department of environmental management (DEM), |
2 | beginning September 1, 2022, not consider complete for review any application for a permit for a |
3 | new polluting facility or for the expansion of an existing polluting facility, or any application for |
4 | the renewal of an existing polluting facility's major source permit, if the facility is located, or |
5 | proposed to be located, in whole or in part, in an overburdened community, unless the permit |
6 | applicant prepares an environmental justice impact statement. The impact statement would assess |
7 | the potential environmental and public health stressors associated with the proposed new or |
8 | expanded polluting facility, or with the existing major source, as applicable, including any adverse |
9 | environmental or public health stressors that cannot be avoided if the permit is granted, and the |
10 | environmental or public health stressors already borne by the overburdened community as a result |
11 | of existing conditions located in or affecting an overburdened community. |
12 | This act would take effect upon passage. |
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LC005209 | |
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