Chapter
198
2007 -- S 1074
Enacted 07/02/07
A N A C T
RELATING
TO AERONAUTICS - THE PERMANENT AIR QUALITY MONITORING ACT
Introduced
By: Senators Walaska, Sosnowski, Gallo, and Paiva-Weed
Date
Introduced: June 06, 2007
It is enacted by the General Assembly as
follows:
SECTION 1. Section
1-7-1 of the General Laws in Chapter 1-7 entitled "The Permanent
Air Quality Monitoring Act" is hereby
amended to read as follows:
1-7-1. Permanent
air quality monitors. – Long-term air quality
monitoring
program. -- (a) The Rhode Island
Airport Corporation (RIAC) is authorized and directed to shall
design, acquire, and install, operate
and maintain a permanent long-term air quality monitoring
system program in the vicinity of T.F. Green
Airport. The corporation may hire a consultant to
perform these tasks.
(b) The
permanent air quality monitors will be capable of monitoring all of the
following:
(1) Criteria
air pollutants: particulate matter, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, carbon
monoxide;
(2) Volatile
organic compounds (VOCs), including, but not limited to: benzene, 1-3-
butadien, and carbonyls such as formaldehyde and
acetaldehyde.
(3)
Semivolatile organics like polycyclic organic matter, and toxic particulate
species,
diesel particulate.
(c) Permanent
air quality monitors will be used to augment and update air quality
monitoring data collected by the department of
environmental management.
(d) The Rhode Island
economic development corporation will fund an independent air
toxins study in accord with the department of
environmental management and the Rhode Island
department of health to determine whether air
pollution from the airport affects the health of area
residents. The report will use actual
upwind-downwind monitoring at the airport to evaluate
potential public health implications of
emissions.
(e) Air
quality monitors will be procured and in effect by January 1, 2007.
(b) The
monitoring program shall provide for the monitoring of all of the following:
(1)
Particulate matter, including PM 2.5, particles less than 0.1 microns, and
black
carbon; and
(2) Volatile organic
compounds (VOC's), including, but not limited to: benzene, 1, 3
butadiene, and naphthalene; and carbonyls
including, but not limited to, formaldehyde and
acetaldehyde; and
(3) Polycyclic
aromatic hydrocarbons, including those that are particulate bound and
semivolatiles.
(c)(1) The
design of the monitoring program shall:
(i) include an
implementation schedule for the components of the monitoring program set
forth in subsection (b); and
(ii) assure the
quality and meaningfulness of the monitoring data; and
(iii) be set
forth in a draft work plan developed, in consultation with the department of
environmental management and the department of
health.
(2) The
consultation with the department of environmental management and the
department of health shall include, but not
limited to:
(i) ensuring
that peer review is employed in the development of an air quality monitoring
strategy;
(ii) providing
the corporation with unbiased reviews of current, validated scientific
knowledge relevant to air quality monitoring and
public health impacts;
(iii) assisting
with the review of work plans and reports;
(iv) evaluating
and comparing the corporation's proposed methodologies, quality
assurance procedures and monitoring criteria,
with other relevant monitoring efforts mandated by
either state or federal law in order to ensure
consistency and comparability among the
methodologies and criteria.
(d) The draft
work plan and the final work plan shall describe and justify with reasonable
specificity all significant aspects of the
monitoring program, including, but not limited to, quality
assurance procedures and a description and
justification of the number, type, and location of the
ambient air quality monitors to be installed as
part of the long-term monitoring program, provided
that there shall be at a minimum, one monitor
placed at each of the following locations: North,
South, East and West of the airport.
(e) Notwithstanding
the consultation requirement, the draft work plan shall be submitted
to the department of environmental management
and the department of health within the thirty
(30) days of the effective date of this section
for review and comment, pursuant to chapter 35 of
title 42 of the general laws. The departments
shall provide comments within thirty (30) days of
receipt of the draft work plan. Following the
departments' review and comment period, the draft
work plan shall be made available for review and
comment by members of the general public,
and the air quality monitoring public advisory
committee, established by this chapter, pursuant to
chapter 35 of title 42 of the general laws.
Adoption of the final work plan by the corporation shall
be in accordance with chapter 35 of title 42 of
the general laws. The final work plan shall be
submitted to the governor, the speaker of the
house of representatives and the president of the
senate by the corporation no later than October
30, 2007.
(f) The final
work plan and all revised final work plans shall include a reasonable
evaluation of funding sources, such as federal
grants, that may be available to the corporation to
cover some or all of the costs of the air
quality monitoring.
(g) Amendments
to the final work plan may be proposed by the corporation in
consultation with the department of
environmental management and the department of health on
or before March 30, 2009 and every March 30,
thereafter. Amendments to the final work plan
may also be proposed by the department of
environmental management, the department of health
and/or the air quality monitoring public
advisory committee on or before January 31, 2009 and
every January 31, thereafter. Any proposed
amendments to the final work plan shall be available
for review and comment by members of the general
public, and the air quality monitoring public
advisory committee established by this chapter,
pursuant to chapter 35 of title 42 of the general
laws. The purposes of proposed amendments to the
final work plan are: 1) to allow the
corporation, in consultation with the department
of environmental management and the
department of health to consider any adaptations
that may be indicated by the data collected from
the pervious year, including whether new
monitoring technologies, methodologies, or criteria are
necessary; and 2) to make necessary adjustments
to the program based on changes to state and/or
federal regulations. Any proposed amendments to
the final work plan shall be incorporated into a
"revised [as of this date] final work
plan" document, upon approval of the corporation, and shall
be submitted to the governor, the speaker of the
house of representatives, and the president of the
senate by the corporation no later than January
1 of each year.
(h) Long-term
air quality monitors will be procured and in effect by December 30, 2007.
Interim monitoring shall be performed until such
time as the long-term monitoring program is in
place, and the use of all data generated
therefrom shall conform with the reporting requirements
set forth in section 1-7-6(b).
SECTION 2. Chapter
1-7 of the General Laws entitled "The Permanent Air Quality
Monitoring Act" is hereby amended by adding
thereto the following sections:
1-7-2.
Legislative findings. -- The general assembly hereby finds and
declares as
follows:
(a) T.F. Green
Airport is located in a densely populated, primarily residential area of the
city of Warwick.
(b) Many of the
airport operations and activities result in emissions of a number of air
pollutants, which may be harmful to public
health.
(c) Emissions
of concern include, but are not limited to, those associated with
"take-off"
and "landing" activities of aircraft
and emissions associated with the use of diesel engine ground
support equipment.
(d) A long-term
air quality monitoring program is necessary to collect the data needed to
evaluate the impact of the airport emissions on air
quality and public health.
1-7-3.
Definitions. -- The following words and phrases, for the purposes of
this chapter,
have the following meanings:
(1)
"Corporation" means the Rhode Island Airport Corporation as
established in section
1-2-1.1.
(2)
"Monitoring program" means the long-term air quality monitoring
program as
established by this chapter.
1-7-4. Air
quality monitoring public advisory committee. -- An "air
quality monitoring
public advisory committee" shall be established
to advise the corporation on the development and
implementation of the long-term air quality
monitoring program, and the preparation of annual
work plans. The public advisory committee shall
be made up of at least nine (9) public members
appointed by the governor with the advice and
consent of the senate. In making those
appointments the governor shall give due
consideration to include representatives from
environmental advocacy organizations, health
advocacy organizations, economic advocacy
organizations, neighborhood organizations,
academic institutions and the city of Warwick.
Members of the public advisory committee shall
serve for terms of two (2) years. The governor
shall convene the public advisory committee with
sufficient time to enable it to perform its
responsibilities under this chapter. The members
of the public advisory committee shall receive
no compensation for their services to the
committee. The public advisory committee shall elect
annually from among their members a chair, a
vice chair, and any to other officers it deems
appropriate.
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.
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 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.
1-7-7.
Regulation and enforcement. -- Powers of the department of health
and the
department of environmental management – (a)
Nothing contained in this chapter shall diminish
or abrogate the powers granted to the department
of environmental management and the
department of health pursuant to chapters 23 and
1 of title 23 as amended, respectively.
(b) Any
facilities under the jurisdiction of the corporation shall be subject, as
otherwise
provided in law, to the regulatory and enforcement
requirements of the department of
environmental management.
1-7-8.
Violations. -- Violations – Sanctions – Injunctive relief. –
(a)(1) Willful
noncompliance of this chapter that impairs the monitoring program herein
established shall be considered a violation of a
program requirement as described in section 23-
23-14.
(2) The
attorney general of the state shall have the power to bring an action in the
name
of the state, in any court of competent
jurisdiction for restraining orders and injunctive relief to
restrain and enjoin willful noncompliance of
this chapter, or for specific performance of the
obligations of the corporation under this
chapter.
(3) Such
willful noncompliance shall be punishable by a penalty as provided for in
subsection 23-23-14(a).
(b) Proceedings
under this chapter shall be instituted and prosecuted by the attorney
general. The superior court shall have the
jurisdiction in equity to enforce the provisions of this
chapter and any rules or regulations of the
corporation under the provisions of this chapter.
1-7-9.
Sunset provisions. -- On or before January 31, 2015, 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 extended by the general
assembly the corporation's obligation to operate
and maintain the air monitoring system will
cease on July 31, 2015.
SECTION 3. This
act shall take effect July 1, 2007.
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LC03230
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